The Etchings of Bernard Leach by Simon Olding

‘Drawing and etching were Bernard Leach’s calling cards: the means by which his name was first made in Japan and his artistry made visible. The significance of this early work cannot be underestimated’. – Simon Olding

The Etchings of Bernard Leach is published by the Crafts Study Centre in association with The Leach Pottery. It researches the significance of Bernard Leach’s early career as an etcher, before he found fame as the 20th century’s most influential potter. It features over 80 of Bernard Leach’s etchings, many of which have never appeared before in print. The book tells the narrative of a young man’s artistic journey and his efforts to find his way as an artist in Japan from 1909 to 1920.

Bernard Leach held a generation of students, acolytes and friends in his thrall. The Potter’s Book, written by Leach in 1940, with a synergy of Western and Oriental ceramic traditions, inspired hundreds of people to take up a vocation in the crafts. His early artistic work, is, however, less well documented. Although Leach stopped etching by the mid 1920s, he continued to draw throughout his long life, remarking that: ‘to me, painting and drawing are as important as pottery’.

The Etchings of Bernard Leach features prints from the 65 etching plates generously donated to the Crafts Study Centre in 2007 by Stella and Nick Redgrave. Research prints have been commissioned by the Crafts Study Centre from artist Martyn Brewster. A certain intrigue surrounds the plates themselves. Leach claimed that he stopped etching because they were stolen. Yet at some point they must have been found, since the plates were rediscovered probably in the attic of the Leach Pottery in St Ives after his death. The publication also features works from private collections and Leach’s own archive.

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