SoWAs

INOUE YUICHI Shoku

  • LOT

    1803

  • Artist

    INOUE YUICHI ( 1916 - 1985 )

  • Estimate

  • Result

  • Details

    ink on Japanese paper panel framed 1966
    stamped signature
    CR66096
    accompanied by authentication label by Unagami Masaomi
    The title refers to the idea of belonging and paying attention.
    Publication: 1. "Yu-ichi INOUE catalogue Vol.1" P.459, CR66096, UNAC TOKYO
    2. "A Retrospective: Yu-ichi Inoue 1955–1985" P.120, CR66096, General Incorporated Foundations World Paper Heritage Support Foundation KAMIMORI
    Exhibited:A Centennial Exhibition INOUE Yuichi (Ishikawa / 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa) 2016

    INOUE YUICHI, born in Tokyo in 1916, was an artist who represents Japan in the late 20th century. He is often remembered as a wild and uninhibited figure, with his shaved head, wielding a giant brush, splashing ink, crawling and rolling on the ground, as if no one else existed. "He was a simple schoolteacher by day and an avant-garde artist at home," is how those who knew him described him. While the rest of Japan was indulging in rapid economic growth, he remained obscure, grounded, and genuine, and eventually honed himself into an artist who came to represent Japan and left his mark on the history of world art.

    He pursued the written character not merely as a linguistic symbol, but as a powerful visual form imbued with life. In his single-character works, a single ideograph condenses thought, emotion, and physical expression, while the movement of the brush, the diffusion of ink, and the surrounding blank space all become essential elements of the composition. In this work as well, the character transcends its literal meaning, as the vigorous brushwork fills the surface with tension and dynamic energy. By transforming written language from something to be read into something to be experienced visually, Inoue expanded the expressive possibilities of calligraphy and earned widespread recognition both in Japan and internationally.

    146.8×204.8cm
    (57 ¾ × 80 ⅝ in.) 

  • Organizer

  • Auction

  • Catalog

  • Date

    2026/10/21

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INOUE YUICHI Shoku

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