Japan
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Buddhism Early Buddhist sculpture
Chronology : 1995 1996 1998 2000-2009 2000 2007
See also : Buddhism Early Buddhist sculpture
Chronology : 1995 1996 1998 2000-2009 2000 2007
1193 Kamakura Buddha
2008 SOLD for $ 14.4M by Christie's
In 1185 CE the Kamakura period succeeds the Heian period. The aristocracy has lost power and the Buddhist figuration is transformed, for a more monumental and popular vision.
The top artists of this transition are Kokei and his son Unkei, who are from Nara and work for the main Japanese temples. Unkei began his career before 1176 as an apprentice to his father, whom he succeeded around 1195 as the schoolhead of the Kei family.
Their figures are made of wood, assembling many elementary parts with joinery techniques. Unkei departs from the Buddhist canon by making male figures of great expressive power. He also innovates by inserting crystals in the eyes. His statuettes are hollow to contain relics, often including a wooden plaque that identifies the artist and the date.
In 2000, in an antique shop somewhere in the Japanese countryside, a collector is astonished by a wooden figure 66 cm high, which he manages to buy. The piece does not have the weight of solid wood. It is gold lacquered with pigment conservation, and the jewelry ornaments are in hammered metal. It was probably taken out of a temple during the promotion of Shinto in the Meiji period.
Three years later, the curator of sculptures at the National Museum of Tokyo confirms that this piece perfectly matches Unkei's style. Because of its fairly large size, experts consider that it can correspond to a work by Unkei made in 1193 for a funeral memorial.
The figure was perfectly sealed and has not been disassembled. By X-ray inspection, three relics are identified in its cavity : the plaque, which could not be read, a five-stage crystal pagoda symbolizing the material elements, and a crystal ball.
It matches the iconography of Dainichi Nyorai who can be indifferently considered as a Buddha or a Bodhisattva. The gesture of two closed fists one above the other and joined by the index finger of the lower hand symbolizes the knowledge.
This Japanese Buddha was sold for $ 14.4M by Christie's on March 18, 2008, lot 200.
The top artists of this transition are Kokei and his son Unkei, who are from Nara and work for the main Japanese temples. Unkei began his career before 1176 as an apprentice to his father, whom he succeeded around 1195 as the schoolhead of the Kei family.
Their figures are made of wood, assembling many elementary parts with joinery techniques. Unkei departs from the Buddhist canon by making male figures of great expressive power. He also innovates by inserting crystals in the eyes. His statuettes are hollow to contain relics, often including a wooden plaque that identifies the artist and the date.
In 2000, in an antique shop somewhere in the Japanese countryside, a collector is astonished by a wooden figure 66 cm high, which he manages to buy. The piece does not have the weight of solid wood. It is gold lacquered with pigment conservation, and the jewelry ornaments are in hammered metal. It was probably taken out of a temple during the promotion of Shinto in the Meiji period.
Three years later, the curator of sculptures at the National Museum of Tokyo confirms that this piece perfectly matches Unkei's style. Because of its fairly large size, experts consider that it can correspond to a work by Unkei made in 1193 for a funeral memorial.
The figure was perfectly sealed and has not been disassembled. By X-ray inspection, three relics are identified in its cavity : the plaque, which could not be read, a five-stage crystal pagoda symbolizing the material elements, and a crystal ball.
It matches the iconography of Dainichi Nyorai who can be indifferently considered as a Buddha or a Bodhisattva. The gesture of two closed fists one above the other and joined by the index finger of the lower hand symbolizes the knowledge.
This Japanese Buddha was sold for $ 14.4M by Christie's on March 18, 2008, lot 200.
1949 La Fête d'Anniversaire by Foujita
2018 SOLD for £ 7.1M by Bonhams
Foujita is in Montparnasse during the Roaring Twenties. He likes social life, white women, champagne. Returning to Japan in the 1930s, he collaborates successively with the imperial army and with the American occupier. His situation is becoming untenable. In 1949 General MacArthur manages to get him out of Japan.
Foujita stays in New York for a few months. He understands that he was wrong and that art should not glorify war but express peace and beauty. He enthusiastically prepares an exhibition on new themes.
