ArtHitParade
ArtHitParade on Twitter
  • Home
    • Contact
  • 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 >
      • Decade 1700-1709
      • Decade 1710-1719
      • 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 >
        • 1792
    • 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
        • 1896
    • 20th Century >
      • Decade 1900-1909 >
        • 1903
        • 1904
        • 1905
        • 1907
        • 1908
        • 1909
      • Decade 1910-1919 >
        • 1911
        • 1912
        • 1913
        • 1914
        • 1915
        • 1916
        • 1917
        • 1918
        • 1919
      • Decade 1920-1929 >
        • 1920
        • 1921
        • 1923
        • 1924
        • 1925
        • 1926
        • 1927
        • 1928
        • 1929
      • Decade 1930-1939 >
        • 1930
        • 1931
        • 1932
        • 1933
        • 1934
        • 1935
        • 1936
        • 1937
        • 1938
        • 1939
      • Decade 1940-1949 >
        • 1941
        • 1942
        • 1945
        • 1946
        • 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
        • 1974
        • 1975
        • 1976
        • 1977
        • 1978
        • 1979
      • Decade 1980-1989 >
        • 1980
        • 1981
        • 1982
        • 1983
        • 1984
        • 1985
        • 1986
        • 1987
        • 1988
      • Decade 1990-1999 >
        • 1990
        • 1991
        • 1992
        • 1993
        • 1994
        • 1995
        • 1996
        • 1997
        • 1998
        • 1999
    • 21st Century >
      • Decade 2000-2009 >
        • 2000
        • 2001
        • 2002
        • 2003
        • 2006
        • 2007
        • 2008
      • Decade 2010-2019 >
        • 2017
      • 2020 to now
  • Current Art
  • Renaissance
  • Painting
    • Ancient Painting >
      • Oil on Copper
    • 18th Century Painting
  • Ancient Drawing
  • Art on Paper
  • Sculpture
    • Bust
    • Ancient Sculpture >
      • Roman Sculpture
    • Italian Sculpture
    • French Sculpture
    • Sculpture by Painters
  • Women Artists
    • Ancient Art by Women
    • Art by Women ca 1960
    • Current Art by Women
    • Martin
  • Furniture
    • Chairs and Seats
    • Colonial Furniture
    • Ancient French Furniture
    • 18th Century Furniture
    • Modern Furniture >
      • Art Deco
    • Modern Tables
  • Prints
    • Ancient Prints
    • Modern Prints
  • Photo
    • Old Photos >
      • Travel Photos
      • Early French Photo
    • Photos 1900-1940 >
      • Photos in the 1920s
    • Photos 1970s 1980s
    • Sherman
    • Gursky
  • 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 XV and XVI
    • Revolution and Empire
    • Louis XVIII to 2nd Empire
    • Ancient French Painting
    • Degas
    • Cézanne
    • Monet >
      • Monet before 1878
      • From Vétheuil to Giverny
      • Pond by Monet
    • Renoir
    • Gauguin
    • Lautrec
    • Matisse
    • Klein
    • Lalanne
    • Post War French Art
  • Italy
    • Italian Painting 1280-1700
    • Canaletto
    • Modigliani
    • Fontana
    • Italy 2nd page
  • Swiss Painting before 1940
    • Hodler
  • 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 >
      • Watercolor by Turner
    • Freud
    • Hockney
    • Doig
    • Hirst
    • Banksy
  • Germany
    • Ancient Germany
    • Richter >
      • Richter before 1983
    • 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
    • 1932 Picasso
    • Picasso later 1930s
    • Picasso 1940-1960
    • Picasso in Mougins
    • 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
    • Wild West
    • US Painting before 1940
    • Rockwell
    • Calder
    • Rothko >
      • Early Rothko
      • Rothko 1957-70
    • Still
    • Pollock
    • Lichtenstein >
      • Lichtenstein after 1965
    • Warhol >
      • USA by Warhol
      • Celebrities by Warhol
      • Later Warhols
