ArtHitParade
ArtHitParade on Twitter
  • Home
    • Contact
  • Next Auctions
    • Calendar
  • Top 10
    • Origin
    • From 600 BCE to CE
    • Years 1 to 1000
    • Years 1000 to 1300
    • 14th Century
    • 15th Century >
      • Years 1400-1429
      • Years 1430-1459
      • Years 1460-1479
      • Years 1480-1499
    • 16th Century >
      • Years 1500-1519
      • Decade 1520-1529
      • Decade 1530-1539
      • Years 1540-1569
      • Years 1570-1599
    • 17th Century >
      • Decade 1600-1609
      • Decade 1610-1619
      • Decade 1620-1629
      • Decade 1630-1639
      • Decade 1640-1649
      • Decade 1650-1659
      • Years 1660-1679
      • Years 1680-1699
    • 18th Century >
      • Years 1700-1719
      • Decade 1720-1729
      • Decade 1730-1739
      • Decade 1740-1749
      • Decade 1750-1759
      • Decade 1760-1769
      • Decade 1770-1779 >
        • 1776
      • Decade 1780-1789
      • Decade 1790-1799
    • 19th Century >
      • Decade 1800-1809
      • Decade 1810-1819
      • Decade 1820-1829
      • Decade 1830-1839
      • Decade 1840-1849
      • Decade 1850-1859
      • Decade 1860-1869
      • Decade 1870-1879
      • Decade 1880-1889 >
        • 1887
        • 1888
        • 1889
      • Decade 1890-1899 >
        • 1890
        • 1892
    • 20th Century >
      • Decade 1900-1909 >
        • 1904
        • 1905
        • 1907
        • 1908
        • 1909
      • Decade 1910-1919 >
        • 1911
        • 1912
        • 1913
        • 1914
        • 1915
        • 1916
        • 1917
        • 1918
        • 1919
      • Decade 1920-1929 >
        • 1920
        • 1923
        • 1925
        • 1926
        • 1927
        • 1928
        • 1929
      • Decade 1930-1939 >
        • 1930
        • 1931
        • 1932
        • 1933
        • 1934
        • 1935
        • 1936
        • 1937
        • 1938
        • 1939
      • Decade 1940-1949 >
        • 1941
        • 1942
        • 1945
        • 1947
        • 1948
        • 1949
      • Decade 1950-1959 >
        • 1950
        • 1951
        • 1952
        • 1953
        • 1954
        • 1955
        • 1956
        • 1957
        • 1958
        • 1959
      • Decade 1960-1969 >
        • 1960
        • 1961
        • 1962
        • 1963
        • 1964
        • 1965
        • 1966
        • 1967
        • 1968
        • 1969
      • Decade 1970-1979 >
        • 1970
        • 1971
        • 1972
        • 1975
        • 1977
        • 1979
      • Decade 1980-1989 >
        • 1980
        • 1981
        • 1982
        • 1983
        • 1985
        • 1986
        • 1987
        • 1988
      • Decade 1990-1999 >
        • 1993
        • 1994
        • 1996
        • 1997
        • 1998
    • Decade 2000-2009 >
      • 2000
      • 2001
      • 2006
      • 2007
    • From 2010 to Now >
      • Current Art
  • Roman Empire
  • Renaissance
  • Painting
    • Ancient Painting >
      • Oil on Copper
    • 18th Century Painting
  • Ancient Drawing
  • Art on Paper
  • Sculpture
    • Bust
    • Ancient Sculpture
    • Italian Sculpture
    • French Sculpture
  • Women Artists
    • Ancient Art by Women
    • Art by Women ca 1960
    • Current Art by Women
  • Furniture
    • Chairs and Seats
    • Colonial Furniture
    • Ancient French Furniture
    • 18th Century Furniture
    • 20th Century Furniture >
      • Art Deco
  • Prints
    • Ancient Prints
    • Modern Prints
  • Photo
    • Old Photos >
      • Travel Photos
      • Early French Photo
    • Photos 1900-1940 >
      • Photos in the 1920s
    • Photos 1970s 1980s
    • Gursky
    • Photos by Women
  • The Man
  • The Woman
  • Children
  • Man and Woman
  • Groups
  • Self Portrait
    • Self Portrait 2nd page
  • Nude
  • Abstract Art
    • Abstract Art - 2nd page
  • Landscape
    • Midi
    • Alps
    • Mountains in China
  • Cities
    • Venice
    • Paris
    • Los Angeles
  • Flowers
    • Bouquet
  • Animals
    • Bird
    • Cats
    • Horse
  • Dragon
  • Tabletop
  • Early Still Life
  • Music and Dance in Art
    • Music in Old Painting
  • Sport in Art
  • Orientalism
    • Orientalism 1830-1900
  • France
    • Louis XIV to XVI
    • Revolution and Empire
    • Louis XVIII to 2nd Empire
    • Ancient French Painting
    • Cézanne
    • Monet >
      • Monet before 1878
      • From Vétheuil to Giverny
      • Pond by Monet
    • Gauguin
    • Lautrec
    • Matisse
    • Post War French Art >
      • Klein
  • Italy
    • Italian Painting 1280-1700
    • Canaletto
    • Modigliani
    • Modern Italian Art
    • Italy 2nd page
  • Switzerland before 1940
  • Giacometti
    • Giacometti 1947-53
  • Bacon
    • Bacon before 1963
    • Bacon 1963-70
    • Later Bacons
  • UK - 2nd page
    • Ancient England
    • George I to III
    • George IV to Victoria
    • British Royals
    • Turner
    • Freud
    • Hockney
    • Doig
  • Germany