The figuration remains done with a thin line in the Japanese style. The staging is inspired by his great knowledge of Western art. The works include interwoven symbols beside personal reminiscences.
For example, Au Café, oil on canvas kept at the Centre Pompidou, follows L'Absinthe by Degas, les Folies Bergères by Manet and le Lapin Agile by Picasso. Behind the window, another café is La Petite Madeleine, reminding the ballerina from the Casino de Paris who followed him to Japan and died of an overdose in Tokyo in 1936.
In a series titled Hommage à La Fontaine, Foujita brings human attitudes and expressions to zoomorphic figures. On October 11, 2018, Bonhams sold for £ 7.1M from a lower estimate of £ 900K La Fête d'anniversaire, oil on canvas 77 x 102 cm, lot 18. Proud of his speed in producing a masterpiece, the artist has taken care to inscribe in the verso the time he spent to make it, 79 hours.
The scene evokes the Flemish and Dutch banquets of the 17th century. Around the table, the animals are happy and one of the cats is hilarious. As in Isaiah's Paradise, the differentiation of the species does not allow them to eat each other : the meal is composed of fish, fruits and cakes. The artist's frame 92 x 116 cm is illustrated with kitchen utensils.
The figure of a nude woman in the artist's signature style is nailed on the wall. She is the only fully human form in this painting that Foujita has humorously re-signed at that place.
Foujita stays in New York for a few months. He understands that he was wrong and that art should not glorify war but express peace and beauty. He enthusiastically prepares an exhibition on new themes.
The figuration remains done with a thin line in the Japanese style. The staging is inspired by his great knowledge of Western art. The works include interwoven symbols beside personal reminiscences.
For example, Au Café, oil on canvas kept at the Centre Pompidou, follows L'Absinthe by Degas, les Folies Bergères by Manet and le Lapin Agile by Picasso. Behind the window, another café is La Petite Madeleine, reminding the ballerina from the Casino de Paris who followed him to Japan and died of an overdose in Tokyo in 1936.
In a series titled Hommage à La Fontaine, Foujita brings human attitudes and expressions to zoomorphic figures. On October 11, 2018, Bonhams sold for £ 7.1M from a lower estimate of £ 900K La Fête d'anniversaire, oil on canvas 77 x 102 cm, lot 18. Proud of his speed in producing a masterpiece, the artist has taken care to inscribe in the verso the time he spent to make it, 79 hours.
The scene evokes the Flemish and Dutch banquets of the 17th century. Around the table, the animals are happy and one of the cats is hilarious. As in Isaiah's Paradise, the differentiation of the species does not allow them to eat each other : the meal is composed of fish, fruits and cakes. The artist's frame 92 x 116 cm is illustrated with kitchen utensils.
The figure of a nude woman in the artist's signature style is nailed on the wall. She is the only fully human form in this painting that Foujita has humorously re-signed at that place.
1959 Takao by Shiraga
2018 SOLD for € 8.7M by Sotheby's
Kazuo Shiraga places the canvas flat on the floor as Pollock had done. He pours the paint from big buckets, clings to a rope that hangs from the ceiling and pushes the color with his bare feet, creating shapes and waves until his physical exhaustion. He now uses large canvases that allow him to amplify the free movement of his legs and feet, for the extreme expression of mythical martial energies.
This method is personal and unique. It comes at the right time in the history of art, now open to all gestural expressions and happenings such as the action of the arm of Franz Kline and the knife of Lucio Fontana, and just before the Anthropométries of Yves Klein.
Painted in black and red in 1959 on the theme of a Japanese mountain with an ascetic tradition, Takao, oil on canvas 182 x 273 cm, was sold for € 8.7M by Sotheby's on June 6, 2018 from a lower estimate of € 1.8M, lot 9.
This method is personal and unique. It comes at the right time in the history of art, now open to all gestural expressions and happenings such as the action of the arm of Franz Kline and the knife of Lucio Fontana, and just before the Anthropométries of Yves Klein.
Painted in black and red in 1959 on the theme of a Japanese mountain with an ascetic tradition, Takao, oil on canvas 182 x 273 cm, was sold for € 8.7M by Sotheby's on June 6, 2018 from a lower estimate of € 1.8M, lot 9.