      • Prints by Warhol
    • Twombly
    • Prince
    • Koons
    • Wool
    • Basquiat
    • USA 2nd page
  • Central and South Americas
  • China
    • Archaic China >
      • Ritual Bronzes
    • Northern Song
    • Southern Song and Yuan
    • Early Ming
    • Later Ming
    • Early Qing
    • Qianlong
    • Modern China >
      • Zhang Daqian
      • Sanyu
      • Zao Wou-Ki
    • New Chinese Painting
    • Chinese Porcelain >
      • Song to Yuan Porcelain
      • Ming Porcelain
      • Qing Porcelain
    • Chinese Art
    • Chinese Calligraphy
    • Chinese Furniture
    • Jade
  • India
    • Tibet and Nepal
    • Modern India >
      • Gaitonde
  • Persia
    • Safavid Carpets
  • Yoshitomo Nara
  • Russia
    • Russia 1700-1900
    • Kandinsky
  • Eastern Europe
    • Chagall
  • Northern Europe
    • Prints by Munch
  • Egypt
  • Tropical Africa
    • Congo
    • Gabon
    • Mask
  • Tribal Oceania
    • Easter Island
  • 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 1934-35
      • Cars 1936-37
      • Cars 1938-39
    • 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
    • Alfa Romeo
    • Mercedes-Benz
    • Porsche
    • British Cars >
      • Aston Martin
      • Jaguar
      • McLaren
    • Bugatti
    • French Cars
    • Duesenberg
    • Ford and Shelby
    • Cars - 2nd page
  • Motorcycles
  • Jewels
    • White Diamond
    • Pink Diamond
    • Blue Diamond
    • African Diamonds
    • Jewels - 2nd page
    • Cartier
  • Silverware
    • Old Silverware
  • Coin
    • Gold Coins
    • Silver Coins
    • Antique Coins
    • Coins 1000-1775
    • Coins 1776-92
    • Coins 1793-99
    • Coins 1800-49
    • Coins 1850-69
    • Coins 1870-99
    • 20th century Coins
    • British Coins
    • Dollars and Eagles
    • Japanese Coins
    • Chinese Coins
  • Paper Currency
  • Medal and Decoration
  • Time Pieces
    • Clocks >
      • Old Clocks
    • Mechanical Craft ca 1800 >
      • Jaquet-Droz and Followers
    • Modern Watches
    • New Watches >
      • OnlyWatch
    • Patek Philippe >
      • Patek Philippe before 1950
      • World Time
      • Perpetual Calendar
    • Rolex
    • Watches 2nd page
    • English Time Pieces
    • French Time Pieces
  • Glass and Crystal
    • Glass before 1900
    • Tiffany Studios
  • From Terracotta to Porcelain
    • Meissen
  • Textiles
  • Garment
  • Fashion
  • Books
    • Incunabula
    • 16th Century Books
    • 17th Century Books
    • Fine Books 1700-1850
  • Literature
    • Literature in English
    • Literature in French
  • Poems and Lyrics
  • Autograph
  • Manuscript
    • Illuminated Christian Manuscript
  • Religious Texts
  • Political Writing
  • Comic Books
  • Illustrators
  • Travel
  • Space
  • Maps
  • Cars in Movies
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Musical Instrument
    • Violin
    • Guitar
    • Musical Instrument 2nd page
  • Pop Music
    • The Beatles
  • Poster
  • Sport
    • Sport Equipment
    • Sport Uniform
    • Sport Document
    • Sport Rewards and Medals
    • T206 Wagner
    • Sport Images before 1950
    • Sport Cards 1950-80
    • Modern Sport Cards
    • Baseball >
      • Baseball Bat
      • Babe Ruth
      • Lou Gehrig
    • Basketball >
      • Jordan
    • Ice Hockey
    • Sport 2nd page
    • Olympic Games
  • Origins of Sports
  • Historical Arms
    • Blade and Armour
    • Colt 1836-62
    • Later Colts
    • Winchester
    • Firearms - 2nd page
  • Toys
  • Doll
  • Games
  • Stamps
    • World Stamps
    • US Stamps
    • Inverted Jenny
  • Inventions
  • Instrument and Equipment
  • Sciences
    • Ancient Science
    • Sciences 1600-1800
    • Sciences from 1800
    • Astronomy
    • Physics
    • Medicine
    • Dinosaur
  • Computing
  • Nobel Medals
  • Whisky
    • Whisky 2nd page
  • Wine
  • Plus
    • Plus 1880s
    • Plus 1962-64
    • Plus 1982 Basquiat

