A Crafts Study Centre publication celebrating the centenary of the founding of the Leach Pottery in St Ives in 1920. The book Bernard Leach: Discovered Archives is a new study on the studio potter Bernard Leach and has been edited by Simon Olding, Director of the Crafts Study Centre.

It contains chapters by Olding that consider the meanings of Leach’s personal collection of ceramics and then describe the remarkable and newly acquired archive of drawings, etching and paintings donated by Leach to his friend Alan Bell. These contain works that have been unseen in public. Two Japanese scholars contribute chapters: Yuko Matsuzaki, Curator of the Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art discusses the personal collection of the celebrated potter Shoji Hamada, Leach’s great friend ; and Dr Sadahiro Suzuki, Associate Professor of Ochanomizu University, Tokyo, analyses an extraordinary cache of letters that Leach wrote to Laurie Cookes (who was to become his second wife) during his prolific trip to Japan in 1934-35. These are unpublished research materials offering new insights into Leach practice in Japan. Dame Magdalene Odundo writes a foreword for the book.

Paperback • 220 Pages
ISBN: 9781916297111