Jan Kollwitz in Hetjens

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The city of Düsseldorf boasts a large and thriving Japanese community. No other place in Europe offers such a concentrated expression of Japanese art, culture and education, characterised by the vibrant neighbourhood of Little Tokyo and many landmarks like the EKŌ-Haus with its traditional Japanese garden and temple. Once a year, Düsseldorf also hosts “Japan Day”, a unique cultural festival to celebrate the area’s close ties with Japan. This year it falls on Saturday 24 May.

To coincide with these festivities, yesterday saw the opening of the Jan Kollwitz exhibition “Asche und Glut” (Ashes and Embers) in the Hetjens-Deutsches Keramikmuseum (German Ceramics Museum). The exhibition is his third in the area in the last five years. Jan Kollwitz seems to generate a degree of unadulterated reverence among a certain set of devotees, with more than 100 people and local dignitaries attending the opening, including the Mayor and Japanese Consul General. That said, Kollwitz continues to produce thoughtful, well-crafted and sympathetically-fired Japanese-style ceramics from his purpose-built anagama kiln in Cismar on the Baltic Sea, such as mizusashi water containers, chawan teabowls, hanaire hanging vases and, arguably most impressive of all, his large tsubo storage jars.

“Asche und Glut: Meisterwerke der Keramikkunst von Jan Kollwitz” runs from 22 May to 17 August and you can combine your visit by taking in some of the amazing historical ceramics from around the world in the museum’s collection.

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Hetjens-Deutsches Keramikmuseum (German Ceramics Museum)
Schulstraße 4
40213 Düsseldorf