Japan
See also : Buddhism Ancient sculpture Early Buddhist sculpture Furniture Art by women ca 1960 Current art Current art by women Children Cats
Chronology : 1150-1300 1570-1599 1640-1649 1930 1949 1959 1997 1998 2000-2009 2000
Chronology : 1150-1300 1570-1599 1640-1649 1930 1949 1959 1997 1998 2000-2009 2000
1190 Buddhist wood sculpture attributed to Unkei
2008 SOLD 14.4 M$ including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1597 Trade with Southern Barbarians
2011 SOLD 4.8 M$ including premium
The short Momoyama period, from 1573 to 1603 of our calendar, is significant in Japanese history. During these thirty years, three warlords succeeded to the unification and consolidation of the country. Precisely because of this prosperity, foreigners are regarded as curiosities, not only as enemies.
They are named collectively Nanban, a word that means "Southern Barbarians". Around 1545, Portuguese sailors had founded the harbour of Nagasaki, in the extreme south-west, just opposite Korea. They provided silk and porcelain from China to the Japanese. Soon, distrust will again dominate, Japan will close to foreigners in 1638 and memories of Nanban be destroyed.
The major Japanese art is the screen, whose favorite subjects are scenes animated by many small figures. The artists, according to Japanese tradition, handed down from one to the other the name of their foreman. Kano is one of the most renowned.
Christie's has found a wonder that had remained hidden for four centuries: a pair of screens, each consisting of six panels made with gold leaf. Each screen measures 160 x 360 cm.
One scene shows a large boat in front of which the "Barbarians" are busy. On the other, the ship just arrived at Nagasaki and receives a warm welcome from the Japanese.
One of the figures involved in this intense activity has particularly attracted the attention of the author of the auction catalog. It is an elephant of India, which carries an official on a palanquin. It is known that Don Pedro, the elephant who was presented in 1597 to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was the first of his species to come to Nagasaki and had no immediate successor. Both screens are marked with the seal of Kano Naizen, an artist who worked in the service of Toyotomi.
The sale will be held on March 23 in New York.
POST SALE COMMENT
Great price for this exceptional pair of screens: $ 4.8 million including premium.
The image of one of them was shared by Artdaily before the sale.
They are named collectively Nanban, a word that means "Southern Barbarians". Around 1545, Portuguese sailors had founded the harbour of Nagasaki, in the extreme south-west, just opposite Korea. They provided silk and porcelain from China to the Japanese. Soon, distrust will again dominate, Japan will close to foreigners in 1638 and memories of Nanban be destroyed.
The major Japanese art is the screen, whose favorite subjects are scenes animated by many small figures. The artists, according to Japanese tradition, handed down from one to the other the name of their foreman. Kano is one of the most renowned.
Christie's has found a wonder that had remained hidden for four centuries: a pair of screens, each consisting of six panels made with gold leaf. Each screen measures 160 x 360 cm.
One scene shows a large boat in front of which the "Barbarians" are busy. On the other, the ship just arrived at Nagasaki and receives a warm welcome from the Japanese.
One of the figures involved in this intense activity has particularly attracted the attention of the author of the auction catalog. It is an elephant of India, which carries an official on a palanquin. It is known that Don Pedro, the elephant who was presented in 1597 to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was the first of his species to come to Nagasaki and had no immediate successor. Both screens are marked with the seal of Kano Naizen, an artist who worked in the service of Toyotomi.
The sale will be held on March 23 in New York.
POST SALE COMMENT
Great price for this exceptional pair of screens: $ 4.8 million including premium.
The image of one of them was shared by Artdaily before the sale.
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.
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.
1930 Youki the Snowy Woman
2016 SOLD for HK$ 39M including premium
Tsuguharu Foujita arrives in 1913 in Montparnasse. He brings into the community of painters his Japanese sensitivity that will harmoniously mingle with the effectiveness of the lines of the Art Déco drawings.
