HONG KONG.- Christie’s will present a rare selection of museum-quality masterpieces by revered post-war Japanese artists, including Kazuo Shiraga, Takeo Yamaguchi, Jiro Takamatsu, Natsuyuki Nakanishi, Jiro Yoshihara, Shozo Shimamoto and Takesada Matsutani, in the 20th / 21st Century Art Evening Sale and 20th Century Art Day Sale to be held on 26 and 27 May, respectively. The phenomenal group consists of the finest paintings created at the zenith of these celebrated artists’ careers, and encapsulates the most representative avant-garde art movements and styles from the late-1950s to 2000s – from Gutai to Mono-ha, across different themes and mediums.

Evelyn Lin, Deputy Chairman and Co-Head of the 20th and 21st Century Art Department, Christie’s Asia Pacific, commented, “In the 1950s, Japan underwent radical social, economic, and cultural transformations that made the country the epicenter for artistic creativity. Artists responded to the rapidly changing country with myriad avant-garde experiments that challenged conventional art forms, commercialism, and individuality, and their innovative explorations remain influential to global artists to date.

This spring, we are very honoured to showcase a wide spectrum of seminal works by some of the most important post-war Japanese artists in our Evening and Day sales, with many of them appearing on the market for the very first time. We look forward to convening collectors and art enthusiasts at our saleroom where they can appreciate and acquire these provocative and extraordinary creations that defy artistic traditions.”

AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS
27 May – 20th Century Art Day Sale

IMPORTANT WORKS FROM A DISTRINGUISHED EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
JIRO TAKAMATSU (1936 – 1998)
Number 138
mixed media and oil on panel
100 x 80 x 19 cm. (39 3/8 x 80 1/2 x 7 1/2 in.)
Executed in 1966
20th Century Art Day Sale
HK$800,000 – 1,200,000/ US$110,000 – 150,000

TAKEO YAMAGUCHI (1902 – 1983)
Ho (Crawl)
oil on plywood
183.5 x 183.5 cm. (72 1/4 x 72 1/4 in.)
Painted in 1961
20th/21st Century Art Evening Sale
HK$8,000,000 – 15,000,000/ US$1,100,000 – 1,900,000

IMPORTANT WORKS FROM A DISTRINGUISHED EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION

JIRO TAKAMATSU (1936 – 1998)
Shadow of a Woman Standing
oil on panel
183 x 228 cm. (72 x 89 3/4 in.)
Painted in 1966
20th/21st Century Art Evening Sale
HK$2,200,000 – 4,200,000/ US$290,000 – 540,000

27 May – 20th Century Art Day Sale
TAKEO YAMAGUCHI (1902 – 1983)
Work
oil on board
90.5 x 60.5 cm. (35 5/8 x 23 7/8 in.)
Painted in 1955
HK$900,000 – 1,500,000/ US$120,000 – 190,000

27 May – 20th Century Art Day Sale
SHOZO SHIMAMOTO (1928 – 2013)
Untitled
acrylic, hardware broken glass on canvas
mounted on board
85.5 x 97.3 cm. (33.7 x 38.3 in.)
Executed in 2007
HK$150,000 – 250,000/ US$20,000 – 32,000