Shimizu Bizan 清水 美山 1861-1926
Shimizu Bizan 1st (初代 清水 美山) his the 1st son of Shimizu Saizo (清水 幸蔵). His child
name was Tokutaro (徳太郎). He is born in 1861 in Teraya (寺家) in Kanazawa. He first
learned painting from Naoe Bishu (直江 ｘ舟) and Iwai Koji (岩井 孝次) and pottery painting
from Kazama Shuseki (笠間 秀石). He went to Tokyo in 1880 to learn the technic of
Satsuma pottery (薩摩焼) painting.
In 1881 he returned to Kanazawa and worked as an independent painter. He started to make pottery using lot of gold over paint. He created in 1885 a new type of ceramic technic in cooperation with Matsuoka Hatsuji (松岡 初二).
In 1892 he opened his own shop to sell his pottery. At that time, the export of Kutani started to be very important and he took this opportunity to develop his production. In 1907 he created a new design which was very fashionable. He died in 1926 at 51 years.
The Bizan technic using multicolor and gold was then very popular. Bizan is one of the typical style of Kutani made at the beginning of the 20 Th. century in Meiji and Taisho period.
Shimizu Bizan was born in Kanazawa in 1861. He learned pottery painting from
Kasama Shuseki. In 1880, he went to Tokyo and learned the layering painting
technique of Satsuma-yaki pottery. In 1881, he returned to Kanazawa and began
pottery painting professionally. He was particularly skilled at delicate and
detailed, gold-layered painting. He passed away in 1931.