Kimiyo Mishima

Kimiyo Mishima (1932 – June 19, 2024) was a Japanese contemporary artist, best known for creating highly realistic versions of "breakable printed matter" in ceramic such as newspapers, comic books and boxes out of clay. Mishima began her artistic career as a painter in the early 1960s, then started working in ceramics in 1971. At this time, she began to use the silk screen technique to print newspaper and ad poster images onto clay.

Early life Mishima was born in 1932 in the Juso district, a downtown area of Osaka City. Her family owned a liquor store, so she grew up relatively well off.

Mishima took lessons in Nihon-Buyo, classical Japanese dance, but her teacher often scolded her for making up her choreography. She said she wanted to dance like Mercier Cunningham, the famous American modern dancer, "but my teacher would get angry. I realized that to dance, you need music and that if I wanted to do something alone, it could probably only be art."

In middle school, her homeroom teacher happened to be her art teacher and encouraged her to pursue art and draw things not taught in the art classroom. So her father bought her a set of painting materials, and she immersed herself in her painting from a young age.

After graduating high school, she had wanted to go to university to become a doctor, but her mother forced her into an early marriage in hopes that it would help her settle down. But she ran away to Tokyo from that marriage in about a year.

Selected solo exhibitions

Selected group exhibits

New York, NY2011Ceramica Viva: I Ceramisti Giapponesi Premiati a Faenza [Japanese awardees of

International Faenza Ceramic Festival, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Tokyo, JP2010This is not a book: Spreading of Book Art, Urawa Art Museum, Saitama and Fukui

City Art Museum, Fukui, JPThe Magic of Ceramics: Artistic Inspiration, Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Shiga

Newspapers, Kanda Nissho Memorial Museum of Art, Shikaoi, Hokkaido, JP2009Vingt-cinq ceramists Japonaises contemporaines, Le Musée National de Céramique, Sèvres, FRBreaking from Tradition Japanese Ceramics Today, Harvey/Meadows Gallery,

Aspen CO with Joan B Mirviss, LTD., New York, USATouch Fire: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics by Women Artists, Smith College

Museum of Art, Northampton, MA, USAWorld of Trick Art, Toyohashi City Museum of Art and History, Aichi and Takamatsu

City Museum of Art, Kagawa, JP2008Osaka Art Kaleidoscope 2008, Contemporary Art Center, Osaka, JP2007Breaking the Mold/ kata o yaburu. Joan B Mirviss, LTD. New York, USAVarious Aspects of the Avant-garde Ceramic Art, Museum of Modern

Ceramic Art, Gifu, JPHermandades Escultóricas México-Japón 2007, Museo MACAY, Mérida, Yucatán, MXDepicting Words in Art- Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection, Municipal Museum of Art Kyoto, JP2007-12Soaring Voices – Contemporary Japanese Women Ceramic Artists, The Shigaraki

Ceramic Cultural Park, Shiga. Exhibition traveled to New Otani Art Museum, Tokyo,

Japan; Le Musée National Céramique à Sèvres, Sèvres, France; Crocker Art

Museum, Sacramento, CA; The Katzen Arts Center at American University,

Washington, DC; The Crow Collection of Asian Art, Dallas, TX; Morikami Museum

and Japanese Gardens, Delray Beach, FL; The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art,

University of Florida, Gainesville; Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe;

Western Gallery at Western Washington University, Bellingham; City Arts Center,

Oklahoma City, OK; Maui Arts and Cultural Center, Kahului, HI, USA2006The Quintessence of Modern Japanese Ceramics, Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum.Contemporary Clay: Japanese Ceramics for the New Century, Japan Society,

New York, USATōji: Avant-Garde et Tradition de la Cèramique Japonaise, Musèe national de

Permanent Installations, Museum and Public collections The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, JP

Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Kyoto, JP

The International Museum of Art, Osaka, JP

Benesse Art Site Naoshima, Naoshima, JP

Hara Museum of Art, Tokyo, JP

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tokyo, JP

Hokkaido Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, JP

The Museum of Art, Hakodate, JP

Iwaki City Museum of Modern Art, Fukushima, JP

Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Art, JP

Okegawa City Park, Saitama, JP

Matsumoto City Museum of Art, Matsumoto, JP

The Gifu Prefectural Contemporary Ceramic Museum of Art, Gifu, JP

The Wakayama Prefectural Modern Museum of Art, Wakayama, JP

The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Shiga, JP

The Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Kobe, JP

Ashiya City Museum of Art and History, Ashiya, Hyogo, JP

Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Takamatsu, Kagawa, JP

Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, Yamaguchi, JP

Hamada Children's Museum of Art, Hamada, Shimane, JP

Ikeda Museum of 20th Century Art, Ikeda, Shizuoka, JP

Contemporary Art Museum ISE, Mie, JP

Ohara Museum of Art, Okayama, JP

The Japan Foundation, Tokyo, JP

The Korean Culture & Arts Foundation Seoul, KR

Institute of Contemporary Art, Kunsan National University, KR

National Museum of History, TW

HAP POTTERY, Beijing, CN

M+ Museum, Hong Kong, HK

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, USA

The Everson Museum of Art, New York, USA

Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville Florida, USA

The First National Bank of Chicago, USA

Asian Cultural Council, New York, USA

SMITH COLLEGE, Northampton, USA

Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, USA

Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA

The Keramion Museum for Contemporary Ceramic Art, DE

The Museum of Faenza, IT

Japanese Culture Center, Roma, IT

Ariana Museum, Geneve, CH

Kunst Gesellschaft, Spiez, CH

The Museum of Art, Olot, ES

International Ceramics Studio, Kecskemét, HU

Musee Cernoschi, Paris, FR

Vehbi Koç Foundation, ARTER, Istanbul, TR

Awards