Kaneta Masanao

Kaneta Masanao, born in 1953, is one of the most recognized ceramists on the Japanese contemporary scene. An eighth-generation potter from the town of Hagi, known for its traditional know-how (hagi-yaki is a form of pottery that dates back to the 17th century), he uses these ancestral techniques to create ceramics with unique contemporary shapes.

He also uses the kurinuki technique, which involves digging a shape into clay instead of shaping it on a wheel and allowing him to boldly depart from Hagi traditions. He has been exhibited countless times nationally and internationally. We note the retrospective of Hagi's 400 years at the Suntory Museum, a major group exhibition at the Ibaraki Prefectural Ceramic Art Museum, as well as the exhibition at Nihon Dento Kogei Ten.

Presence in permanent museum collections:

• San Francisco Asian Art Museum, USA
  
• National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
• Brooklyn Museum, USA
  
• Museum of Modern Ceramics, Gifu, Japan
• Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA
  
• Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA
  
• Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum, Japan