Early years (Japan) Leach was born in
Hong Kong. His mother Eleanor (née Sharp) died in childbirth. He spent his first three years in
Japan with his father, Andrew Leach, until he moved back to Hong Kong in 1890. Leach attended the
Slade School of Fine Art and the London School of Art, where he studied etching under
Frank Brangwyn. Reading books by
Lafcadio Hearn, he became interested in Japan. In 1909 he returned to Japan with his young wife Muriel (née Hoyle) intending to teach etching.
Satomi Ton,
Kojima Kikuo, and later
Ryūsei Kishida were his pupils. In
Tokyo, he gave talks and attended meetings along with
Mushanokōji Saneatsu,
Shiga Naoya,
Yanagi Sōetsu and others from the "
Shirakaba-Group", who were trying to introduce western art to Japan after 250 years of seclusion. About 1911 he attended a
Raku-yaki pottery party which was his first introduction to ceramics, and through introduction by
Ishii Hakutei, he began to study under Urano Shigekichi (1851–1923), who stood as
Kenzan 6th in the tradition of potter
Ogata Kenzan (1663–1743). Assisting as interpreter for technical terms was the potter
Tomimoto Kenkichi, whom he had met already earlier. From this time Leach wrote articles for the Shirakaba. In 1913 he also drafted covers for
Shirakaba and
Fyūzan. Attracted by the Prussian philosopher and art scholar
Alfred Westharp, who at the time was living in
Peking, Leach moved to Peking in 1915. There he took on the Name (for "Leach"), but returned the following year to Japan. It was the year 1919, when young
Hamada Shōji visited Leach for the first time. Leach received a kiln from Kenzan and built it up in Yanagi's garden and called it
Tōmon-gama. Now established as a potter, he decided to move to
England. In 1920, before leaving, he had an exhibition in
Osaka, where he met the potter
Kawai Kanjirō. In Tokyo, a farewell exhibition was organized.
Back in England ,
St Ives, Cornwall Leach returned to England in 1920 on the invitation of Frances Horne. Horne was establishing a Guild of Handicrafts within the existing artist colony of
St Ives in Cornwall. On the recommendation of a family friend, Edgar Skinner, she contacted Leach to suggest that he become the potter within this group. Leach and his wife Muriel were accompanied by the young
Hamada Shoji and, having identified a suitable site next to the Stennack river on the outskirts of
St Ives, the two established the
Leach Pottery in 1920. They constructed a traditional Japanese climbing kiln or '
Noborigama (登り窯)', the first built in the West. The kiln was poorly built and was reconstructed in 1923 by Matsubayashi Tsurunosuke (1894-1932). In 1934, Leach and
Mark Tobey travelled together through France and Italy, then sailed from Naples to Hong Kong and Shanghai, where they parted company, Leach heading on to Japan. Leach formally joined the
Baháʼí Faith in 1940 after being introduced to it by Mark Tobey, who was himself a Baháʼí. A
pilgrimage to the
Baháʼí shrines in
Haifa, Israel, during 1954 intensified his feeling that he should do more to unite the East and West by returning to the Orient "to try more honestly to do my work there as a Baháʼí and as an artist..." Leach promoted pottery as a combination of Western and Eastern arts and philosophies. His work focused on traditional Korean, Japanese and Chinese pottery, in combination with traditional techniques from England and Germany, such as
slipware and
salt glaze ware. He saw pottery as a combination of art, philosophy, design and craft – even as a greater lifestyle. ''
A Potter's Book'' (1940) defined Leach's craft philosophy and techniques; it went through many editions and was his breakthrough to recognition.
Midlife Leach advocated simple and utilitarian forms. His
ethical pots stand in opposition to what he called
fine art pots, which promoted aesthetic concerns rather than function. Popularized in the 1940s after the publication of ''
A Potter's Book,'' his style had lasting influence on
counter-culture and modern design in North America during the 1950s and 1960s. Leach's pottery produced a range of "standard ware" handmade pottery for the general public. He continued to produce pots which were exhibited as works of art. Many potters from all over the world were apprenticed at the
Leach Pottery, and spread Leach's style and beliefs. His British associates and trainees include
Michael Cardew,
Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie,
David Leach (his son),
Janet Darnell (whom Leach married in 1956) and
William Marshall. Another of his students at St Ives was
William Worrall who became chief craftsman at the Chalice Well crafts guild in Glastonbury and
Muriel Bell, co-founder of the
Lanchester Marionettes. His American apprentices include
Warren MacKenzie (who likewise influenced many potters through his teaching at the
University of Minnesota),
Byron Temple. He was a major influence on
New Zealand potter
Len Castle who travelled to London to spend time working with him in the mid-1950s. Another apprentice was an Indian potter
Nirmala Patwardhan who developed the so-called Nirmala glaze based on an 11th-century Chinese technique. His four Canadian apprentices,
John Reeve,
Glenn Lewis, Michael Henry and Ian Steele helped to shape the pottery scene in
Vancouver and the Canadian west coast during the 1960 and 1970s. The Cypriot potter Valentinos Charalambous trained with Leach in 1950-51. Leach was instrumental, with
Muriel Rose, in organising the only International Conference of Potters and Weavers in July 1952 at
Dartington Hall, where he had been working and teaching. It included exhibitions of British pottery and textiles since 1920, Mexican folk art, and works by conference participants, among them Shoji Hamada and US-based Bauhaus potter
Marguerite Wildenhain. Another important contributor was Japanese aesthetician
Soetsu Yanagi, author of
The Unknown Craftsman. According to Brent Johnson, "The most important outcome of the conference was that it helped organize the modern studio pottery movement by giving a voice to the people who became its leaders...it gave them [Leach, Hamada and Yanagi] celebrity status...[while] Marguerite Wildenhain emerged from Dartington Hall as the most important craft potter in America." He was an active member of the
Red Rose Guild. Leach was an influential participant in the
Pottery seminar at Black Mountain College in 1952, attended by many younger and later prominent potters.
Later years Leach continued to produce work until 1972 and never ended his passion for travelling. He continued to write about ceramics even after losing his eyesight. The
Victoria and Albert Museum in London held a major exhibition of his art in 1977. The
Leach Pottery remains in operation, accompanied by a museum displaying many pieces by Leach and his students. ==Honours==