NARA
1
1995 Hothouse Doll
2020 SOLD for HK$ 103M by Phillips in association with Poly
Yoshitomo Nara spent twelve years in Germany, from 1988 to 1994 studying art in Düsseldorf and until 2000 in his studio in Cologne. The clear line appeals to the Japanese, accustomed to prints and manga.
To express his relationship to the world, the artist paints portraits of baby girls, with changing facial expressions. They do not play. They are malicious or treacherous. The color of the garment confirms the expression : light blue to be nice, deep red to be nasty.
On December 3, 2020, Phillips in association with Poly sold at lot 5 for HK $ 103M from a lower estimate of HK $ 50M Hothouse Doll - in the White Room III. It is illustrated by Phillips in a very short video.
Painted in 1995, this acrylic on canvas 120 x 110 cm is a seminal work of this series. The title describes the scene. The child is seated, legs tight and arms dangling, like a doll that has been installed on the floor. Hothouse has a meaning of incubator : she wants to express a maturity greater than her apparent age in order to inspire adults. The space around her is uniformly white. She is a nice girl, with a blue dress.
The artist has given up the distortions of the face. The diverging strabismus of the wide almond-shaped eyes brings an enigmatic and distant temperament that the artist will reuse throughout his career.
To express his relationship to the world, the artist paints portraits of baby girls, with changing facial expressions. They do not play. They are malicious or treacherous. The color of the garment confirms the expression : light blue to be nice, deep red to be nasty.
On December 3, 2020, Phillips in association with Poly sold at lot 5 for HK $ 103M from a lower estimate of HK $ 50M Hothouse Doll - in the White Room III. It is illustrated by Phillips in a very short video.
Painted in 1995, this acrylic on canvas 120 x 110 cm is a seminal work of this series. The title describes the scene. The child is seated, legs tight and arms dangling, like a doll that has been installed on the floor. Hothouse has a meaning of incubator : she wants to express a maturity greater than her apparent age in order to inspire adults. The space around her is uniformly white. She is a nice girl, with a blue dress.
The artist has given up the distortions of the face. The diverging strabismus of the wide almond-shaped eyes brings an enigmatic and distant temperament that the artist will reuse throughout his career.
2
1996 Nice to see you again
2021 SOLD for $ 15.4M by Sotheby's
Yoshitomo Nara populates the walls of his studio in Cologne with his signature big headed doll girls. Around 1996 his style changes. The head portraits are replaced by full length standing figures. The outlines are less black and pastel hues soften the image.
An acrylic on canvas 180 x 150 cm painted in 1996 is ambiguously titled Nice to see you again. This second degree humor calls the basic displeasure of modern society.
The scene is quiet. The orange dress is not aggressive and the monochrome blue floor, unusual in this series, is also appeasing. The facial expression is serious, including the usual light divergent strabismus.
In opposition to that quietness, the girl holds a knife in her baby's hand, blade upwards. The arm is nevertheless so tiny that it cannot become a threat to anybody. It is obviously not a toy. The girl vainly expects from it a revenge against some unidentified disturbance of real life.
Nice to see you again was sold for $ 15.4M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Sotheby's on November 18, 2021, lot 14. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
An acrylic on canvas 180 x 150 cm painted in 1996 is ambiguously titled Nice to see you again. This second degree humor calls the basic displeasure of modern society.
The scene is quiet. The orange dress is not aggressive and the monochrome blue floor, unusual in this series, is also appeasing. The facial expression is serious, including the usual light divergent strabismus.
In opposition to that quietness, the girl holds a knife in her baby's hand, blade upwards. The arm is nevertheless so tiny that it cannot become a threat to anybody. It is obviously not a toy. The girl vainly expects from it a revenge against some unidentified disturbance of real life.
Nice to see you again was sold for $ 15.4M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Sotheby's on November 18, 2021, lot 14. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
3
1998 Frog Girl
2021 SOLD for HK$ 96M by Sotheby's
On April 19, 2021, Sotheby's sold for HK$ 96M Frog girl, acrylic on canvas 120 x 111 cm, lot 1133 from a lower estimate of HK $ 40M. This title is a one-off in Nara's corpus and has not been satisfactorily explained.
