Yoshitomo NARA (born in 1959)
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
Chronology : 1995 1996 1998 2000-2009 2000 2007 2017
Chronology : 1995 1996 1998 2000-2009 2000 2007 2017
Intro
Born in the region of Aomori, Yoshitomo Nara is a provincial. He studied art in Düsseldorf from 1988 and began his career in Germany. He is a foreigner for whom the world is an insidious threat.
His clear line appeals to the Japanese, accustomed to prints and manga, but the artist is mostly inspired in his style from the images of the children's tales books.
His girls never play. They are malicious or treacherous. The color of the garment confirms the expression : light blue to be nice, deep red to be nasty. As early as 1991, he features a girl with a knife in her hand.
The basic theme in the art of Yoshitomo Nara is indeed not the children but the ambiguousness of the world hampered by war, violence and disaster in the line of the Biblical Plagues of Egypt. He is expressing the basic emotions through his childish characters. Such feelings may be positive or negative, sweet or mischievous, and often protesting or claiming.
Present, painted in 1994, displays a walking girl firmly holding a knife. She is in vermillion dress with a severe face and an angling gaze over a turquoise background. The body is in profile but the head is half turned for her threat to the viewer. The title warns for the new dangers brought to innocent children by modern life.
This acrylic on canvas 180 x 150 cm was sold for HK $ 72M by Christie's on November 30, 2022, lot 34. The large format was certainly made possible by his relocation to a spacious building near Cologne in the same year.
His clear line appeals to the Japanese, accustomed to prints and manga, but the artist is mostly inspired in his style from the images of the children's tales books.
His girls never play. They are malicious or treacherous. The color of the garment confirms the expression : light blue to be nice, deep red to be nasty. As early as 1991, he features a girl with a knife in her hand.
The basic theme in the art of Yoshitomo Nara is indeed not the children but the ambiguousness of the world hampered by war, violence and disaster in the line of the Biblical Plagues of Egypt. He is expressing the basic emotions through his childish characters. Such feelings may be positive or negative, sweet or mischievous, and often protesting or claiming.
Present, painted in 1994, displays a walking girl firmly holding a knife. She is in vermillion dress with a severe face and an angling gaze over a turquoise background. The body is in profile but the head is half turned for her threat to the viewer. The title warns for the new dangers brought to innocent children by modern life.
This acrylic on canvas 180 x 150 cm was sold for HK $ 72M by Christie's on November 30, 2022, lot 34. The large format was certainly made possible by his relocation to a spacious building near Cologne in the same year.
1995 Hothouse Doll
2020 SOLD for HK$ 103M by Phillips in association with Poly
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 by Yoshitomo Nara. It is illustrated by the auction house 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.
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.
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.
1998 Frog Girl
2021 SOLD for HK$ 96M by Sotheby's
From a distance, the little girls by Yoshitomo Nara remain symbols of purity and innocence. A detail reveals the threat.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
2000 Missing in Action
2021 SOLD for HK$ 124M by Phillips in association with Poly
The world is even worse than Yoshitomo Nara had imagined. Just before returning to Japan in 2000, he visits Auschwitz. His little girl becomes an activist.
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 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.
2007 Berlin Barack
2021 SOLD for HK$ 120M by Poly
Berlin Barack, Room 1 is an installation made in 2007 by Yoshitomo Nara for exhibition in a gallery in Berlin. It takes the shape of a wood house 263 x 320 x 280 cm overall including a side panel. The artist was supported by a Japanese installation art group.
On an inside wall the acrylic in oil 145 x 130 cm featuring a typically rebel little girl is visible through a window. The painting is titled Hothouse Doll after an early opus from the Cologne period where it referred to a child incubator. The fancy doll house arrangement may be compared to a Japanese tea house with the Nara girl painting replacing a devotion figure.
The side panel bears like a circus banner an acrylic on wood 102 x 183 cm with the English title Three Sisters, featuring a team of three juggling girls in light blue dress and cap.
Berlin Barack was sold on May 26, 2012 by Christie's for HK $ 11.8M, lot 2041 and for HK $ 120M by Poly on April 21, 2021, lot 142.
On an inside wall the acrylic in oil 145 x 130 cm featuring a typically rebel little girl is visible through a window. The painting is titled Hothouse Doll after an early opus from the Cologne period where it referred to a child incubator. The fancy doll house arrangement may be compared to a Japanese tea house with the Nara girl painting replacing a devotion figure.
