Lucie Rie: Elegant Vessels Fusing East and West

About

Date

September 26, 2026 (Sat) – December 13, 2026 (Sun)

Location

Temporary Exhibition Galleries 1-4

Hours

9:30 a.m. -5:00 p.m.

Closed

Every Monday (except October 12 and November 23, when the museum will be open), October 13 (Tue), and November 24 (Tue)

Admission fee

Adults: 1,200 (1,000) yen
Students: 1,000 (800) yen
High school students and younger: Free
Prices in parentheses are for groups of more than 20 persons.
Persons with disability, one person accompanying them are admitted free of charge.

Organization

■Organized by
Mie Prefectural Art Museum, The Chunichi Shimbun

■With the Planning Support of
National Crafts Museum

■With the special support of
The Iuchi Collection, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto

■With the support of
DNP

■With the grant of
Okada Cultural Foundation, Mie Prefectural Art Museum Assistance Foundation
 

Exhibition Overview

Lucie Rie (1902–1995), one of the leading British ceramic artists of the 20th century, was born in Vienna, which is part of Austria. She discovered the potter’s wheel at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts, was captivated by it, and embarked on a career in ceramics. Although she had already established herself as an artist, she was forced into exile by the war in 1938 and moved her pottery studio to London, England.
 
Having absorbed the essence of the art of her time in both Vienna and London, Rie developed a unique style characterized by elegant forms, original patterns created using inlay and sgraffito techniques, and rich colors achieved through glazing. The refined aesthetic beauty and dignified presence of her works continue to captivate many people to this day.
 
This exhibition, the first retrospective of her work in Japan in about 10 years, presents works by Lucie Rie from her early creative period through her mature years, focusing primarily on pieces from the collection of National Crafts Museum and the Iuchi Collection. In addition, the exhibition explores the appeal of her forms by examining her relationship with Eastern ceramics, alongside works by related artists such as Josef Hoffmann, who taught her in Vienna, and Bernard Leach and Hans Coper, with whom she was close during her time in London.