Beyond East and West: Memoirs, portraits, and essays

There can be no potter in the world whose name is more widely known and respected that that of Bernard Leach. He is as famous in Japan and the East as he is in Europe and America, not only as an artist-craftsman but also as a thinker. His interpretation of the traditions of the Orient in the making of pots - and thereby evolving a philosophy of life - has set the pace for many potters in the West. Beyond East and West is more than an autobiography. It contains much of Leach's deeper thought and much about the practical application of his ideas, reproducing, as it does, some of his most significant writings. Its recurrent theme is the meeting of East and West at all levels - artistic, cultural, social, political. Leach first went to Japan as a young man in 1909 and stayed in the East eleven years. He has returned again and again. His experiences in Japan, Korea and China are alive and immediate. There are also chapters on the successful development of the St. Ives pottery and on his other travels which have included North and South America, Australia and New Zealand as well as Europe. 'All my life I have been a courier between East and West,' he writes. This important and engrossing book, which is full of sharply-etched and amusing recollections, culminates in the expression of a profound belief in the spiritual unification of man.