The side panel bears like a circus banner an acrylic on wood 102 x 183 cm with the English title Three Sisters, featuring a team of three juggling girls in light blue dress and cap.
Berlin Barack was sold on May 26, 2012 by Christie's for HK $ 11.8M, lot 2041 and for HK $ 120M by Poly on April 21, 2021, lot 142.
2012 In the Milky Lake
2023 SOLD for HK$ 100M by Sotheby's
The little girl standing half submerged in a rippling puddle regularly appears in the works of Yoshitomo Nara. It expresses a rain that so invades his heart that its internal puddle of tears joins the surrounding lake in a path from vulnerability to happiness.
Painted in 1998, Haze Days is an early example, with a concerned face and the pink attire of a nice girl. A pink bandage wraps the head like an Easter egg, most likely as a reference to van Gogh's painful self portrait with bandaged ear. The luminous puddle-pond is an appeasing pastel cream. Please watch the video shared by the auction house before it was withdrawn from sale by Sotheby's on May 19, 2023, lot 12.
In 2011 Nara was much shocked by the ravage of the great earthquake and associated tsunami that created the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. He could not work again as long as he could bring some help to the victims.
Painted in 2012, In the Milky Lake expresses the healing of the nature and of himself. No other work can be more positive. His small girl nearly got the proportions of a real child with rounded cheeks.
Her dress is a dark green which supersedes the simplistic symbols of pink and red. The expression is gently smiling and the wide eyes open to her intimate interior world. The dark orange hair brings a chromatic balance to the whole.
She is not half submerged in a puddle but in an unlimited lake painted in a milky color of extreme sweetness that increases the serene expression of a retrieved hope and peace. Nara confirmed : " Through painting, my soul gets transcended, then my negative feelings are gone.”
This acrylic on canvas 197 x 194 cm was sold for HK $ 100M from a lower estimate of HK $ 80M by Sotheby's on April 5, 2023, lot 1119. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Painted in 1998, Haze Days is an early example, with a concerned face and the pink attire of a nice girl. A pink bandage wraps the head like an Easter egg, most likely as a reference to van Gogh's painful self portrait with bandaged ear. The luminous puddle-pond is an appeasing pastel cream. Please watch the video shared by the auction house before it was withdrawn from sale by Sotheby's on May 19, 2023, lot 12.
In 2011 Nara was much shocked by the ravage of the great earthquake and associated tsunami that created the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. He could not work again as long as he could bring some help to the victims.
Painted in 2012, In the Milky Lake expresses the healing of the nature and of himself. No other work can be more positive. His small girl nearly got the proportions of a real child with rounded cheeks.
Her dress is a dark green which supersedes the simplistic symbols of pink and red. The expression is gently smiling and the wide eyes open to her intimate interior world. The dark orange hair brings a chromatic balance to the whole.
She is not half submerged in a puddle but in an unlimited lake painted in a milky color of extreme sweetness that increases the serene expression of a retrieved hope and peace. Nara confirmed : " Through painting, my soul gets transcended, then my negative feelings are gone.”
This acrylic on canvas 197 x 194 cm was sold for HK $ 100M from a lower estimate of HK $ 80M by Sotheby's on April 5, 2023, lot 1119. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
2013 Oddly Cozy
2022 SOLD for HK$ 112M by Sotheby's
During the sleepless nights, the infantile character by Yoshitomo Nara 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.
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.
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. All the apparent social effort to make life pleasant is countered by our hostile planet and the sorcerer's apprentices of the nuclear energy. Later the restart of life over devastation encourages his creativity.
In 2012 the artist tries to offer a message of peace and hope amidst the threats of the world. The titles of his works directly address this increasingly tragic mood.
The big headed little girl of Under the Hazy Sky has a sad gaze. Both her slender arms are stretched to hold a two leaf sprout, symbol of rebirth. Both sprouts are similar despite one of them is viewed over the dark orange dress and the other one over the light background. This acrylic on canvas 195 x 162 cm was sold for HK $ 69M by Sotheby's on October 9, 2021, lot 1126.
Oddly Cozy is another post-Fukushima work, painted in 2013 two years after the disaster.
The bust portrait of the little girl may be compared with her sister of the Can't wait 'til the night comes of the previous year. She is nicer now. The sardonic smile and the diabolic fang have disappeared but the enigmatic cat's eyes are now wide open in contrasting colors.
