3. 4 5
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO BUYERS
Modern and
Contemporary
East Asian Art
Auction in New York
12 May 2016
10.00 AM
EXHIBITION AUCTION
Wednesday 11 May
10am - 4pm
Prince George Ballroom
15 E 27th St, New York, NY 10016
Thursday 12 May
10am - 6.30pm
Thursday 12 May
6.30pm – 9.30pm
Figural
AUCTION HOUSE
Figural reserves the right to request at any time any
additional deposit, guarantee and/or such other
security as Figural may determine from any bidder
whose total bidding (hammer price plus buyer´s
premium) has reached or exceeded ten times the
amount of that bidder´s deposit. The amount of the
additional deposit, guarantee and/or such security
shall be determined by Figural at its sole discretion
and Figural reserves the right to reject any further
bidding from that bidder until such additional
deposit, guarantee and/or such other security has
been delivered to Figural.
Figural has no obligation to accept any pre-
registration application. Figural´s decision in this
regard shall be final.
Clients are requested to contact Figural at least 3
workind days prior to the relevant sale in order to
allow Figural to process the pre-registration, and
to bear in mind that Figural is unable to obtain
financial references over weekends or public
holidays. Any required reposists shall be paid in
United States dollars by war of wire transfer or
debit/credit card (clients must present their cards
in person to Figural).
PRE-REGISTRATION
COLLECTION AND STORAGE
If a client is not succesful on any lot, Figural will
arrange for a refund (subject to any right of set off)
of the deposit amount paid by such client without
interest within 14 working days of the date of the
sale. Any exchange losses or fees associated with
the refund shall be borne by the client.
Clients must not be allowed to register and bid
on a lot if Figural fails to receive a completed
pre-registration application form or any financial
references, guarantees, deposits or other security
as requested by Figural or if the pre-registration
application is not accepted by Figural.
Storage charge will be incurred for uncollected
items from this sale one month after the date of
the auction at US$ per lot per month. Please refer
to Guide for Prospective Buyers´for details.
4. 6 7
specialists in charge of sale
specialists and auction enquiries
For further information on lots in this auction please contact any of the specialists listed below
SALE NUMBER
SPECIALISTS IN CHARGE
CLIENT SERVICES & ABSENTEE BIDS
PAYMENT
SHIPPING
CATALOGUE PRICE
TELEPHONE BIDS
AUCTION AND
EXHIBITION
INFORMATION
Maria Ludovica Antichi
Head of Modern and
Contemporary East
Asian Art
Specialist Trainee
Filippo Lionello Formenti
Filippo Lionello Formenti
Specialist Trainee Specialist Trainee
Gustika Fardani Jusuf
Gustika Fardani Jusuf
Raquel de la Cruz
Raquel de la Cruz
Shea Ng
Emily Leung
NY0565 “4 VISIONS, 1 WORLD”
Maria Ludovica Antichi
+654 2822 8763marialudovica.antichi@figural.com
filippolionello.formenti@figural.com
gustikafardani.jusuf@figural.com
raquel.delacruz@figural.com
emily.leung@figural.com
shea.ng@figural.com
US$10 at the gallery
Telephone bids requests
should be received 24
hours prior to the sale.
This service is offered for
lots with a low estimate of
US$4,000
+987 0129 9238
+987 6543 0887
+987 7292 2842
+987 7153 0972
+987 9284 2345
+987 7692 1298
+987 7645 8837
Figural
AUCTION HOUSE
5. 8 9
COLLECTION AND STORAGE
All items from this auction not collected from NYPGB by
14th May 2016 11am will be transferred to the storage
where they will incur storage charge one month after the
date of the auction at the following rate:
Storage charge - US$100 per
collection per month.
Lots will be released to you or your
authorised representative when full
and final payment has been received
bu Figural, appropriate photographic
identification has been made, and
a release note has been provided
by Figural (open Monday to Friday
9.30am - 6pm)
Buyers are reminded that Figural
accepts liability for Loss or Damage
for a maximum of thirty (30) calendar
days after the date of the auction.
Removal, interest, storage, insurance
and handling charges will be levied on
uncollected lots.
