工芸のミライ　オンライン展覧会　前田正博

 前田正博論

立体のカラリスト―前田正博の色絵磁器
外舘和子（多摩美術大学教授）

色絵磁器とは、成形した素地に釉薬をかけて本焼成したのち上絵具で絵付し、700度から800度程度で焼き付ける技法であり、日本では17世紀以来、柿右衛門様式、古九谷様式、鍋島など様々な色絵磁器が作られてきた。前田正博は、この歴史ある色絵磁器の世界に、洋絵具を用いた現代の表現を築いてきた作家である。
　
前田正博は1948年、京都府久美浜町に生まれた。久美浜は、五条坂界隈や清水焼団地などの、いわゆるやきものの街「京都」とは異なり、兵庫との県境に位置する海に面した素朴な街である。
少年時代から絵を描くことを好んだ前田は、西洋の画家たちに憧れ、当初、絵画を志す。しかし絵で生計を立てることの難しさを思い、1969年、東京藝術大学の工芸科に入学した。陶芸専攻の10期生として、藤本能道、田村耕一、浅野陽ら藝大陶芸草創期の充実した教師陣に学ぶ機会を得ている。
当時の藝大は、すこぶる自由な雰囲気であったという。学生運動も盛んな1970年代、前田には授業らしき授業を受けた記憶がない。一年に一回、何か作品を仕上げて提出すれば進級することができた。但し当時は上絵具に関する本も情報も少なく、前田ら学生たちは様々な酸化金属にガラス質の成分などを加えながら、透明感のある色絵の和絵具を一つ一つ作ることを学んでいる。
藤本能道の時代には、藤本の個展のための制作を手伝うことが、いわば授業の一部であったが、教授の絵付けの色伏せを手伝うか否かは、学生次第である。前田は「手伝わない方の学生」であった。対教師に限らず、媚びるようなことが嫌いである。専ら自分の制作に向かい、磁土を轆轤で挽き、表面を削り出して形を決め、絵付した。卒業制作は第2回日本陶芸展に、修了制作はその第3回展や第22回日本伝統工芸展に入選している。初個展は簡略化された小鳥やミミズクが、幾何学的に意匠化された背景の中に遊ぶ作品で、青系統を主調に赤、黄、緑、萌黄、黒、金を効果的に配した明るく軽妙な色彩世界であった。前田は既に作陶の初期から、藝大の師の写実的な色絵とは異なる世界観を示していたのである。
前田は作品の意匠を考えるための写生をしない。代わりに日頃からメモ帳を持ち歩いている。手のひらサイズの方眼紙状のメモ帳に、思いつくとすぐに模様のようなものをちょこちょこと描く。一見、子供の落書きのようにも見える「ラフスケッチ」はどこか楽しげだ。このメモから直接実作に入っていくのである。
1990年代初め、好奇心から使い始めた洋絵具は、伝統的な和絵具よりも直接的で明快な発色を得られ、重ねて使用することもできた。扱い方により、独特の質感も生じる。例えば刷毛で絵具を打つようにするとしっとりとしたマティエールも生まれる。当初一つの器に7色程度使われた色数は次第に抑えられ、近年は2、3色で一つの模様世界を成立させることが多くなってきた。
前田の模様は、器に描かれることで、生き生きと立ち上がってくる。現在は、1・2・3ミリの幅の異なるマスキングテープを駆使して、変化に富んだ幾何学模様を中心に、奥行きや錯視効果さえ感じさせる模様を展開しているが、器という立体ゆえに模様の魅力も増す。前田の作品には「正面」がない。器という立体ならではのオール・オーバーな小宇宙が、360度に対応するのである。
さらに、初期の鳥も、現在の幾何学模様の割付も、あくまでフリーハンドで描くことで、手仕事のぬくもりと、硬さのない洒脱な感覚が現れる。そして見応えのある大きな器も、手に取りやすい小振りの器も、マスキングや使用する色ごとに焼成する手数を惜しまない。「いい加減にきっちりやる」という前田のさじ加減は絶妙である。
色の扱いの感覚的巧みさという意味で、前田はカラリストである。だが、平面のカラリストとは異なり、その色と模様によって、器の曲面や形を、よりシャープに、あるいはより軽快に演出し、結果、模様は自律的に立ち上がってくる。前田正博は＜立体のカラリスト＞として21世紀の色絵磁器を牽引しているのである。

