YASUO KUNIYOSHI (1893-1953)

Yasuo Kuniyoshi was born in Japan in 1893 and moved to the US in 1906/1907. Highly accomplished in multiple media including painting, print-making and photography, Kuniyoshi engaged himself in setting a unique style combing Eastern and Western influences. In 1948, he was the first living artist in the US to have a major retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Reclining Nude (Lot 55), painted in 1944, features a capricious and sensuous woman lying on a pink-grey carpet. Kuniyoshi was influenced by Marc Chagall and Jules Pascin. Unlike Pascin’s typical reclining nudes, Kuniyoshi’s women are more self-absorbed and enigmatic, reminiscent of the female protagonists in Japanese pictorial tradition. In addition, Kuniyoshi’s figure is situated in an ambiguous space, with a dislocated bench topped by four pots of Asian ever greens in the background. To certain extent, this composition is similar to work by another important 20th century painter, Sanyu.