The dress is light blue, a symbol of kindness in Nara's artistic grammar, and the straight lips give an expression of waiting. Frog Girl anticipates the Knife behind back of 2000, with the same drawing in a left-right reverse position and a totally opposite mood highlighted by only a few significant details.
The dress is light blue, a symbol of kindness in Nara's artistic grammar, and the straight lips give an expression of waiting. Frog Girl anticipates the Knife behind back of 2000, with the same drawing in a left-right reverse position and a totally opposite mood highlighted by only a few significant details.
4
2000 Knife behind Back
2019 SOLD for HK$ 196M by Sotheby's
2000 is the transition year in the life and career of Yoshitomo Nara who returns to Japan after twelve years in Germany. He did not originally want his art to be political. Yet it was in that year, inspired by his recent visit at Auschwitz. He now considers that his characters can raise their voices to demand that all wars be avoided.
The children of that era are already the Millennials, who desire to influence the evolution of the world against dangers which they cannot analyze and even less control. They feel concerned and do not appreciate how much they are fragile, but they are not dangerous.
The titles in the 2000 series of large size acrylic on canvas transcribe this imaginary fate facing these crazy wars operated by the adults : Last warrior subtitled The Unknown soldier, Missing in Action, The Little ambassador.
By chance this Japanese girl is contemporary with the invention of emoji. Tiny details change completely the meaning of a figure. This trend associated with the expression of a revolt powerfully increases two decades later the power of the 2000 Nara girl.
Knife behind back is one of the strongest messages, increased by a bird's eye view without a visible surrounding. The mouth is severe and stubborn. The right hand is hidden, justifying the interpretation of the title as a threat. This 234 x 208 cm acrylic on canvas was sold for HK $ 196M on October 6, 2019 by Sotheby's, lot 1142.
The suggestion of a hidden object is a fruitful idea which was only latent in the smaller Frog Girl, painted in Germany in 1998, where the child had exactly the same attitude in a left-right reverse position. In Knife, the dress has become an aggressive deep red and the mouth is resolutely hostile.
The character will soon lose her aggressiveness and smile friendly again. Featured in a flesh colored dress, Right hand in back, acrylic on a 180 cm circular canvas painted in 2002 and mounted on fiberglass, was sold for $ 2.17M by Sotheby's on November 17, 2017, lot 420.
The children of that era are already the Millennials, who desire to influence the evolution of the world against dangers which they cannot analyze and even less control. They feel concerned and do not appreciate how much they are fragile, but they are not dangerous.
The titles in the 2000 series of large size acrylic on canvas transcribe this imaginary fate facing these crazy wars operated by the adults : Last warrior subtitled The Unknown soldier, Missing in Action, The Little ambassador.
By chance this Japanese girl is contemporary with the invention of emoji. Tiny details change completely the meaning of a figure. This trend associated with the expression of a revolt powerfully increases two decades later the power of the 2000 Nara girl.
Knife behind back is one of the strongest messages, increased by a bird's eye view without a visible surrounding. The mouth is severe and stubborn. The right hand is hidden, justifying the interpretation of the title as a threat. This 234 x 208 cm acrylic on canvas was sold for HK $ 196M on October 6, 2019 by Sotheby's, lot 1142.
The suggestion of a hidden object is a fruitful idea which was only latent in the smaller Frog Girl, painted in Germany in 1998, where the child had exactly the same attitude in a left-right reverse position. In Knife, the dress has become an aggressive deep red and the mouth is resolutely hostile.
The character will soon lose her aggressiveness and smile friendly again. Featured in a flesh colored dress, Right hand in back, acrylic on a 180 cm circular canvas painted in 2002 and mounted on fiberglass, was sold for $ 2.17M by Sotheby's on November 17, 2017, lot 420.
5
2000 Missing in Action
2021 SOLD for HK$ 124M by Phillips in association with Poly
On May 28, 2017, Phillips sold at lot 11 for HK $ 21.7M the portrait of a little girl whose dual title is unambiguous in its condemnation of war : Last Warrior / The Unknown Soldier.