6. 10 11
CONTENTS
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO BUYERS
AUCTION INFORMATION
SPECIALISTS AND AUCTION ENQUIRIES
COLLECTION AND STORAGE INFORMATION
HIROSHI SUGIMOTO
BIBLIOGRAPHY
YASUMASA MORIMURA
NOBUYOSHI ARAKI
DAIDO MORIYAMA
INTRODUCTION
4
5
7
9
13
18
26
34
42
49
7. 12 13
INTRODUCTION
One country, less than a couple of decades: it is what connects four
photographers with different views of one shared world.
Daido Moriyama, Nobuyoshi Araki, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Yasumasa
Morimura constitute a group of major Japanese post-war photographers that
explore a global issue.
In a pivotal moment for Asian art, exhibitions, fairs and auctions emerging
during the last few years show that the interest of collectors is focusing on
these four artists more than ever before continue to grow at an accelerating
rate.. Although their artistic career was at peak during the 1960s and 1970s,
they are still considered the masters of photography on an international level
today. Througout their careers, they have given birth to iconic works which
are an indissoluble part of contemporary art history.
Born in Japan between 1938 and 1951, Sugimoto,Araki, Morimura, Moriyama
were affected by the consequences of the occupation of Manchuria and the
subsequent war with the United States which ended in 1945. The defeated
Japan became a pacifist democracy and developed significantly after the Edo
period (1603-1868). The exchange between the US and Japan which started
in the early 20th century gradually became stronger in the 1950s, which then
significantly influenced one another culturally.
Japan’s shift towards Western modernization marked the beginning of the
adoption of certain western customs and morality, and the inhibition of
its own centuries-long erotic tradition of Shunga, that had organized the
Japanese society. The concept explored by this exclusive sale is driven by the
hand of the most representative names with an emphasis on the exchange between
Asia and West in terms of society´s order.
FOUR VISIONS, ONE WORLD
8. 14 15
Incorporating traditional roots while looking forward to the future, they create a
new way of sensing the present as an endless resource of material and inspiration.
Dealing with the legacy of Japanese culture, concepts of beauty, time, memory and
storytelling, they investigate different styles to capture their reality in an attempt to
achieve their own truth.
Daido Moriyama (b.1938) defines himself as a pilgrim photographer. Wherever he
goes he takes with him his most trusty companion: his camera.
His pictures capture fragments of everyday life making the streets of Tokyo his own
theatre: bodies of beautiful girls laid down in crumbling sheets, faces of anonymous
people, and animals as mute witnesses of harrowing scenes. Like a hunter catching
his prey, Moriyama does similarly with the experiences offered to him by the world,
building his own truth out of the juxtaposed and fragmentary windows of reality.
Taboo subjects are the essence of Araki’s (b. 1940) artistic production. Considered
as one of the most prolific as well as controversial artists, his works are intimately
related to a form of reinterpretation of Shunga, the traditional Japanese erotic art.
Exploring the contemporary cultural clash between East and West moral values,
his photographic and autobiographic work reaches beyond mere sexuality and
eroticism. Araki examines the Eros-Thanatos binomial in an endless cycle of life
and death using all the media available to materialize it. What elevates his
work is his ability to establish powerful exchanges of energy between the
photographer and the woman subject of his shots.
Yasuma Morimura (b.1951) uses the photographic medium to explore another
form of beauty, challenging the notions of entertainment and social values
by creating a bridge connecting Japanese with Western culture. His series of
self-portraits validated him as one of the most desired contemporary artists,
a pillar to major collections. Acting as a sort of thief, he appropriates images
from human history, pop-culture and art, by inserting himself into the role
of famous political figures or into iconic paintings. Substituting central
figures belonging to different centuries he re-contextualizes ideologies and
historical events, playing with the notion of time and its perception.
The concept of time is also one of the main focuses of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s
(b.1948) work, which he deals with a different approach. Portraits of wax
sculptures, theaters of light and landscapes made of water and air, are the
main subjects for three iconic photographic series included in this auction.
Seascapes, Portraits and Theaters perfectly show Sugimoto’s high technical
knowledge of photographic medium. Using large-scale format and extremely
long exposures, the quality of the images are distinguishable, with a personal
touch always visible in the investigation of the effects produced by light.
International institutions such as Tate Modern in London, Guggenheim
Museum of New York, MoMA of New York, Metropolitan Museum of New
York are only few examples of public institutions whose collections include
works of at least one among Hiroshi Sugimoto, Daido Moryama, Yasuma
Morimura and Nobuyoshi Araki.
Choosing to present emblematic works of these four iconic Japanese artists,
Figural is giving the unmissable opportunity to reach the highest level of
contemporary photography.