    • Ancient Germany
    • Richter >
      • Richter before 1986
    • Germany - 2nd page
  • Rembrandt
  • Van Gogh
  • De Kooning
  • Holland 2nd page
  • Old Flanders and Belgium
    • Flemish Art >
      • Rubens
    • Magritte
    • Tintin
    • Belgium 2nd page
  • Picasso
    • Picasso before 1907
    • Picasso 1907-1931
    • Picasso in the 1930s
    • Picasso 1940-1960
    • Picasso from 1961
    • Prints by Picasso
  • Spain - 2nd page
    • Ancient Spain
    • Miro
    • Spain 3rd page
  • Klimt
  • Austria 2nd page
  • USA
    • US Independence
    • Development of USA
    • US Civil War
    • Far West
    • US Painting before 1940
    • Rockwell
    • Rothko >
      • Early Rothko
      • Rothko 1957-70
    • Pollock
    • Lichtenstein >
      • Lichtenstein after 1965
    • Warhol >
      • USA by Warhol
      • Celebrities by Warhol
      • Later Warhols
    • Twombly
    • Koons
    • Basquiat
    • USA 2nd page
  • Canada
  • Central and South Americas
  • China
    • Archaic China >
      • Ritual Bronzes
    • Northern Song
    • Southern Song and Yuan
    • Early Ming
    • Later Ming
    • Early Qing
    • Qianlong
    • Modern China >
      • Sanyu
      • Zao Wou-Ki
    • New Chinese Painting
    • Chinese Porcelain >
      • Song to Yuan Porcelain
      • Ming Porcelain
      • Qing Porcelain
    • Chinese Art
    • Chinese Calligraphy
    • Jade
  • India
    • Tibet and Nepal
    • Modern India >
      • Gaitonde
  • Persia
  • Japan
  • Russia
    • Russia 1700-1900
    • Kandinsky
  • Eastern Europe
    • Chagall
  • Northern Europe
    • Munch
  • Egypt
  • Tropical Africa
    • Congo
    • Gabon
    • Mask
  • Tribal Oceania
  • Australia
    • Colonial Australia
  • Islam
  • Buddhism
    • Early Buddhist Sculpture
  • Judaica
  • Christianity
    • Madonna and Child
  • Cars
    • Birth of Automobile
    • Cars of the 1910s
    • Cars of the 1920s
    • Cars of the 1930s >
      • Cars 1930-33
      • Cars 1934-36
      • Cars 1937-39
    • Post War Cars >
      • Cars 1940-50
      • Cars 1951-53
      • Cars 1954-55
      • Cars 1956-57
      • Cars 1958-59
    • Cars of the 1960s >
      • Cars 1960-61
      • Cars 1962-64
      • Cars 1965-67
    • Cars 1970s 1980s
    • Supercars
    • Hypercars
    • Ferrari >
      • Early Ferrari
      • From LWB to GTO >
        • California Spider
      • Ferrari after 1962
    • Italian Cars
    • Mercedes-Benz
    • Porsche
    • British Cars >
      • Aston Martin
      • Jaguar
      • McLaren
    • Bugatti
    • French Cars
    • US Cars >
      • Duesenberg
    • Cars - 2nd page
  • Motorcycles
  • Jewels
    • White Diamond
    • Pink Diamond
    • Blue Diamond
    • African Diamonds
    • Jewels - 2nd page
    • Cartier
  • Silverware
  • Coin
    • Gold Coins
    • Silver Coins
    • Antique Coins
    • Coins 1000-1775
    • Early US Coins >
      • US Coins 1792-1793
    • Coins 1800-49
    • Coins 1850-69
    • Coins 1870-99
    • 20th century Coins
    • British Coins
    • US Dollars
    • Asian Coins
  • Paper Currency
  • Medal and Decoration
    • Nobel Medals
  • Time Pieces
    • Clocks >
      • Old Clocks
    • Mechanical Craft ca 1800 >
      • Jaquet-Droz and Followers
    • Modern Watches
    • New Watches
    • Patek Philippe >
      • Development of Patek Philippe
      • Patek Philippe 1945-1980
    • Rolex
    • Watches 2nd page
    • English Time Pieces
    • French Time Pieces
  • Glass and Crystal
    • Glass before 1900
    • Glass 1900-10
  • European Porcelain
    • Ceramic before 1760
  • Textiles
  • Garment
  • Fashion
  • Books
    • Incunabula
    • Books 1501-1700
    • Fine Books 1700-1850
  • Literature
    • Literature in English
    • Literature in French
  • Poems and Lyrics
  • Autograph
  • Manuscript
  • Religious Texts
  • Political Writing
  • Comic Books
  • Comic Art
  • Travel
  • Space
  • Maps
  • Cars in Movies
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Musical Instrument
    • Violin
    • Guitar
    • Musical Instrument 2nd page
  • Music Hall
    • The Beatles
  • Poster
  • Sport Memorabilia
    • Sport Equipment >
      • Baseball Bat
    • Sport Document
    • Sport Rewards and Medals
    • Sport Images before 1945
    • Sports Card after 1945
    • Baseball >
      • Babe Ruth
      • Mickey Mantle
      • Baseball Uniform
    • Basketball
    • Ice Hockey
    • Sport Memorabilia 2nd page
    • Olympic Games
  • Origins of Sports
  • Historical Arms
    • Blade and Armour
    • Colt 1836-62
    • Later Colts
    • Winchester
    • Firearms - 2nd page
  • Toys and Carousels
    • Doll
  • Games
  • Stamps
    • World Stamps
    • US Stamps
  • Inventions
  • Instrument and Equipment
  • Sciences
    • Ancient Science
    • Sciences 1600-1800
    • Sciences from 1800
    • Astronomy
    • Medicine
    • Natural History
  • Whisky
  • Wine
  • Past Sales