On a light background of great brightness the skin and dress are ethereal, contrasting with the mouth and eyes which express the message. The mouth is authoritarian and stubborn and the divergent strabismus does not invite to negotiation.
Last Warrior has a sequel that provides the key to the artist's hope. The child's attitude is almost identical with three exceptions : a hand appears to offer a single two-leaf seedling, the mouth loses its twist in favor of an expression of seriousness and the strabismus has been offset. Rightly titled The Little Ambassador, this acrylic on canvas 198 x 133 cm was sold for HK $ 24M by Sotheby's on October 2, 2016, lot 1040.
The wording Missing in Action has the same dramatic meaning as the Last Warrior. Painted in the same style also on 2000, this acrylic on canvas 165 x 150 cm was sold for £ 2M by Phillips on October 14, 2015, lot 9, and for HK $ 124M by Phillips in association with Poly on June 8, 2021, lot 17.
On a light background of great brightness the skin and dress are ethereal, contrasting with the mouth and eyes which express the message. The mouth is authoritarian and stubborn and the divergent strabismus does not invite to negotiation.
Last Warrior has a sequel that provides the key to the artist's hope. The child's attitude is almost identical with three exceptions : a hand appears to offer a single two-leaf seedling, the mouth loses its twist in favor of an expression of seriousness and the strabismus has been offset. Rightly titled The Little Ambassador, this acrylic on canvas 198 x 133 cm was sold for HK $ 24M by Sotheby's on October 2, 2016, lot 1040.
The wording Missing in Action has the same dramatic meaning as the Last Warrior. Painted in the same style also on 2000, this acrylic on canvas 165 x 150 cm was sold for £ 2M by Phillips on October 14, 2015, lot 9, and for HK $ 124M by Phillips in association with Poly on June 8, 2021, lot 17.
2007 Berlin Barack Installation by Yoshitomo Nara
2021 SOLD for HK$ 120M by Poly
to be narrated later
Post sale release
Sold by Poly for HK $ 120M on April 21, 2021, lot 142.
Sold on May 26, 2012 by Christie's for HK $ 11.8M, lot 2041.
Sold by Poly for HK $ 120M on April 21, 2021, lot 142.
Sold on May 26, 2012 by Christie's for HK $ 11.8M, lot 2041.
6
2012 Can't Wait 'til the Night Comes
2019 SOLD for HK$ 93M by Christie's
Born in the region of Aomori, Yoshitomo Nara is a provincial. He studied art in Düsseldorf and began his career in Germany. He is a foreigner for whom the world is an insidious threat. He transposes this impression into the attitude and expression of very young children, with a stylized line that only retains the essentials in the style of caricatures and comics.
From a distance, his little girls remain symbols of purity and innocence. A detail reveals the threat. Sleepness Night, painted in 1999, shows a girl's head with cat's eyes and a fang on either side of her mouth. This 120 x 110 cm acrylic on canvas was sold for HK $ 35M by Christie's on May 25, 2019.
The world is even worse than the artist had imagined. Just before returning to Japan, he visits Auschwitz. His little girl becomes an activist. Knife behind back, acrylic 234 x 208 cm painted in 2000, was sold for HK $ 196M by Sotheby's in 2019.
During the sleepless nights, his character becomes an evil being. Displaying on her head the Christian cross, Midnight Vampire, acrylic 73 x 61 cm painted in 2010, was sold for HK $ 17.5M by Christie's on November 25, 2017. The little girl quietly closes her eyes but has the fangs of the cat.
Everything is getting worse in the real world. The Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 took place near his hometown. Nara, who knew some victims, is at first tetanized. Later the restart of life over devastation encourages his creativity.
On November 23, 2019, Christie's sold for HK $ 93M an acrylic on canvas 193 x 183 cm painted in 2012, lot 54 A. The cat's eyes prepare a nice wink and the expression is smiling, but a single fang comes out at one side of the mouth. The title of the work is the immediate threat by a vampire, confirming the treacherous malaise of the modern world : Can't Wait 'til the Night Comes.
From a distance, his little girls remain symbols of purity and innocence. A detail reveals the threat. Sleepness Night, painted in 1999, shows a girl's head with cat's eyes and a fang on either side of her mouth. This 120 x 110 cm acrylic on canvas was sold for HK $ 35M by Christie's on May 25, 2019.
