MOTONAGA SADAMASA Untitled

• LOT

  1824

• Artist

  MOTONAGA SADAMASA ( 1922 - 2011 )

• Estimate

  500,000 - 800,000 21,739 - 34,783 25,000 - 40,000 100,000 - 160,000 3,125 - 5,000

  JPY RMB HKD TWD USD

• Result

  Members only

• Details

  oil on canvas　framed　1957
  signed
  dated and signed on the reverse
  accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Motonaga Archive Research Institution Ltd.
  Publication: "Motonaga Sadamasa Exhibition Catalogue" No.11, P.98, The Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya, 2002
  
  MOTONAGA SADAMASA, a Japanese picture book author and avant-garde artist. He held solo exhibitions at Tokyo Gallery and Jackson-Moyer Gallery in New York in 1961 and participated in the "New Japanese Painting and Sculpture" exhibition at MoMA in 1965. His work was featured in the 1986 "Japon des Avant-Gardes" exhibition at the Pompidou Center. In 2015, one of his works was auctioned at Sotheby's for nearly 100 million yen. He received awards at the 6th, 7th, and 10th Contemporary Japanese Art Exhibitions, the 1983 Art Culture Promotion Association Award, the Japan Art Grand Prize, and the Seoul International Print Biennale.
  Major collections: The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Dallas Museum of Art; The National Museum of Art, Osaka; The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka; Mie Prefectural Art Museum.
  
  Created in 1957, this work dates from an important early period in Motonaga Sadamasa's career, when he was participating in the Gutai Art Association and exploring new modes of expression. Unlike the vivid colors, flowing paint, and humorous abstract forms that later came to characterize his work, this painting still retains a strong figurative presence, suggestive of a seated human figure.
  Using a subdued palette of black and brown, together with layered, rubbed, and dragged brushstrokes, Motonaga gradually dissolves the figure's contours into the movement of the paint itself. The work reveals a shift of attention from figurative motifs toward color, texture, and the physical qualities of brushwork.
  Motonaga later established his distinctive abstract language through fluid paint and brilliant color. This work belongs to the preceding transitional phase, offering a compelling glimpse into his development from figuration toward abstraction.
  
  45.5×38.0cm
  (17 ⅞ × 15 in.)(F8)　

• Organizer

  Jo's Auction

• Auction

  Jo’s Auction Autumn Auction of Art Works 2026

• Catalog

  Contemporary Art/Modern&Post-War Art

• Date

  2026/10/21