Japan

See also : Buddhism  Early Buddhist sculpture  Furniture  Art by women ca 1960  Current art  Current art by women
Chronology : 1640-1649  1949  1959  1997  1998  2000-2009  2000

1193 A Kamakura Buddha
2008 SOLD for $ 14.4M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020

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 including premium by Christie's on March 18, 2008, lot 200.

Buddhism
Early Buddhist sculpture

1643 Mazarin's Treasure
2013 SOLD 7.3 M€ including premium

Around 1640 in Kyoto, the art of lacquer reached a fabulous refinement. The Dutch East India Company managed to export some pieces of very high quality.

At that time in Europe, the commode has not been invented, and the usual saving furniture is the coffre, without drawers. A wonderful chest kept in the Victoria and Albert Museum is part of a group of four shipped to Batavia on 1 October 1643. Its attested belonging to the Mazarin - La Meilleraye family suggests that it was acquired by the cardinal-minister. It is identified as the Mazarin chest.

The very detailed website of the museum devotes a full page to another chest from the same series, lamenting that its fate is unknown since 1941. Black and white photos show a panel and the top..

The lost piece was just found in a family that had no idea of its importance. It is listed in the annual prestige sale at the château de Cheverny by Rouillac on June 9. The auction house considers that it had been acquired circa 1658 in Amsterdam by an agent of Mazarin. The cardinal, a great lover of art, was considered as the richest man in the world.

This is a large piece, 64 x 145 x 73 cm. The total surface of black and gold lacquer is extraordinary: nearly 9 square meters including the inside of the lid. Despite its decades of incognito survival, it is in very good condition.

