China Guardian Hong Kong’s Asian 20th Century and Contemporary Art Sale brought in an array of artists from both the East and the West. The overall theme of the sale was centered around big and bold usages of color in art, with the various artists displaying their mastery of this aspect of painting. Big names such as Yun Gee, George Condo, Zao Wou-Ki, and Yoshitomo Nara have graced the sale.
However, it was a unique and possibly even seminal Yayoi Kusama work, Black & Black, which became the most expensive lot sold at the sale, going for just under HK$14.2 million (around US$1.82 million) with fees. There is no other Kusama work quite like it, and it comes from an experimental part of the Japanese artist’s career.
Lot 43 | Yayoi Kusama (b.1929) | Black & Black, Oil on Canvas
Painted in 1961
187 x 145.5 cm
Provenance:
- Gagosian Gallery, New York
- Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above
Estimate: HK$12,000,000 - 18,000,000
Sold: HK$14,190,000 (around US$1.82 million)
Auctioneer John Chong (Manager, Ceramics and Works of Art) opened the bidding on this unique Kusama painting at HK$9.8 million. Afterward, it was Vita Chen, General Manager and Senior Specialist, Asian 20th Century and Contemporary Art, who successfully won the lot for her client on the phone with the paddle number 468. The buyer paid around HK$14.1 million, including the premium, for the work.
Yayoi Kusama is an artist who, by her admission, is inspired by her tumultuous mental state. Once the subject of an academic paper titled “Genius Woman Artist With Schizophrenic Tendency,” Kusama’s work has been representative of her hallucinations and traumatic past.
Vita Chen, who won the lot for her client on the telephone, standing next to Black & Black
Kusama's two main motifs, the “polka dots” and “infinite nets,” are an outgrowth of her past. While both have appeared countless times in various mediums, Black & Black is extremely unique for being the only known “infinite net” painting that just uses black. However, its seemingly simple color choice has achieved a lot texturally and lighting-wise, which ties in with Kusama’s ideas about self-obliteration and being an individual.
These ideas of individuality and a loss of self date back to Kusama's youth. The “polka dots” were developed by Kusama in 1939 when she drew them on a sketch of her mother. According to Kusama, seeing dots helped ease her anxieties and seemed to function as a sort of coping mechanism for her mental troubles. Since then they have appeared everywhere, including most iconically on pumpkins and whole rooms.
Kusama’s “nets” were an outgrowth of her “dots” as they dealt with the issue of “obliteration” of self and one's individuality. Black & Black is spawned from the exploration into “infinite nets,” with the earliest variation of those works using the contrast of a white net overlaid onto a black background. In many ways, Black & Black is the ultimate concentration of Kusama’s ideals and motifs into a single art piece.
Produced in 1961, Black & Black is one of the rare Kusama works from that period, where she lived in New York City. At the time she was heavily involved in politics, including the protesting of the Vietnam War through her live art. Out of the less than 10 Kusama works from the 1960s, Black & Black is the largest and represents Kusama’s desire for simplicity beyond even black and white. If it is taken that Black & Black is the outgrowth of “infinite nets," this is the most extreme conclusion of that artistic expression by Kusama and potentially the most vivid expression of her “obliteration” motif in her work.
Careful observation of the painting shows that it is not a monotone black work, but instead, there are considerable details related to Kusama’s usage of paint. Across the painting, there are variations of how thickly Kusama applies the color, with the center appearing to be a vortex of a darker, richer black. Bumps and grooves can also be observed where Kusama has applied what almost seems to be a textural wave across the canvas.
This textural component has been lost in Kusama’s more modern “infinity net” works, such as 1995’s Infinity sold by Bonhams Hong Kong in 2024. When Kusama first moved to New York, she heavily experimented with canvas nets, covering items with them and painting the patterns that they outlined.
These painting sessions would sometimes last up to fifty hours straight and be detrimental to her mental health, as the tactile feeling of those paintings caused Kusama to have major panic attacks. It is not impossible to imagine that Black & Black is a product of that tumultuous time, as the timelines do add up for when this work would have been produced and when Kusama began this textural experiment with canvas nets.
Yayoi Kusama in the 1960s in NYC with one of her “infinite net” paintings. Notice the tactile nature of the canvas, a byproduct of the materials and methods Kusama used to paint at the time
Regarding Kusama's inspiration for this work, it most likely loops in with her ideas of "self-obliteration" and her seeking to lose her sense of self within the patterns and motifs she created. To Kusama, her nets were just another part of her quest toward "self-obliteration,” and here they merged with this idea of becoming one with the infinity of space.
Darkness had not yet explicitly become part of Kusama’s “self-obliteration” cycle. Kusama’s 1967 experimental art film Self-Obliteration never brings up that idea of space or darkness, but in Black & Black Kusama could very much have been forming such an idea, with the brighter reflection and spots in the painting representing stars in the night sky. This is supported by a poem Kusama would write later on.