Yoshitomo NARA (born in 1959) (page in reconstruction)

Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
Chronology : 1995  1996  1998  2000-2009  2000  2007

1995 Hothouse Doll
2020 SOLD for HK$ 103M by Phillips in association with Poly

Yoshitomo Nara spent twelve years in Germany, from 1988 to 1994 studying art in Düsseldorf and until 2000 in his studio in Cologne. The clear line appeals to the Japanese, accustomed to prints and manga.

To express his relationship to the world, the artist paints portraits of baby girls, with changing facial expressions. They do not play. They are malicious or treacherous. The color of the garment confirms the expression : light blue to be nice, deep red to be nasty.

On December 3, 2020, Phillips in association with Poly sold at
 
lot 5 for HK $ 103M from a lower estimate of HK $ 50M Hothouse Doll - in the White Room III. It is illustrated by Phillips in a very short video.

Painted in 1995, this acrylic on canvas 120 x 110 cm is a seminal work of this series. The title describes the scene. The child is seated, legs tight and arms dangling, like a doll that has been installed on the floor. Hothouse has a meaning of incubator : she wants to express a maturity greater than her apparent age in order to inspire adults. The space around her is uniformly white. She is a nice girl, with a blue dress.

The artist has given up the distortions of the face. The diverging strabismus of the wide almond-shaped eyes brings an enigmatic and distant temperament that the artist will reuse throughout his career.
1995

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.

1998 Frog Girl
2021 SOLD for HK$ 96M by Sotheby's

On April 19, 2021, Sotheby's sold for HK$ 96M Frog girl, acrylic on canvas 120 x 111 cm, lot 1133 from a lower estimate of HK $ 40M. This title is a one-off in Nara's corpus and has not been satisfactorily explained.

The dress is light blue, a symbol of kindness in Nara's artistic grammar, and the straight lips give an expression of waiting. Frog Girl anticipates the Knife behind back of 2000, with the same drawing in a left-right reverse position and a totally opposite mood highlighted by only a few significant details.
1998

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.
Decade 2000-2009
2000

​2000 Missing in Action
2021 SOLD for HK$ 124M by Phillips in association with Poly

On May 28, 2017, Phillips sold at lot 11 for HK $ 21.7M the portrait of a little girl whose dual title is unambiguous in its condemnation of war : Last Warrior / The Unknown Soldier.

On a light background of great brightness the skin and dress are ethereal, contrasting with the mouth and eyes which express the message. The mouth is authoritarian and stubborn and the divergent strabismus does not invite to negotiation.

Last Warrior has a sequel that provides the key to the artist's hope. The child's attitude is almost identical with three exceptions : a hand appears to offer a single two-leaf seedling, the mouth loses its twist in favor of an expression of seriousness and the strabismus has been offset. Rightly titled The Little Ambassador, this acrylic on canvas 198 x 133 cm was sold for HK $ 24M by Sotheby's on October 2, 2016, lot 1040.

The wording Missing in Action has the same dramatic meaning as the Last Warrior. Painted in the same style also on 2000, this acrylic on canvas 165 x 150 cm was s
old for £ 2M by Phillips on October 14, 2015, lot 9, and for HK $ 124M by Phillips in association with Poly on June 8, 2021, lot 17.

2007 Berlin Barack Installation by Yoshitomo Nara
2021 SOLD for HK$ 120M by Poly

Post sale release
Sold by Poly for HK $ 120M on April 21, 2021, lot 142.
Sold on May 26, 2012 by Christie's for HK $ 11.8M, lot 2041.
2007

2009 In the Milky Lake
2020 SOLD for HK$ 66M by Christie's

link to lot 8.

2012 Can't Wait 'til the Night Comes
2019 SOLD for HK$ 93M by Christie's

Born in the region of Aomori, Yoshitomo Nara is a provincial. He studied art in Düsseldorf and began his career in Germany. He is a foreigner for whom the world is an insidious threat. He transposes this impression into the attitude and expression of very young children, with a stylized line that only retains the essentials in the style of caricatures and comics.

From a distance, his little girls remain symbols of purity and innocence. A detail reveals the threat. Sleepness Night, painted in 1999, shows a girl's head with cat's eyes and a fang on either side of her mouth. This 120 x 110 cm acrylic on canvas was sold for HK $ 35M by Christie's on May 25, 2019.

The world is even worse than the artist had imagined. Just before returning to Japan, he visits Auschwitz. His little girl becomes an activist. Knife behind back, acrylic 234 x 208 cm painted in 2000, was sold for HK $ 196M by Sotheby's in 2019.

During the sleepless nights, his character becomes an evil being. Displaying on her head the Christian cross, Midnight Vampire, acrylic 73 x 61 cm painted in 2010, was sold for HK $ 17.5M by Christie's on November 25, 2017. The little girl quietly closes her eyes but has the fangs of the cat.

Everything is getting worse in the real world. The Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 took place near his hometown. Nara, who knew some victims, is at first tetanized. Later the restart of life over devastation encourages his creativity.

On November 23, 2019, Christie's sold for HK $ 93M an acrylic on canvas 193 x 183 cm painted in 2012, 
lot 54 A. The cat's eyes prepare a nice wink and the expression is smiling, but a single fang comes out at one side of the mouth. The title of the work is the immediate threat by a vampire, confirming the treacherous malaise of the modern world : Can't Wait 'til the Night Comes.

2012 Under the Hazy Sky
2021 SOLD for HK$ 69M by Sotheby's

The basic theme in the art of Yoshitomo Nara is not the children but the ambiguousness of the world hampered by war, violence and disaster in the line of the Biblical Plagues of Egypt.

​His visit in Auschwitz just before he left Germany in 2000 reinforced his social criticism. Similarly the 2011 earthquake that generated the Fukushima accident was a major trauma for Nara. All the apparent social effort to make life pleasant is countered by our hostile planet and the sorcerer's apprentices of the nuclear energy.

In 2012 the artist tries to offer a message a 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.

2013 Oddly Cozy
2022 SOLD for HK$ 112M by Sotheby's

Oddly Cozy is a post-Fukushima work by Yoshitomo Nara, 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.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.