The etchings of Bernard Leach

The Etchings of Bernard Leach is the first systematic account of Leach's output as an etcher. Focused on the 65 etching plates that Leach brought back from Japan in 1921, the book presents in addition original archival research drawn from museums and private collections in the UK and Japan, and includes a translation of its text in Japanese.\ud \ud The book draws upon Leach's diaries from Japan 1912–21, as well as on other primary materials in the Bernard Leach Archive held by the Crafts Study Centre. Considering his work alongside primary material from the Mingei-Kan (Japan Folk Craft Museum), Tokyo, and private papers connected with the Leach family, the book places Leach in the context of British and European etching in the early 20th century, and also addresses the contribution of Leach’s graphic art both to traditional slipware decoration and to his other ceramic work in a modernist idiom. \ud \ud The book is the first stand-alone study of Leach as an etcher, and its catalogue of etchings is the first summary of his output in this medium. It therefore constitutes an authoritative and rounded source of information about Leach's early career as an artist, documenting the period in which he set off to Japan with the intention of pursuing a career as an etcher. The book is now used as the standard reference for UK Auction Houses selling Leach's etchings, most recently for Asobi: Ingenious Creativity & Ceramics From the Bernard Leach Collection at Christies, South Kensington (15 Oct. 2013