"In the darkness there is flickering, light then dark
Busy reminiscing about the past ... I pile hundreds of paintings up high
The colour of the brushwork and different combinations are clear
Looking at the darkness
I crawl and open the door to my soul
I stand on the land and the phantoms of last night fill the sky."
– Yayoi Kusama, Swinging in the Air, 1978
Lot 47 | Zao Wou-Ki (1921-2013) | 24.01.73, Oil on canvas
Painted in 1973
95 x 105 cm
Provenance:
- 28 May 1999, Lempertz Cologne Spring Auction, Lot 560
- 24 Apr 2001, China Guardian Spring Auction, Lot 879
- 7 Oct 2019, China Guardian Hong Kong Autumn Auction, Lot 88
- Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above
Estimate: HK$12,000,000 - 18,000,000
Sold: HK$12,000,000 (around US$1.5 million)
The second-most expensive lot of the sale was Zao Wou-ki's 24.01.73, which sold for HK$12 million (around US$1.5 million) with fees. Born in 1921 in Beijing, Zao was a Chinese-French painter who would go on to become a major artistic figure of the 20th century. While Zao was originally trained in China, when he moved to France in 1948, partially inspired by his interest in Impressionism, his artwork became far more Western in its style.
When Zao arrived in France, he was quick to reject traditional Chinese ink painting. While his earliest works were inspired by calligraphy, he did not want to be tokenized as a Chinese artist, hence his move away from those styles. In 1972, the loss of his wife sent Zao Wou-Ki into a period of sadness. Feeling that life was short, he visited family back in China, which he hadn’t returned to in the last 24 years.
Visiting his homeland helped alleviate his sorrows, allowing him to explore the usage of traditional Chinese painting tools, methods, and scenery, as well as interweaving techniques from both the East and West. This included a brush and ink technique that was borrowed from Chinese calligraphy to paint Chinese landscapes but in the style of more abstract painters. Additionally, this period known as "infinity" was focused on incorporating Chinese philosophy and nature into his work, especially as he traveled the country to see its natural beauty.
Zao Wou-ki and his mother
Details of the present lot
According to Zao, his return to Chinese painting allowed him to harness the “rhythm” created by empty spaces on the canvas, a key difference between his work and that of other Western artists. In this work, such a style is manifested when, in the center, Zao uses broad brushstrokes to paint dark stormy clouds over abstract mountains painted in a calligraphic style.
The expansive voids above the clouds and chaotically abstract scenery are gently brushed over with mist, creating a cohesive energy throughout the painting. It is this “energy” that refers back to how Zao felt about Chinese art’s ability to harness more through its empty spaces on the canvas that Western art could not.
Zao also makes use of a layering technique in the painting, using thinned paints to create layers of lightly visible colors. It is this technique that Zao used to create the misty effect, especially in the more empty spaces of the painting, making the effect transition between natural and ethereal in quality.
Details of the present lot
Details of the present lot
Lot 40 | Yun Gee (1906-1963) | Here’s New York, Oil on Canvas
Painted in 1943
91.4 x 71 cm
Provenance:
- Original Collection of artist's daughter Li-lan
- Tina Keng Gallery, Taipei
- Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above
Estimate: HK$6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$6,000,000
Sold: HK$7,170,000 (around US$923,000)
After starting bidding at HK$5 million, eager bidders drove the price of this Yun Gee lot up by one million Hong Kong dollars. Once again, it was Vita Chen who successfully won the lot for her client on the telephone with the paddle number 573. The lot, after fees, sold for HK$7.17 million (US$922,958).
Born in 1906 in southern China, Yun Gee was not a prolific artist, having produced less than 200 total works in his lifetime. In 1921, when he turned 15, he left China to join his father in San Francisco, where he would attend what is now the San Francisco Art Institute. From there, the trajectory of his career took him between Paris and New York several times. It was during this early era in San Francisco and then Paris that Gee was exposed to avant-garde painting.
Following his first time in Paris from 1927 to 1930, Gee returned to the United States and settled down for his first stint in New York City. Gee was a celebrated artist in NYC, with his art being exhibited at both the Brooklyn Museum and Museum of Modern Art. However, the economic downturn of the Great Depression and anti-Asian racism caused Gee to find the city unbearable to live in, causing him to depart back to France.
His second stint in France lasted from 1936 to 1939, with Gee returning back to NYC as war was breaking out in Europe. According to his then-wife Helen Gee, Gee was not totally absorbed in art then. Instead, he was working as a defense contractor six days a week, only being able to paint at night when he returned from his day job.
Vita Chen standing next to Here's New York
Yun Gee (right) with his then-wife Helen Gee (nee Wimmer) (left) with their daughter Li-Lan
Gee’s artwork, at its core, is rooted in two artistic principles, Cubism and Synchromism. The latter originated in 1912 as a way to interpret color not just optically but as an abstract tool to capture the “rhythm” that color could produce on the canvas. Here’s New York achieves both principles across its depiction of New York City and its inhabitants. Through the clever use of space and perspective, the painting is split into distinct segments.