9. 16 17
b. 1938, Ikeda, Japan
Lives and works in Tokyo
1960 Studied photography under Takeji Iwamija
1961 Assistant of Eikoh Hosoe
D
a
i
d
o
M
o
r
i
y
a
m
a
EDUCATION
Born on the 10 October 1938 in Icheda-
cho, Daido Moriyama is one of the
most represented Japanese post-war
photographers of all time. In 1961, he
moved to Tokyo to take photographs of
the less known dark industrialized areas.
During his first years in Tokyo, he worked
as an assistant photographer of Shomei
Tomatsu and Eikoh Hosoe.He immediately
achieved the New Artist Award from the
Japan Photo-Critics Association in 1967 as
a freelance photographer, and published
his first book Japan: A Photo Theatre one
year later. His style was then recognizable
through indirect narrative structure or
definable context of everyday life. In the
late 1960’s, he was involved with many
journals, such as Provoke magazine, where
he promoted a unique approach of the
Japanese present reality and marginal
subjects as anonymous spectators. In 1972,
he presented his first erratic book series
called A Hunter,heavily influenced by Jack
Kerouac’s On the Road as well as Andy
Warhol and William Klein’s productions.
Right after a deep crisis overtook the artist,
he found shelter in the natural and rural
Japanese landscapes for the following ten
years He published a fourth book in 1983
called Light and Shades. The same year,
he received the Annual Award from the
Japanese Photographic Society.
TheTaka Ishii Gallery inTokyo represented
him during the peak of his career in the
1990s. His career then further rocketed
in 1999 with his first solo-show Daido
Moriyama: Stray Dog at the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, which verified
him as worldwide photography master.
He has exhibited in many famous museums
like the Metropolitan Museum of New
York (1999), Fondation Cartier pour l’art
contemporain (2003), MoCA Tokyo (2008),
Tate Modern (2012), and LACMA (2012).
Recently in 2012, he was awarded with
the Infinity Award from the International
Centre of Photography.
ABOUT
10. 18 19
Hamilton’s Gallery and its owner Tim
Jefferies exclusively printed the Silks-
creen series as a comprehensive over-
view presenting Daido Moriyama’s
style throughout four decades.
One More Peek is a photograph taken
from the 1960’s works and it is both
an iconic and controversial picture:
a child is looking at a nude image in
front of what is probably an adult strip
club, standing alone at the entrance as
if no one would take care of him.
The late 1960’s together with the 1970’s,
before plunging into a 10-year crisis,
were the most productive years for
Moriyama, who was involved in some
articles of Provoke magazine and
published his firsts photographic
books.
The depiction of a child in a random
urban context has strong connection
with western photographers like
William Klein and their desire to show
street life after World War II.
In 2013,Tate Modern held an exhibition
looking at both Klein and Moriyama´s
blurred style and the importance of
photobooks.
One More Peek
Kariudo series
1966
Silkscreen on canvas, printed in 2013
59 x 43 7/8 in.
Edition of 3
PROVENANCE
Hamilton’s Gallery, London
US$ 4,500 - 6,000
“I have always felt that the world is an erotic place. As I walk through it my senses
are reaching out. And I am drawn to all sorts of things. For me cities are enormous
bodies of people’s desires. And as I search for my own desires within them, I slice
into time, seeing the moment.That’s the kind of camera work I like.” D. Moriyama
11. 20 21
A vintage photograph shot by Moriyama
in the squalid streets of Shinjuku, a
favourite place of his to investigate
reality from the late 1960’s on, of
which now has become on of the most
economically active neighbourhood in
Tokyo.
The aim was to capture the essence
of Japan as a testament at a crucial time
of an area that showed the grittiest side
of high-contrasted society.
The woman running in a narrow
dirty alley illustrates the fear of being
hunted by the photographer, almost
like a threatened animal. In recent
years, Moriyama explained she was
running away from the Yakuza who
were after her, like a sexualized prey
with wretched clothing.
Kariudo (hunter)
Kariudo series
1970
Gelatin silver print, printed in 2005
13 x 9 in.
Edition of 5
PROVENANCE
Private Asian collection
US$ 3,500 - 5,000
12. 22 23
Stray Dog
Kariudo series
1971
Silkscreen on canvas. printed in 2011
42 x 53 in.
Edition of 5. Signed and annotated by photographer on the verso
PROVENANCE
Steven Kasher Gallery
US$ 4,000 - 5,500
often seen as alienated outsiders
without any heroic attribute.