Like the other artists, Foujita seeks and finds the ideal woman in Montparnasse. He marries Fernande and paints nudes of Kiki. The whiteness of Lucienne's skin brings to him a new artistic impulse. He nicknames her Youki which means Little snow.
Now his paintings must present the expressionist effect of the perfect woman. He covers the canvas with white or ivory paint on which he draws the nude in ink by a thin and sharp line before completing the work by the transparent color of skin and hair.
The hedonistic life of Montparnasse does not invite to fidelity. In 1930 Youki leaves Foujita for loving Desnos. The painter nevertheless continues his aesthetic quest and copies a 1924 modello showing Youki sleeping naked on a bed with her arm and her long hair carelessly flowing to the floor.
The ideal and diaphanous woman occupies the upper part of the picture. In the foreground, the strong point is a reclining cat bringing a high contrast in density along with the opposition of his bright gaze with the inactive attitude of the sleeping goddess.
This large size artwork 98 x 163 cm was sold for £ 1.2 million including premium by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014. It is estimated HK $ 20M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 3, lot 1035.
Like the other artists, Foujita seeks and finds the ideal woman in Montparnasse. He marries Fernande and paints nudes of Kiki. The whiteness of Lucienne's skin brings to him a new artistic impulse. He nicknames her Youki which means Little snow.
Now his paintings must present the expressionist effect of the perfect woman. He covers the canvas with white or ivory paint on which he draws the nude in ink by a thin and sharp line before completing the work by the transparent color of skin and hair.
The hedonistic life of Montparnasse does not invite to fidelity. In 1930 Youki leaves Foujita for loving Desnos. The painter nevertheless continues his aesthetic quest and copies a 1924 modello showing Youki sleeping naked on a bed with her arm and her long hair carelessly flowing to the floor.
The ideal and diaphanous woman occupies the upper part of the picture. In the foreground, the strong point is a reclining cat bringing a high contrast in density along with the opposition of his bright gaze with the inactive attitude of the sleeping goddess.
This large size artwork 98 x 163 cm was sold for £ 1.2 million including premium by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014. It is estimated HK $ 20M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 3, lot 1035.
1949 La Fête d'Anniversaire by Foujita
2018 SOLD for £ 7.1M including premium by Bonhams
Link to catalogue.
1959 Takao by Kazuo Shiraga
2018 SOLD for € 8.7M including premium by Sotheby's
Link to catalogue.
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.
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.
1959 The Self Obliteration of Yayoi Kusama
2015 SOLD for $ 5.9M including premium
Since childhood, Yayoi Kusama is practicing drawing and painting to fight her anxiety. She sees in hallucination the motif which she is painting, infinitely repeated, and comes to assimilate it to the contradiction between individual and mankind.
In 1958, viewing the network of lights of New York from the top of the skyscrapers, she appreciates the mystical dimension of her own ailment. She expresses infinity, spending dozens of consecutive hours to tirelessly paint on the canvas the same tiny colorful pattern whose repetition cancels her discomfort.
Her art comes at the right time, when New York seeks to define a new style to supersede the expressionism. Searching for her psychic quietness through a process of annihilation, self obliteration in her own wording, she is supported by Donald Judd and the minimalists. The use of white in art is the concern of many other artists including Manzoni, Ryman, Uecker and the unlimited repeatability of her brush is comparable to Agnes Martin's.
On May 12 in New York, Sotheby's sells Interminable Net No. 3, one of the first works of her new style in New York. This oil on canvas 133 x 125 cm painted in 1959 is estimated $ 5M, lot 17. On 12 November 2014, Christie's sold for $ 7.1M including premium White No. 28, 148 x 111 cm painted in 1960.
This unprecedented therapy by abstract art may have temporarily relieved Yayoi Kusama but did not heal her. Her voluntary move to a mental home in Japan did not stop her creativity.
In 1958, viewing the network of lights of New York from the top of the skyscrapers, she appreciates the mystical dimension of her own ailment. She expresses infinity, spending dozens of consecutive hours to tirelessly paint on the canvas the same tiny colorful pattern whose repetition cancels her discomfort.
