Mallet Japan’s Modern and Contemporary auction will be held on July 25th in Tokyo. The sale offers a wide range of paintings and prints by Japanese, American and European artists.

From the Japanese art section, works by leading contemporary artists such as Yayoi Kusama (lot#48 ‘Infinity Nets (NNTT)’ 3,000,000-4,000,000JPY; lot#50 ‘Midsummer’ 5,000,000-7,000,000JPY; lot#60 `Pumpkins` 6,000,000-8,000,000JPY) and the recently deceased ‘Gutai’ painter, Kazuo Shiraga (lot#49 ‘Vaisravana’ 10,000,000-15,000,000JPY; lot#61 ‘Tomomori jusui (Blue Fudo Flame)’ 10,000,000-15,000,000JPY) are selected to highlight the sale.

Kazuo Shiraga, who died this April at the age of 83, joined Gutai, an avant-garde art group lead by Jiro Yoshiwara, in 1955. While searching for a new mode of art that “no one has ever seen before”, the artist who had initially been trained in the field of classical Japanese art, became established as a distinct action painter whose style could be characterized by its dynamic flow of paint. His unique style was achieved by painting directly on the support with his bare feet while suspending himself from the ceiling with a rope. By so doing, Shiraga succeeded in embodying trace of action and its speed in his works. Those two great paintings on offer, each measuring 162 x 130 cm (63.8 x 51.2 inch) (one horizontal and the other vertical), from the early to mid 70’s both beautifully capture the physical movement and emotional urge of this one and only artist.

Highlights from the section of works by European, American and Asian artists include paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (lot#159 ‘Paysage’ 6,000,000-8,000,000JPY), Maurice de Vlaminck (lot153 ‘Paysage’ 4,000,000-5,000,000JPY; lot#171 ‘Vase de fleurs’ 5,000,000-7,000,000JPY ), Maurice Utrillo (lot#166 ‘Rue De Banlieue’ 15,000,000-20,000,000JPY), and Bernard Buffet (lot#147 ‘Chrysanthemes’ 7,000,000-9,000,000JPY; lot#154 ‘Nature Morte au Melon’ 5,000,000-7,000,000JPY; lot#168 ‘Nature Morte a la Bouteille’ 5,500,000-6,500,000JPY). The sale also features some works by Asian artists including a sculpture by Ju Ming (lot#164 ‘Confucius’ 3,000,000-5,000,000JPY) and a portfolio consisting of 10 lithographs and screenprints by 5 great Chinese comtemporary artists, Fang Lijun, Wang Guangyi, Yue Minjun, Zeng Fanzhi, and Zhang Xiaogang (lot#114 ‘The Giants of the Contemporary Chinese art’ 5,000,000-6,000,000JPY).

Also on offer are original prints by such artists as Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol (lot#111 ‘Electric Chair - F&S.II.76′ 600,000-800,000JPY; lot#112 ‘Joseph Beuys, state III -F&S.II.244′ 1,200,000-1,700,000 JPY; lot#113 ‘ Flowers -F&S.II.66′ 3,000,000-4,000,000JPY) and Robert Rauchenberg (lot#103 ‘Soviet American Array I’ 1,800,000-2,300,000JPY).

Auction Info: http://www.mallet.co.jp/index_e.html

Posted: 07|5|08 at 10:19 am. Filed under: Asia.