The artist himself ended up seeing
himself as this dog he met near the U.S.
military base in 1971: solitary, carefully
observing and grasping opportunities.
As a result of his postproduction, the
subject was showcased through an
unusual and imprecise close-up.
“I realized later in the darkroom when I printed the image how amazing the dog’s
expression is. Snapshots are all about an instant moment and this dog instantly
became a part of me. I am actually honored to be compared with that dog.”
D. Moriyama
Stray Dog is arguably the most powerful
image from Moriyama’s production as
well as the most iconic depiction of
Japan throug artist’s erratic approach.
The encounter between Moriyama
and the dog outside a restaurant in
Misawa illustrates an infinite range
of connections. The two mutually
understood one another. During
the years, dog has been constantly
associated to outsiders, as depicted
in Akira Kurosawa´s 1949 film Stray
Dog, where it was characterised as a
homeless murderous pickpocket.
Similarly to the Western view of
rebellion, bohemian figures who are
13. 24 25
N
o
b
u
y
o
s
h
i
A
r
a
k
i
b. 1940,Tokyo Japan
1959 – 1963 Chiba University
EDUCATION
“I want to revive what photography has
killed”.
Araki´s own life story is shown throughout
hisphotographicworkasasuperimposition
of himself and the common reality.
He mixes the outer world with his own,
creating a new reality made out of images
as a huge narrative films.
Using all his representational resources
Arakileadsustohisdeepinside,portraiting
personal everyday life events whilst deals
with universal truths as the endless cycle
of life and death.
Understanding life as a film where
every image collaborate with each other,
Araki begun in 1971 the production of
a huge list of almost 500 photobooks
with Sentimental Journey, a compilation
of intimate photographs about his
honeymoon with his wife, Yoko.
Naturalistic portraits, sexual acts, erotic
images and quotidian scenes intermingle
in an Eros-Thanatos maelstrom, which
set his identity as photographer. A few
years later in 1991, this project finds its
continuation in Sentimental Journey/
Winter Journey, a photographic diary of
his honeymoon again mixed with Yoko´s
last living moments and subsequent and
early passing.The loss of his beloved wife,
muse and main main model gave him the
chancetofacethefeareddeathbycapturing
the moment, which he missed when his
parents died, directing his production to
a state beyond.
Yoko´s death promoted him to portrait
just life, but paradoxically throughout
moments of death,as photography is about
stopping time.
In the chase of depicting the inexorable
cycle of life and death, Araki restarts
the experimentation initiated in the
eighties with the audio-visual installation
Arakinema and begins to introduce
material objects in his photographs such
as the series Erotos (1993), presenting
images of the human body side by side
with objects that resemble female genitalia,
giving “life” to inanimate objects by damp
image treatment.
Araki has been awarded the Society of
Photography Award in Japan (1990), the
7th Higashikawa Prize (1991), the Japan
Inter-Design Forum Grand Prix (1994)
and the Austrian Decoration for Science
and Art Award (2008) and many of his
works reside in both private and public
collections including the Tate Modern, the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and
the Museum Winterthur in Switzerland
ABOUT
14. 26 27
untitled
Kinbaku 2008/2014 series
2009
Gelatine silver print
19.68 x 23.62 in
Open edition
PROVENANCE
Private Italian Collection
US$ 4,500 - 8,000
The intimate link between Araki and
the Shunga tradition, reveals itself
in the Kinbaku series initiated in the
late 1980´s. “There is no conclusion,
It’s completely open. It doesn’t go
anywhere”.This is how Araki describes
this collection of more than 2000
images that combines what in Western
society is understood as bondage as a
medium of depicting the blurring of
boundaries between fiction and fact,
inside and outside, subject and object,
tradition and newness. Kinbaku series
is, therefore, about opposites, and in
essence, about life and death. Probably
his most controversial body of work,
often wrongly analysed by many
Western critics as a representation of
fetishism, presenting the women as
nothing else but a sexual object. Even
though nothing further from the truth.
Araki´s work links to centuries-long
practice of Shunga, or the art of tie
tight, lead to the show of women as
freed individuals, conquerors of their
inner self throughout sexuality.
Sex becomes the unifying force in the
subject, as the reason for life and death.
Kaori, is photographed here staring
directly at the viewer, laid in a bed with
no sheets, balancing the composition
strongly marked by the strips that lead
the look non-stop beyond the frame.