Above all, it represents by itself a synthesis of the decorative arts of Japan, with all the technical applications of lacquer including inlays of mother of pearl. The many figures of people, animals and palaces are exquisite.

The position of these chests in the history of furniture is great. It was to wait for more than half a century to get the fashion of commodes and desks decorated with lacquered panels.

POST SALE COMMENT

Purchased for the benefit of the Rijksmuseum, the chest will come back to Amsterdam three and a half centuries after being bought in this city by an agent of Mazarin. Its price, € 7.3 million including premium, confirms that Rouillac made a perfect analysis by considering it as a masterpiece.

Furniture
Decade 1640-1649

1949 La Fête d'Anniversaire by Foujita
2018 SOLD for £ 7.1M including premium by Bonhams
narrated in 2020

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 at lot 18, Bonhams sold for £ 7.1M from a lower estimate of £ 900K La Fête d'anniversaire, oil on canvas 77 x 102 cm. 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.

1949

1959 Takao by Kazuo Shiraga
2018 SOLD for € 8.7M including premium by Sotheby's

Link to catalogue.
1959

1959 Endless White by Yayoi Kusama
​2019 SOLD for HK$ 62M including premium

Yayoi Kusama arrives in New York City in June 1958, bringing therein her obsessions and her hallucinogenic visions. She is nothing but a small insignificant dot in the infinity of mankind, but she would like this dot to become highly visible.

In 1959 she covers her canvases with a network of regularly spaced dots in white paint, in a minimalist gesture that she reproduces without any other modification than thickness variations.

This work is never finished. She is able to perform it without resting during forty or fifty hours, satiating her body and subconscious mind in this repetitive task. Each of these identical dots was at one moment an achievement of her creation. When a canvas is entirely filled with that white proliferation, she begins another one that can be viewed as its extension.

She reaches her target of astonishing the New York arts community. Her art is the opposite of all tendencies : it does not offer the global effect of abstract expressionism, nor the gestural amplitude of action painting, nor the new figuration of pop art. Her monochrome white is not a sign of purity but a provocation. Donald Judd is amazed.

No. 2, 183 x 274 cm, which had belonged to Judd, was sold for $ 5.8M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2008. Interminable net # 3, 133 x 125 cm, was sold for $ 5.9M including premium by Sotheby's on May 12, 2015. Interminable net # 4, 144 x 109 cm, is estimated HK $ 50M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 1, lot 1144.

The creative act is a temporary therapy that does not solve her obsession against sex. Wanting to face it like Dali had done thirty years earlier, she will end her New York period in exhibitionism and pornography.
Art by Women ca 1960

1960 The Winged Artist
2019 SOLD for € 7.8M including premium

From 1959 Kazuo Shiraga takes as his favorite theme the 108 Stars of Destiny, a Ming epic novel whose reading in a Japanese translation had fascinated him during his childhood.

This theme is basically rebellious. 108 bandits form an army after being banished by a god. In a strictly ranked hierarchy, they are divided into 36 dominant heavenly spirits and 72 operational earthly demons. It is assigned to each of them a star, a fetish nickname, a specific role in the army and a weapon.

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.

On December 4 in Paris, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas painted in 1960 in the largest format used by the artist, 182 x 273 cm, lot 4 estimated € 5M. It is made in black monochrome, with a very large thickness of paint that becomes almost a sculpture with its powerful movements in an arc. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.

Shiraga offers here his reincarnation of the 25th heavenly spirit, the Winged Tiger, named Lei Heng in Chinese and Tentaisei Soushiko in Japanese. He is in the legend an infantry leader, armed with a long saber named podao in Chinese used in the battles to slice the legs of the horses.

Lower in the hierarchy, Chikisei Sesuisho, the 44th character and 8th demon, was painted in the same year. This 130 x 193 cm oil on canvas was sold for HK $ 21M including premium by Christie's on May 30, 2016.

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 including premium by Sotheby's on June 6, 2018 over a lower estimate of € 1,8M.

1960 White by Yayoi Kusama
2014 SOLD for $ 7.1M including premium by Christie's

1995 The Doll Incubator
2020 SOLD for HK$ 103M including premium

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, bright red to be nasty. Knife behind back, inspired by the artist's visit to Auschwitz, has a red dress. This 234 x 208 cm acrylic on canvas painted in 2000 was sold for HK $ 196M including premium by Sotheby's on October 6, 2019.

