A daring ceramic movement emerged in Japan in the aftermath of the Second World War. At a time when past certainties were being challenged, the avant-garde group Sōdeisha (the primordially named Crawling through Mud Association) began to create abstract sculptural forms – jettisoning the tradition of functionality and minimalism familiar in Japanese ceramic objects.

The result was a world-leading shift in ceramic expression, positioning contemporary Japanese works at the forefront of international modernism. Furthermore this period fostered the emergence of female ceramicists as a creative force.

Pure Form reveals the innovative richness and diversity of sculptural ceramics created in Japan from the 1950s to the present, in what is today one of the most dynamic ceramic cultures in the world.