Tate British Artists Series: Bernard Leach

Bernard Leach was a pre-eminent artist-potter of the twentieth century. In the early part of his career he spent twelve formative years in Japan, during a period of febrile excitement in the arts. In 1920 he returned to England to set up a studio in St Ives. Leach’s influence on the growth of the studio pottery movement, both in Japan and in the West, has been profound. His making of ceramics and his teaching of some of the foremost artist-potters of the period gives him a central place in the international history of the decorative arts.

Edmund de Waal is a world-famous author and ceramicist. He is the author of The Hare with Amber Eyes, winner of the Costa Book Award for Biography and the Galaxy National Book Award (New Writer of the Year Award), and an Economist Book of the Year.