 Colorist in Three Dimensions – Overglaze Colored Porcelain by Masahiro Maeda
Kazuko Todate 
Professor, Tama Art University

Iro-e porcelain is a technique in which a shaped base-form is glazed and fired, then painted with overglaze pigments and fired at 700 to 800 degrees Celsius. In Japan, various types of colored porcelain have been produced since the 17th century, including the Kakiemon style, the old Kutani style, and Nabeshima. Masahiro Maeda is an artist who has established a modern expression using Western overglaze pigments in this historical world of colored porcelain.
　
Masahiro Maeda was born in Kumihama-cho, Kyoto Prefecture in 1948. Kumihama is a rural town facing the sea, located on the border of Hyogo Prefecture, unlike the so-called pottery town of Kyoto with its Gojozaka area and Kiyomizu-yaki pottery complex.

Ever since he was a boy, Maeda has loved to draw, and he initially aspired to become a painter, admiring Western painters. However, realizing the difficulty of making a living from painting, he entered the Department of Crafts at Tokyo University of the Arts in 1969. As a member of the 10th class of the ceramics department, he had the opportunity to study under a well-trained team of teachers including ‘living national treasures’ from the pioneering days of ceramics at the University, including Yoshimichi Fujimoto, Koichi Tamura, and Akira Asano.
At the time, Tokyo University of the Arts was said to have a very liberal atmosphere. In the 1970s, when the student movement was thriving, Maeda does not remember taking any usual lessons. Students were allowed to advance to the next level by submitting a finished work once a year. At that time, however, there were few books and information on overglaze pigments, so Maeda and the other students learned how to make transparent Japanese overglaze pigments by adding glassy ingredients to various oxidized metals.

In the days of Yoshimichi Fujimoto, helping Fujimoto create for his solo exhibition was part of the class, but it was up to the students to decide whether they would help the professor with the color overlay of the painting. Maeda was the student who did not want to help. He didn't like to flatter anyone, not just the teacher, and concentrated exclusively on his own work.

He formed the porcelain clay on the potter's wheel, scraped the surface to determine the final shape, and painted it. His graduation work from the university was selected for the 2nd Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition, and his graduation works from the graduate school were selected for the 3rd exhibition and the 22nd Japan Traditional Art Craft Exhibition. In his first solo exhibition, Maeda depicted simplified birds and owls in a geometrically designed background, with a bright and light world of colors, mainly blue, but also red, yellow, green, yellow-green, black, and gold. Maeda had already shown a different worldview from the realistic color paintings of his teacher at Tokyo University of the Arts from the beginning of his career.

Maeda does not sketch to think about the design of his works. Instead, he carries a notepad with him daily. On a palm-sized sheet of paper, he draws patterns as soon as he thinks of them. At first glance, his "rough sketches" look like the doodles of a child, and they are somehow fun. From these rough sketches, he begins his actual work.

In the early 1990s, Maeda began using Western overglaze pigments out of curiosity, which produced more direct and clear colors than traditional Japanese pigments, and could be used in layers. Depending on how they are handled, they also have a unique texture. For example, if he uses a brush to strike the paint, a moist matière is created. In the early years of his career, he used about seven colors in a single piece of pottery, but the number of colors has gradually been reduced, and in recent years, two or three colors are often used to create a single pattern world.

Maeda's patterns come to life when they are drawn on vessels.　Currently, he uses masking tape of different widths (1, 2, or 3 millimeters) to create varied geometric patterns that give the impression of depth and even illusion. There is no "front" in Maeda's works, but rather an all-over microcosm of the three-dimensional world of vessels that responds to 360 degrees.

In addition, both the early birds and the current geometric allocations are drawn freehand, which brings out the warmth of handwork and a sense of stylishness without hardness. He spares no effort in masking and firing each color he uses, whether it is a large, impressive vessel or a small, functional tableware. Maeda's "rough, but precise" approach is exquisite.

Maeda is a colorist in the sense that he is sensitively skilled in handling color. However, unlike colorists of flat surfaces such as paintings, Maeda's colors and patterns make the curved surfaces and shapes of his vessels sharper or lighter, and as a result, the patterns stand up autonomously. As a "three-dimensional colorist," Masahiro Maeda is leading the field of overglaze colored porcelain in the 21st century.