What’s interesting is that Gee doesn’t let the atmosphere of wartime America influence his work, instead indulging in the glory and energy of the 1920s, an era of progress before the war and the Great Depression. This indulgence in the past glories of New York can be seen throughout the painting, with the two dancing figures in the foreground.
The skyscrapers and general industrialization of the city are also examples of Gee indulging in the roaring 1920s of New York. Gee’s use of color, light, and design of the skyscrapers very much invokes imagery of the Art Deco movement, which spawned NYC landmarks including Rockefeller Plaza, the Empire State Building, and the Chrysler Building.
Gee lived in NYC following the Roaring Twenties, and it was perhaps a subject he sought to revisit. This is evidenced by two paintings produced in 1932: Untitled (Oil Study for Wheels: Industrial New York) and Wheels: Industrial New York. The former in particular bears striking similarity to Here’s New York, albeit with a more oppressive and darker atmosphere. Here’s New York in a way seems to seek to capture New York in its full glory outside of its financial depression.
Yun Gee⏐Untitled (Oil Study for Wheels: Industrial New York) (1932), 73.66 x 60.96 cm
Other Highlight Lots:
Lot 41 | George Condo (b.1957) | La Legion D’honneur, Oil on canvas
Painted between 1993-1994
116 x 88.8 cm
Provenance:
- Art Studio
- The Pace Gallery, New York
- Michelle Rosenfeld Gallery, New York
- Private Collection, New York
- 10 Jul 2020, Sotheby's Hong Kong Spring Auction, Lot 531
- Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above
Estimate: HK$3,600,000 - 4,600,000
Sold: HK$4,440,000
Lot 50 | Hong Ling (b.1955) | Dee Green Mountain Afar, Oil on canvas
Painted between 2021-2022
180 × 180 cm
Provenance:
- Soka Art Centre, Taipei
- Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above
Estimate: HK$1,800,000 - 2,800,000
Sold: HK$4,200,000
Lot 30 | Lin Fengmian (1900-1991) | Woods in Spring, Ink and color on paper
66.5 x 68.5 cm
Provenance:
- 24 Oct 2005, Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction, Lot 934
- Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above
Estimate: HK$1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold: HK$2,400,000
Lot 9 | Yoshitomo Nara (b.1959) | Live for Moment, Colored pencil on paper
Created in 2006
42 x 29.7 cm
Provenance:
- Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo
- 27 May 2018, Christie's Hong Kong Spring Auction, Lot 106
- Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above
Estimate: HK$1,800,000 - 2,500,000
Sold HK$2,280,000
Lot 8 | Yoshitomo Nara | Smiling Girl, Oil on Japanese antique fan
Created in 1993
75.5 x 135 cm
Provenance:
- Galerie Tanya Rumpff, Haarlem
- 6 Oct 2022, Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction, Lot 55
- Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above
Estimate: HK$1,800,000 - 2,800,000
Sold: HK$2,160,000
Lot 39 | Su Tianci (1922-2006) | Le Chrysanthème et La Crête-de-Coq, Oil on canvas
Painted circa 1980s
82.5 x 66 cm
Provenance:
- Acquired directly by original collector from the artist in 1987
- 7 Apr 2013, Poly Hong Kong Spring Auction, Lot 143
- Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above
Estimate: HK$1,800,000 - 2,800,000
Sold: HK$2,160,000
Lot 42 | Yan Bing (1980) | Apricot Blossom No.6, Oil on canvas
Painted in 2019
100 x 80 cm
Provenance:
- ShanghART Gallery, Beijing
- Acquired directly by present private Asian collector from the above
Estimate: HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold: HK$1,320,000
Lot 27 | Lin Fengmian | South Gate of Heaven, Ink and color on paper
Painted circa 1980s
36 x 36.5 cm
Provenance:
- Previous Collection of Hong Kong Private Collector Wong Lian Fon
- Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei
- Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above
Estimate: HK$300,000 - 400,000
Sold: HK$1,104,000
Lot 64 | Li Chen (b.1963) | Soothing Breezes Floating Clouds, Bronze sculpture
Executed in 2008
Edition: 18/30
49.5 x 27 x 18.5 cm
Provenance:
- Asia Art Center, Taipei
- Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above
Estimate: HK$250,000 - 350,000
Sold: HK$744,000
Lot 13 | Ju Ting (b.1983) | Amber Series, Acrylic on plank
Painted in 2011
193 x 162 cm
Provenance:
- Private Collection, Asia
Estimate: HK$180,000 - 280,000
Sold: HK$720,000
Auction Details:
Auction House: China Guardian Hong Kong
Sale: Asian 20th Century and Contemporary Art
Date: 8 October 2024
Total Lots: 116
Sale Rate: 80%
Sale Total: HK$77,504,400 (around US$9.93 million)