The intense look of the model caught
masterly by Araki builds a bridge
between the object and the subject and
sets the paradox between the observer
and the observed roles.
15. 28 29
Untitled
Kinbaku 2008/2014 series
2009
Gelatine silver print
23.62 x 19.68 in.
Open edition
PROVENANCE
Private Italian Collection
US$ 4,500 - 8,000
An elegant and outstanding shot at an
infrequently mysterious background,
shows Kaori, his predilect muse after
his wife´s death, posing like a Western
marble sculpture. The disposition
of the graceful and organic curve
illustrated by the model´s body against
the rough “dead” and highly textured
mat below her allude once more to the
fight of opposites, a theme commonly
described in Araki´s images. This black
and white photograph was produced for
the endless Kinbaku 2008/2014 series
and explores the contemporary cultural
crash between East and West moral
values. Intimately related to Shunga,
Araki reinterprets this centuries-long
tradition and exposes his images to the
public opinion, creating debate and
reflection.
Since his wife´s passing in 1990, Araki
has constantly communicated about
life through the notion of death as a
common theme in all his work since
the event.
16. 30 31
uNTITLED
Kinbaku series
1988
Gelatine silver print, printed later
16 x 13 in.
Open edition. Signed in pencil on the verso
PROVENANCE
LITERATURE
Taka Ishii Gallery,Tokyo
Kodonsha International, Araki:The Photographer’s Personal Selection, 2003, p. 233
US$ 2,500 - 4,000
Shot in a highly constructed
environment, the organic nudity of the
model breaks the geometrical space in
a kind of interruption of silence. The
presence of the naked woman hung
from the ceiling inside a traditional
Japanese house, directs the viewer
to the warmth of the home, creating
an intimate context that invites to
abandon the senses to Shunga. Araki´s
warm, delicate and elegant use of
light modelates the volumes, without
avoiding nevertheless the darkness.
The way he experiments with the
luminosituy of light in the model´s
body alludes agrain to the cyclic sense
of life and death.
17. 32 33
Y
a
s
u
m
a
s
a
M
o
r
i
m
u
r
a
Yasumasa Morimura began his artistic
exploration whilst serving as an assistant
at the Kyoto University of the Arts, where
he devoted himself in experimenting with
various artistic processes such as painting,
drawing, photographs, and woodblock
art. In 1985, he started making portraits
of where he incorporates himself into the
work, the (style) that he is widely known
for. He received international recognition
in 1998, and he has since shown primarily
prikvate exhibitions such as at the Museum
of ContemporaryArt in Chicago (1992),and
the Cartier Foundation of Contemporary
Art. His significance was verified when he
became one of the 60 artists selected for
inclusion in the influential traveling show
“Japanese Art After 1945: Scream against
the Sky” in 1994. Critics were unanimous
in recognising his contribution to a new
global art movement based on the collapse
of cultural boundaries and the free
exchange of artistic influences. Primarily
known for his investigation of femininity
through his depiction of iconic depictions
of iconic women in history and pop culture,
his “Requiem for the XX Century” series
allows the audience to explore another
side of his vision, masculinity arising in
politics and war, where he attempts to
convey the relationship between living in
the present and the past.
Morimura is represented by Shugo Arts in
Tokyo and Luhring Augustine Gallery in
New York, which is regularly included in
renowned international exhibitions such
as theVenice Biennale.He has also recently
served as the Artistic Director of the
2014 Yokohama Triennale. His works are
collected by prominent public and private
collections, including the J. Paul Getty
Museum, the Museum of Contemporary
Art in Chicago, The Whitney Museum of
Modern Art, The San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art, and the Museum of
Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
ABOUT
b. 1951, Osaka, Japan
1985 Columbia University
1982 Philadelphia College of Art
1978 Kyoto University of the Arts
EDUCATION
18. 34 35
In this piece, Morimura chooses to re-
create the iconic photograph of Cuban
revolutionary leader Che Guevara by
Alberto Korda from 1960 called “Gue-
rrillo Heroico”, meaning heroic fighter.
Although seen as a controversial figure
in the west, Guevara’s heroic persona
attracts various international attention
and mixed reactions. Like Morimura,
Guevara is seen by his often country-
men to have brought Cuba to a similar
level in the west, much like how Mori-
mura’s works attempt to bring together
the East and the West.
infinite Dream/Che
Requiem for the XX Century series
2007
Gelatin silver print mounted on alpolic
47 ¼ x 37 ¾ in.
