Ref. No. 256
Glass plate by Toshichi IWATA
| Origin | Japan |
|---|---|
| Period | Showa period (1926-1989) |
| Medium | Glass |
| Dimensions |
Diameter32 cm / 12 19⁄32 in
|
| Condition | Excellent |
Exhibition
- Exhibitions and honours
- 1922: Debut at the 4th Imperial Art Exhibition (Teiten) with Deep Sky
- 1938: Silver medal, international crafts exhibition, Paris
- 1951: Japan Art Academy Prize, for The Beauty of Light
- 1954: Member of the Japan Art Academy
- 1969: Mainichi Art Award
- 1970: Named Person of Cultural Merit
- Order of the Sacred Treasure, 2nd Class
- Public collections
- His work is held by the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, among others.
Short Description
Iwata Tōshichi (1893–1980)
Pioneer of modern Japanese glass
Iwata Tōshichi is widely regarded as the father of modern art glass in Japan. He was born in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, on 12 March 1893. Before turning to glass he trained broadly, in Western-style painting, metalwork, engraving, lacquer and sculpture, and that range stayed with him throughout his career. He learned glassmaking under Imamura Shigezō at the Tachibana Glass Factory and developed it further through his own experiments.
In 1931 he founded Iwata Glass Manufacturing Co., Ltd., which produced both unique studio pieces and refined factory ware. After the Second World War he and his wife set up the Iwata Glass Industrial Company, where skilled artisans made designs conceived by the Iwata family. Works that Iwata made himself usually come with a signed wooden storage box (tomobako), which sets them apart from the factory production.
Iwata did much to establish glass as a recognised art form in Japan. At the Nitten, Japan's leading annual art exhibition, he became a standing director in 1954 and an advisor in 1958. That same year, 1954, he was elected a member of the Japan Art Academy. When the Japan Glass Art Crafts Association was founded in 1972, with his son Iwata Hisatoshi as its first president, Iwata Tōshichi was made an honorary member.