The world is even worse than the artist had imagined. Just before returning to Japan, he visits Auschwitz. His little girl becomes an activist. Knife behind back, acrylic 234 x 208 cm painted in 2000, was sold for HK $ 196M by Sotheby's in 2019.
During the sleepless nights, his character becomes an evil being. Displaying on her head the Christian cross, Midnight Vampire, acrylic 73 x 61 cm painted in 2010, was sold for HK $ 17.5M by Christie's on November 25, 2017. The little girl quietly closes her eyes but has the fangs of the cat.
Everything is getting worse in the real world. The Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 took place near his hometown. Nara, who knew some victims, is at first tetanized. Later the restart of life over devastation encourages his creativity.
On November 23, 2019, Christie's sold for HK $ 93M an acrylic on canvas 193 x 183 cm painted in 2012, lot 54 A. The cat's eyes prepare a nice wink and the expression is smiling, but a single fang comes out at one side of the mouth. The title of the work is the immediate threat by a vampire, confirming the treacherous malaise of the modern world : Can't Wait 'til the Night Comes.
1998 My Lonesome Cowboy by Murakami
2008 SOLD for $ 15.2M by Sotheby's
Otaku is the fake culture by which the Japanese indulge in manga and video games without limits, deliberately ignoring the real world. Takashi Murakami perceives a similarity of Otaku with American Pop Art, and especially with the pornographic drift of Warhol.
In 1996 Murakami creates a production business to publish his art. He names it the Hiropon Factory. Factory here is a direct reference to Warhol's workshop, and Hiropon is a Japanese slang for heroin (the drug). This company will be incorporated in 2001 as Kaikai Kiki.
Under the pretext of revealing the underlying sexuality of Otaku, Murakami immediately creates a triad of life-size fiberglass characters, each published in an edition of three plus one or two artist's proofs. Each unit is painted by the artist in oil and acrylic. Colors vary, as Koons does in his Celebrations. The influence of Jeff Koons' Pink Panther on this group looks obvious.
Miss ko² is the first to appear. She is welcoming, dressed as a maid from the Anna Miller restaurant chain. The title is enticing : Ko designates a future geisha before her sexual maturity. A copy was sold for $ 6.8M by Phillips on November 8, 2010 and for $ 3.1M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2019.
The triad is completed by the obscene Western couple, with milk and semen respectively lassoed around the body of the character. The almost naked woman with the enlarged breast is Hiropon. A copy was sold for $ 430K by Christie's on May 15, 2002.
The nude man has no name but this 2.54 m high figure edited in 1998 is called My Lonesome Cowboy by reference to the pornographic film Lonesome Cowboys directed in 1968 by Warhol. A copy was sold for $ 15.2M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2008 from a lower estimate of $ 3M, lot 9.
In 1996 Murakami creates a production business to publish his art. He names it the Hiropon Factory. Factory here is a direct reference to Warhol's workshop, and Hiropon is a Japanese slang for heroin (the drug). This company will be incorporated in 2001 as Kaikai Kiki.
Under the pretext of revealing the underlying sexuality of Otaku, Murakami immediately creates a triad of life-size fiberglass characters, each published in an edition of three plus one or two artist's proofs. Each unit is painted by the artist in oil and acrylic. Colors vary, as Koons does in his Celebrations. The influence of Jeff Koons' Pink Panther on this group looks obvious.
Miss ko² is the first to appear. She is welcoming, dressed as a maid from the Anna Miller restaurant chain. The title is enticing : Ko designates a future geisha before her sexual maturity. A copy was sold for $ 6.8M by Phillips on November 8, 2010 and for $ 3.1M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2019.
The triad is completed by the obscene Western couple, with milk and semen respectively lassoed around the body of the character. The almost naked woman with the enlarged breast is Hiropon. A copy was sold for $ 430K by Christie's on May 15, 2002.
The nude man has no name but this 2.54 m high figure edited in 1998 is called My Lonesome Cowboy by reference to the pornographic film Lonesome Cowboys directed in 1968 by Warhol. A copy was sold for $ 15.2M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2008 from a lower estimate of $ 3M, lot 9.
