It was 20 years ago today . . . that the famous Kikuchi Collection of Modern Japanese Ceramics was shown to "smashing" reviews at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. The 300-piece collection sparked a great interest in modern and contemporary Japanese ceramics that has continued to this day. The exhibition was a milestone for 20th-century Japanese ceramic art.
For the two decades since, though, the collection has been in storage or on display for Madame Kikuchi alone.
Now that's all changed, as her fabulous new museum -- Musee Tomo -- opened in Tokyo on April 20. The inaugural exhibition, "Japanese Ceramics Today, Part 1," running through Aug. 3, aims both to restage that overseas debut and give Japan its first look at the Kikuchi Collection.