Edition of 10
PROVENANCE
Private American collector
US$ 22,000 - 32,000
19. 36 37
Although Morimura has described
the Requiem series to be an explora-
tion of “masculinity arising in politics
and war”, Mahatma Gandhi has always
been perceived as a peaceful figure in
the international world. Morimura de-
cided to recreate the 1946 photograph
of Magaret Bourke-White for Life Ma-
gazine. Spinning a thread between the
light and the earth is the last photogra-
ph of the last chapter of the Requiem
series, possibly demonstrating Mori-
mura’s hope to a more peaceful world
in the 20th Century.
Gandhi uses his corporeality as a vehi-
cle to access deeper meanings, just as
Morimura’s self-portraiture has always
done with his in-depth observation of
important figures. By depicting himself
as these figures, Morimura attempts
to gain a deeper understanding of the
struggles fought by them, which then
Spinning a thread between the light and the earth
[Gandhi, 1946]
Requiem for the XX Century series
2010
Gelatin silver print
47 x 59 in.
Edition of 7
PROVENANCE
Private collection
US$ 15,000 - 17,000
are captured through the expressions
in the eyes.
20. 38 39
The Mishima incident is a momentous
event in Japanese political history.This
piece depicts Morimura as Mishima, a
prominent Japanese writer who was
widely known for his controversial at-
tempt of coup d’état and public per-
formance of Seppuku, an old Japanese
ritual suicide by disembowelment, an-
ciently practised by Bushido samurais.
This piece offers the viewers a unique
insight to Japanese culture through
a lesser-known international icon, in
opposed to Morimura’s usual explora-
tion of culture through more interna-
tionally renowned icons. A recreation
of Mishima’s impassioned pre-suicide
speech, this piece is also accompanied
by a performance of the scene as a re-
corded in 6-minute DVD
Mishima, 1970
Requiem for the XX Century series
2006
C-print mounted on alpolic
59 x 47 ¼ in.
Edition of 6
Private American collector
PROVENANCE
US$ 6,000 - 7,000
21. 40 41
H
i
r
o
s
h
i
S
u
g
i
m
o
t
o
b. 1948,Tokyo, Japan
Lives and works between New York and Tokyo
1970 Saint Paul’s University,Tokyo, Japan
1974 Art Center College of Design, Los Angeles, USA
EDUCATION
Hiroshi Sugimoto is a multi-disciplined
contemporary artist, focusing his practice
on photography, painting, installation,
and in recent years on architecture. His
iconic photographs link Eastern and
Western cultures, providing an aesthetic
highly influenced by social attitudes of
both worlds. He became involved with
with minimalism and conceptual art when
he left Japan to study art in the USA
in the 1970s, of which the encounters
influenced him throughout his career.
From the beginning of his artistic research
he expresses the idea that photography
embodies a time machine, able to capture
human memories. In relation to this one
of the main theme coming out frequently
in his works is the perception of time and
space are explored through, on which his
iconic photographic series such as Portraits
(1999), Theaters (begun in 1978), and
Seascapes ( begun in the 1980s). In 2009,
he founded the Odawara Art Foundation
which aim is to promote Japanese culture
by creating exhibitions and organizing
artists’ residencies. Among the many
awards received by Sugimoto, he was
honored with the Isamu Noguchi Award
for Kindred Spirits in Innovation, Global
Consciousness and Japanese/American
Exchange. In 2014 Sugimoto’s work has
been exhibited in major international
museums, such as the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York, the Deutsche
Guggenheim in Berlin, the Museum of
Modern Art in New York and the Hara
Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo.
It is also part of numerous public
collections including the collection of
the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New
York, the Museum of Contemporary Art
in Tokyo, The National Gallery in London
and the Tate Modern in London.
Sugimoto is represented by major galleries
among which Gagosian, Marian Goodman
and Pace.
ABOUT
22. 42 43
Napoleon Bonaparte
Portraits series
1999
Gelatin silver print
58 5/8 x 46 7/8 in
Edition of 5
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
US$ 200.000 - 250.000
Commissioned to Sugimoto in 1999
by Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin on
the occasion of the exhibition Hiroshi
Sugimoto: Portraits (2000), the body
of works which include the black and
white picture Napoleon Bonaparte
challenge the notion of mechanical
reproduction in the artistic field.