On December 3 in Hong Kong, Phillips in collaboration with Poly sells Hothouse Doll - in the White Room III, lot 5 estimated HK $ 50M, 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. The dress is blue.

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.

1997 Breakfast at Tokyo
2010 SOLD for $ 6.8M including premium
2019 SOLD for $ 3.1M including premium

PRE 2019 SALE DISCUSSION

In Japan, the Otaku culture applies to a contradictory aspect of contemporary life : the geek is alone at home, obsessed with video games and comics that bring him a sexually loaded fantasy world. The first sculptures by Takashi Murakami are a translation of the otaku into life size characters. They also provide a Japanese sequel to Jeff Koons' Pink Panther.

The first work in this series, in 1997, is Miss ko², painted in oil and acrylic on fiberglass and synthetic resin. It has been executed in 3 copies plus one artist's proof, slightly different from each other for the details of the painting in manga and Playboy styles.

The figure is directly inspired by the sexy uniforms of the waitresses at Anna Miller restaurant in Tokyo. The Miss stretches her arm as for offering breakfast, with an enticing commercial smile.

She is thin with big breasts, wearing a miniskirt covered with a little apron, and has panties. Paradoxically this modern geisha also has the schoolgirl tie and a big juvenile knot in the hair. With her much extended legs above high heels, she reaches 1.83 m high.

The copy 3/3 was discussed in this column in 2010. It was sold for $ 6.8M including premium by Phillips de Pury on November 8, 2010, lot 10. At the same time, another copy participated in the Murakami solo exhibition inside the Château de Versailles which horrified the French traditionalists. Then the attention has dropped. The same copy was sold for HK $ 23M including premium by Sotheby's on April 2, 2017 and is estimated $ 2M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 14, lot 46.

Immediately after Miss ko², Murakami makes his obscene couple inspired more directly from American pop art and counterculture : Hiropon, the woman, in 1997, and My Lonesome Cowboy, the man, in 1998. A copy of the cowboy was sold for $ 15.2M including premium by Sotheby's on May 14, 2008.

1997

1998 My Lonesome Cowboy by Murakami
2008 SOLD for $ 15.2M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020

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 including premium by Phillips on November 8, 2010 and for $ 3.1M including premium 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 including premium 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 including premium by Sotheby's on May 14, 2008 from a lower estimate of $ 3M, lot 9.

1998

​2000 The Threat of the Millennials
2019 SOLD for HK$ 196M including premium

In 2000 Yoshitomo Nara returns to Japan after twelve years in Germany. His style changes. The heads of little girls are replaced by full length standing portraits. The dimensions of the works increase, the outlines are less black and pastel hues soften the image.

Yoshitomo Nara does not want his art to be political. Yet it was in 2000, inspired by his recent visit to Auschwitz. The children of this era are already the Millennials, who desire to influence the evolution of the world against dangers which they cannot analyze and even less control. The titles transcribe this imaginary revolt : Last warrior subtitled The Unknown soldier, The Little ambassador.

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 will be sold on October 6 by Sotheby's in Hong Kong, lot 1142.

The other two examples referred above, also painted in 2000, are taken from auction history. The Little ambassador, 198 x 132 cm, was sold for HK $ 24M including premium by Sotheby's on October 2, 2016. Last warrior, 165 x 150 cm, was sold for HK $ 21.7M including premium by Phillips on May 28, 2017 .

This Japanese girl is contemporary with the invention of emoji. The suggestion of a hidden object is a fruitful idea. The character soon loses his aggressiveness and smiles gently. Right hand in back, acrylic on a 180 cm circular canvas painted in 2002 and mounted on fiberglass, was sold for $ 2.17M including premium by Sotheby's on November 17, 2017.
Decade 2000-2009
2000

2009 Agent Orange by Yoshitomo Nara
2020 SOLD for HK$ 66M including premium by Christie's

Link to catalogue.

2010 Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama
2019 SOLD for HK$ 54M including premium by Sotheby's

Link to catalogue.
Current Art by Women

2012 An Insidious Smile
2019 SOLD for HK$ 93M including premium

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 including premium 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 including premium by Sotheby's on October 6, 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 including premium 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 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells as lot 54 A an acrylic on canvas 193 x 183 cm painted in 2012. 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.

Current Art
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.