Her art comes at the right time, when New York seeks to define a new style to supersede the expressionism. Searching for her psychic quietness through a process of annihilation, self obliteration in her own wording, she is supported by Donald Judd and the minimalists. The use of white in art is the concern of many other artists including Manzoni, Ryman, Uecker and the unlimited repeatability of her brush is comparable to Agnes Martin's.
On May 12 in New York, Sotheby's sells Interminable Net No. 3, one of the first works of her new style in New York. This oil on canvas 133 x 125 cm painted in 1959 is estimated $ 5M, lot 17. On 12 November 2014, Christie's sold for $ 7.1M including premium White No. 28, 148 x 111 cm painted in 1960.
This unprecedented therapy by abstract art may have temporarily relieved Yayoi Kusama but did not heal her. Her voluntary move to a mental home in Japan did not stop her creativity.
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.
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.
1972 Farewell to New York by Yayoi Kusama
2017 SOLD for HK$ 42M including premium
In 1958 Yayoi Kusama brings to New York City the visual elements of her hallucination. The world is an unlimited net or curtain. Mankind is nothing more than undifferentiated tiny spots distributed evenly throughout that network. The basic element is a polka dot but it can also take other forms.
The very long stay of the artist in New York is a continuous attempt to escape the common fate. She imagines and realizes many happenings at the extreme limits of decency and even beyond.
She is in contact with the avant-gardes. Donald Judd is enthusiastic about her graphic minimalism. She admires the use of ordinary objects of chance by Joseph Cornell who manages an exception to his lonely habits for maintaining with her a daily and platonic relationship which is beneficial to the creativity of both artists. Yayoi Kusama covers with her dots various artefacts as well as the naked bodies of the participants of her performances and uses mirrors to display the infinity.
On September 30 in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas 107 x 92 cm painted by Yayoi Kusama in 1972, lot 1067estimated HK $ 32M. This artwork is an unexpected return to her obsession with the infinity nets but can also be considered as a new prototype by its use of multiple colors.
After 14 years of overwork in New York the artist is exhausted. The sudden death of Cornell on December 29, 1972 completes the ruin of her fragile world. She returns to Japan in the following year. Her voluntary residence since 1977 in a hospital for the mentally ill protects her against her desire for excessive performance without reducing her graphic creativity.
Yayoi Kusama succeeded in making the public enjoy her offbeat vision of the universe.
The very long stay of the artist in New York is a continuous attempt to escape the common fate. She imagines and realizes many happenings at the extreme limits of decency and even beyond.
She is in contact with the avant-gardes. Donald Judd is enthusiastic about her graphic minimalism. She admires the use of ordinary objects of chance by Joseph Cornell who manages an exception to his lonely habits for maintaining with her a daily and platonic relationship which is beneficial to the creativity of both artists. Yayoi Kusama covers with her dots various artefacts as well as the naked bodies of the participants of her performances and uses mirrors to display the infinity.
On September 30 in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas 107 x 92 cm painted by Yayoi Kusama in 1972, lot 1067estimated HK $ 32M. This artwork is an unexpected return to her obsession with the infinity nets but can also be considered as a new prototype by its use of multiple colors.
After 14 years of overwork in New York the artist is exhausted. The sudden death of Cornell on December 29, 1972 completes the ruin of her fragile world. She returns to Japan in the following year. Her voluntary residence since 1977 in a hospital for the mentally ill protects her against her desire for excessive performance without reducing her graphic creativity.
Yayoi Kusama succeeded in making the public enjoy her offbeat vision of the universe.
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.
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.
1998 My Lonesome Cowboy by Murakami
2008 SOLD for $ 15.2M including premium by Sotheby's
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.
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.
2010 Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama
2019 SOLD for HK$ 54M including premium by Sotheby's
Link to catalogue.
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.
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.