The photographers went around
waxworks museums capturing life-
sized pictures of sculptures depicting
historical and contemporary
figures such as Henry VIII, William
Shakespeare, Diana and, as the one
presented in this auction, Napoleon
Bonaparte. Sugimoto´s photographs
dramatize the figures using light and
shadows in order to create a sort of
painting rendering, full of pathos
and surreal life. He investigated the
relationship between painting and
photography as different medium; with
the first one giving birth to unique
works of art, while photography creates
infinitely reproducible works. Leaving
the figures without any backdrop means
that Sugimoto did not want possibility
to collocate the image in time and
space. The power of image is all that
the viewer has to focus on, wondering
about its real value and reliability.
After being presented for the first
time in Berlin in 2000, this series of
works has been included worldwide in
exhibitions set up in major institutions,
among which, Guggenheim Museum
in Bilbao (2000), Guggenheim Museum
in New York (2001), White Cube in
London (2001), and Singapore Art
Museum (2002).
23. 44 45
Castro Theater, San Francisco
Theaters series
1992
Gelatin silver print
20 x 24 in
Edition of 25
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
US$ 30,000 - 40,000
The black and white picture part of to
well-know Theaters series had been
started by Sugimoto in the 1970s. He
travelled through America coming into
movie theaters and cinemas with his
large-format camera. He fixed the shu-
tter at a wide -open aperture when the
movie started and as soon as it finished
hours later he closed the shutter. Using
this kind of technique, a long exposure
time, he saved the entire film in a sin-
gle shot.The result is impressive: what
the viewer see in the screen his the
addition of all movie sequences, crea-
ting a plain screen made of pure light.
The fullness becomes emptiness. The
power of light contrast the darkness of
the theaters, illuminating the architec-
ture as well as the the majesty of the
space. Once again the relation between
time-perception and space-perception
is investigate by Sugimoto pushing the
boundaries of photographic practice
towards experimentation.
Featured in many major exhibition and
collections, this series embodies an
important step in Sugimoto’s career and
an unique result in the photographic
art history.
24. 46 47
North Pacific Ocean, Oregon I
Seascapes series
1985
Gelatin silver print
16 5/8 x 21 3/8 in
Edition of 25
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
US$ 20,000 - 30,000
Hiroshi Sugimoto started traveling the
world in the 1980s, holding a camera in
his hands, looking for places near the
sea. He settled in each location for a
duration of weeks, until he reached the
perfect shot. Seascapes is a series of
large-scale black and white photogra-
phs, taken by using specific methods
and technologies belonging to the 19th
century. The reason why he chose not
to use high-speed photographic pro-
cess is to give to the viewer an endless
feeling of time and space. The old me-
thods used by Sugimoto require time
and preparation, giving a high quality
to his picture, which is his primary aim.
What attract his attention to the sce-
nery was the pure beauty of the sky em-
bracing the sea, and the sea embracing
the sky, where the line of the horizon
separates in two perfect halves showing
the realm of water and the realm of air.
Creating powerful images, Sugimoto
tries to capture the mystery of existence,
creating a meditative journey through
space and time.
Seascapes is considered one of the most
distinctive series among Sugimoto’s
work. Appealing to collectors, each
photograph of this series has been a
huge success both in the primary and
secondary market. A number of them
are part of major museum collection,
amongwhichtheMetropolitanMuseum
of New York. t
25. 48 49
Hans Belting, Hiroshi Sugimoto: Teatres, Sonnabend Sundell Editions, 2000
Kerry Brougher and Pia Muller-Tamm, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Hatje Cantz, Germany,
2010
Mark Durden, Photography Today, Phaidon Press Limited, London, 2014
Vicki Goldberg, Light Matters: Writings on Photography, Aperture Foundation, New
York, 2005
Ariko Miki, Yoshiko Isshiki and Tomoko Sato, Nobuyoshi Araki: Self - Life - Death,
Phaidon Press Limited, London, 2005
Camilla Nickerson and Neville Wakefield, Fashion - Photography of the Nineties,
First Scalo Edition, Germany, 1996
Anne Wilkes Tucker, Dana Friis - Hansen, Kaneko Ryuichi and Takeba Joe, The
History of Japanese Photography, exhibition catalogue, March 2 - April 7 2003,
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Yale University Press, London, 2003
Michael Fried, Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before, Yale University
Press, London, 2008
BIBLIOGRAPHY
