- 717
Yamaguchi Takeo
Estimate
450,000 - 650,000 HKD
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Description
- Yamaguchi Takeo
- Choufuku (Repeat)
- oil on board
signed, titled and dated 1958 in Japanese on a label affixed to the reverse, framed
Provenance
Private Japanese Collection
Condition
This work is in good condition with hairline vertical craquelures along the top edges and minor abrasions to the impasto near the lower left edge. No evidence of restoration under UV examination.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Takeo Yamaguchi Artwork Registration Association
STRUCTURE
I choose a simple, basic form as the direct expression of a simple, clear reality. - Yamaguchi Takeo1
Choufuku (Lot 717) presents an austere geometric structure that is quintessentially "Yamaguchi"--wholly unique, iconic, and strikingly recognizable even from a distance. Possessing quiet yet commanding architectural integrity, Choufuku evidences Yamaguchi's steadfast allegiance to structure – the bare bones that underpin skin, form, and flesh. During his days as a student working with live models, Yamaguchi was less interested in reproducing the surface detail of the body than in grasping, and then expressing, what it was "to stand". Afterwards, in Paris, Yamaguchi made weekly visits to the atelier of Russian-French sculptor Ossip Zadkine and tried his hand in sculpture--a practice that greatly informed his painting.
Yamaguchi would later refer to his works as a kind of "two-dimensional sculpture"--one that translated three-dimensional objects onto the horizontal field of panel.2 Compared to the flatness of Kazimir Malevich's Suprematist paintings, which similarly employ stripped down configurations of geometric forms, Yamaguchi's structures possess corporeal density, mass, and tactility. The sense of touch is vitally important to Yamaguchi; he once said: "Gradually I put greater and greater value on the real or tangible existence [of the object] and the ability actually to touch it. Confirm the subject's existence by touch, then study its constituent parts, in other words, approach the subject scientifically".3
Such a scientific orientation, formed upon man's encounter with the world, differs yet again from Malevich's self-referential art that bore no relation to external phenomena. Yamaguchi's abstract forms evolved from--and thus are a distillation of--man, beast, plant, earth, and the entire cosmos. Without attempting to represent or narrate in any way, and in the absence of any signifiers, Yamaguchi's structures pictorialize or "write" down the invisible core essences of the world--much in the same way the first oracle bone scripts, the earliest known form of Oriental writing, were formed. One is prompted to think of Pierre Soulages's compositions, whose similar geometric, monochromatic, and pure non-signifying aesthetic recalls that of Oriental scripts; Soulages' was known to have said: "One fine day I realized that the drawings I was doing were reminiscent of Chinese characters".4
1 Exh. cat. Yamaguchi Takeo and Horiuti Masakazu, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 1980, p. 242
2 Joseph Love, exh. cat. Takeo Yamaguchi, Minami Gallery, Tokyo, 1975
3 Refer to Note 1, p. 19
4 Françoise JAUNIN, "Noir lumière", interviews with Pierre Soulages, Lausanne, éditions La Bibliothèque des arts, 2002
STRUCTURE
I choose a simple, basic form as the direct expression of a simple, clear reality. - Yamaguchi Takeo1
Choufuku (Lot 717) presents an austere geometric structure that is quintessentially "Yamaguchi"--wholly unique, iconic, and strikingly recognizable even from a distance. Possessing quiet yet commanding architectural integrity, Choufuku evidences Yamaguchi's steadfast allegiance to structure – the bare bones that underpin skin, form, and flesh. During his days as a student working with live models, Yamaguchi was less interested in reproducing the surface detail of the body than in grasping, and then expressing, what it was "to stand". Afterwards, in Paris, Yamaguchi made weekly visits to the atelier of Russian-French sculptor Ossip Zadkine and tried his hand in sculpture--a practice that greatly informed his painting.
Yamaguchi would later refer to his works as a kind of "two-dimensional sculpture"--one that translated three-dimensional objects onto the horizontal field of panel.2 Compared to the flatness of Kazimir Malevich's Suprematist paintings, which similarly employ stripped down configurations of geometric forms, Yamaguchi's structures possess corporeal density, mass, and tactility. The sense of touch is vitally important to Yamaguchi; he once said: "Gradually I put greater and greater value on the real or tangible existence [of the object] and the ability actually to touch it. Confirm the subject's existence by touch, then study its constituent parts, in other words, approach the subject scientifically".3
Such a scientific orientation, formed upon man's encounter with the world, differs yet again from Malevich's self-referential art that bore no relation to external phenomena. Yamaguchi's abstract forms evolved from--and thus are a distillation of--man, beast, plant, earth, and the entire cosmos. Without attempting to represent or narrate in any way, and in the absence of any signifiers, Yamaguchi's structures pictorialize or "write" down the invisible core essences of the world--much in the same way the first oracle bone scripts, the earliest known form of Oriental writing, were formed. One is prompted to think of Pierre Soulages's compositions, whose similar geometric, monochromatic, and pure non-signifying aesthetic recalls that of Oriental scripts; Soulages' was known to have said: "One fine day I realized that the drawings I was doing were reminiscent of Chinese characters".4
1 Exh. cat. Yamaguchi Takeo and Horiuti Masakazu, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 1980, p. 242
2 Joseph Love, exh. cat. Takeo Yamaguchi, Minami Gallery, Tokyo, 1975
3 Refer to Note 1, p. 19
4 Françoise JAUNIN, "Noir lumière", interviews with Pierre Soulages, Lausanne, éditions La Bibliothèque des arts, 2002