Van Gogh's favorite Japanese woodblock by Hiroshige, plus Chinese jade and paintings, Tibetan bronzes and magnificent robes join March 21 Asian Art event
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DALLAS, Texas (March 1, 2023) — Keen-eyed art historians have long understood the enormous influence Eastern art has had on our most beloved modern European and American artists. By the mid-to-late 1800s, Japanese prints took the West by storm (Japan's ports opened to the West in the 1850s), and the elegantly controlled and colorful works visibly inspired Degas, Cassatt, Toulous-Lautrec, Monet, and Gauguin – not to mention Vincent van Gogh, who moved to Paris in 1886, less than 20 years after the World's Fair in Paris. That major event bathed the region's artists in the aesthetics and vernacular of Eastern art, most notably at the time Japanese woodcuts and the works of ukiyo-e printmakers. (The burgeoning influence of Japanese aesthetics in Europe was called Japonisme). Van Gogh adored Japanese woodcuts and decorated his studio walls with them. One of the most beloved paintings of his own output, Flowering Plum Orchard: After Hiroshige (1887) is a direct homage to a print by the master Japanese printmaker Utagawa Hiroshige. Many art lovers are as familiar with Van Gogh's faithful recreation of the image (as well as his artistic-license tweaks) as they are with Hiroshige's original. This month, Heritage offers this print, Hiroshige's woodblock The Plum Garden at Kameido (1857), in its 2023 March 21 Fine & Decorative Asian Art Signature® Auction. The work was the 30th image in his renowned series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. The gorgeous and balanced composition, lyrical in its muted color palette and masterful symbiosis of foreground and background, relaxed perspective, and fine detail depicts plum trees in bloom against a carnelian sky, with people milling about in the distance.
"This is just one of the excellent prints in this event that also includes an impressive selection of Chinese ceramics, jade carvings, archaic bronzes, cloisonné enamel works of art, superb Chinese paintings, textiles and more," says Moyun Niu, Heritage Auctions' Consignment Director of Asian Art. "Besides Hiroshige's Plum Garden print, the auction boasts 21 other woodblocks by Japanese print masters, including, including other works from the Edo series."
Notably, the event also features two woodblocks by perhaps the most recognizable Japanese printmaker in modern history: Katsushika Hokusai. Roben Waterfall at Oyama in Sagami Province from A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (1832) and Poem by Ono No Komachi from One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (1834) will hit the block this month; both are richly illustrated scenes of daily working life rendered in Hokusai's knowing, eminently gifted hand. They are in good condition and include two seals each.
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The bronzes in this auction span the East, and this Tibetan gilt bronze Mahasiddha figure and Tibetan gilt bronze Bodhisattva are especially charismatic. But speaking of charm, this out-of-the ordinary Japanese patinated and silvered bronze Okimono model of a cockerel by Hideyoshi Seizo of the Meiji Period (late 19th century) is hard to beat: at two feet high he struts with confidence and watchful golden eyes. His detailing is beautifully articulated – feathers, comb, talons and beak all spring to life.
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The Chinese jade in this auction is notable, including this Qing Dynasty group of three carved plaques from a Ruyi scepter. Their polished cream flora and fauna details against milky backgrounds are exquisite. Other highlights include a fine Japanese cloisonné vase attributed to Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845-1927), its elegant elongated shape complimented with the pink buds and white blossoms emerging from a perfect morning-sky blue background. An unusual collection of Chinese paintings join this event, topped by this ink and color on paper work titled Waterfall by Huang Junbi (1898-1991) – a serene landscape punctuated with a wraparound waterfall you can practically hear. It comes from the collection of Richard Yee, and includes three red seals. And one of the true showstoppers of this auction is this Chinese black-ground Taoist priest robe from the Qing Dynasty; its stunningly elaborate and delicate embroidery spans a magnificent field of gold, and it is but one of handful of Chinese textile beauties Heritage offers on March 21. Images and information on these lots more than 200 more in this auction can be found at HA.com/8118.
Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world's largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam and Hong Kong.
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Christina Rees, Public Relations Specialist
214-409-1341 or Christina Rees@HA.com |