The mood cannot be easily interpreted but the gaze is inviting to communicate. The title reveals once again the ambiguousness of that society within which the young girls will soon have to find and maintain a place.
This acrylic on canvas 194 x 162 cm was sold for HK$ 112M from a lower estimate of HK $ 80M by Sotheby's on April 27, 2022, lot 1112. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
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.
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. All the apparent social effort to make life pleasant is countered by our hostile planet and the sorcerer's apprentices of the nuclear energy. Later the restart of life over devastation encourages his creativity.
In 2012 the artist tries to offer a message of peace and hope amidst the threats of the world. The titles of his works directly address this increasingly tragic mood.
The big headed little girl of Under the Hazy Sky has a sad gaze. Both her slender arms are stretched to hold a two leaf sprout, symbol of rebirth. Both sprouts are similar despite one of them is viewed over the dark orange dress and the other one over the light background. This acrylic on canvas 195 x 162 cm was sold for HK $ 69M by Sotheby's on October 9, 2021, lot 1126.
Oddly Cozy is another post-Fukushima work, painted in 2013 two years after the disaster.
The bust portrait of the little girl may be compared with her sister of the Can't wait 'til the night comes of the previous year. She is nicer now. The sardonic smile and the diabolic fang have disappeared but the enigmatic cat's eyes are now wide open in contrasting colors.
The mood cannot be easily interpreted but the gaze is inviting to communicate. The title reveals once again the ambiguousness of that society within which the young girls will soon have to find and maintain a place.
This acrylic on canvas 194 x 162 cm was sold for HK$ 112M from a lower estimate of HK $ 80M by Sotheby's on April 27, 2022, lot 1112. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
2014 Wish World Peace
2022 SOLD for HK$ 97M by Christie's
In a new phase, Nara's girl is only expressing hope against the human horrors of her time. The simple title is her speech, kindly told. She is so known now that her diabolic features or incongruous artifacts are no more necessary to appeal the viewer.
Wish World Peace is desperately simple. In her waiting attitude, the arms are not visible. The pupils of the eyes imperceptibly embed the 'Coexist' from the three monotheist religions and a Peace symbol.
This acrylic on canvas 194 x 162 cm painted in 2014 was sold for $ 2.3M by Sotheby's on November 17, 2016, lot 29 and for HK $ 97M by Christie's on May 26, 2022, lot 51.
Wish World Peace is desperately simple. In her waiting attitude, the arms are not visible. The pupils of the eyes imperceptibly embed the 'Coexist' from the three monotheist religions and a Peace symbol.
This acrylic on canvas 194 x 162 cm painted in 2014 was sold for $ 2.3M by Sotheby's on November 17, 2016, lot 29 and for HK $ 97M by Christie's on May 26, 2022, lot 51.
2017 I want to see the Bright Lights Tonight
2024 SOLD for HK$ 96M by Sotheby's
A series of typical larger than life bust length portraits of Yoshitomo Nara's small girl marks a synthesis of his mood after the 2011 earthquake. Carefully applied multiple layers of paint bring a tonal richness around the pastel skin colors.
The full frontal face is expressing a candid expectation, with her wide open slightly diverging eyes and thin straight mouth. The strict symmetrical hairstyle displayed on some opuses of that series further invites the viewer to concentrate on the expression.
A title in this series is Night Truce, evoking the mysterious malaise of modern world. Another title is I want to see the bright lights tonight, from a desperate 1974 lyrics by Richard Thompson.
The latter example illustrated the cover of a 2020 monograph of the artist. Hair and cloth are painted in softly iridescent autumnal hues over a chartreuse background. The original art, acrylic on canvas 220 x 195 cm, was sold for HK $ 96M from a lower estimate of HK $ 80M by Sotheby's on April 5, 2024, lot 1539.
The full frontal face is expressing a candid expectation, with her wide open slightly diverging eyes and thin straight mouth. The strict symmetrical hairstyle displayed on some opuses of that series further invites the viewer to concentrate on the expression.
A title in this series is Night Truce, evoking the mysterious malaise of modern world. Another title is I want to see the bright lights tonight, from a desperate 1974 lyrics by Richard Thompson.
The latter example illustrated the cover of a 2020 monograph of the artist. Hair and cloth are painted in softly iridescent autumnal hues over a chartreuse background. The original art, acrylic on canvas 220 x 195 cm, was sold for HK $ 96M from a lower estimate of HK $ 80M by Sotheby's on April 5, 2024, lot 1539.
