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Hello, Gutai Prices for prime postwar Japanese works are reaching new highs, but are they sustainable? By Angela M.H. Schuster

Until recently, Gutai was a much-mediated genre, viewed when ’s exuberant and richly hued Although much abstract oil-on-canvas Keishizoku, 1961, commanded nearly as a distant cousin of the midcentury avant-garde rather Gutai work was $4 million at Phillips New York this past November, it set than a critical agent in its evolution. Since the early 2000s, ephemeral or performance- a record not only for the artist but for an entire body of work however, a renewed interest in international modernism driven, a prime k r

o example of the

Y produced by the Gutai Art Association, whose members in all of its forms has driven a curatorial reassessment of movement’s w e revolutionized the way art was both executed and perceived Gutai in the West. James Rondeau, head of contemporary

N experimental

, t paintings, r in postwar . Perhaps more important, the sale seemed art at the Art Institute of Chicago, says that the museum, A Sadamasa e n i to signal a major gain in market traction for Gutai works in seeking to complement its Abstract Expressionist Motonaga’s F

y Sakuhin 31, e in the wake of several important exhibitions—at the Museum holdings, has deemed Shiraga’s work “a priority because r f 1963, utilizes f a Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, at the 2009 Venice Biennale, it completely reimagines the possibilities and meanings, synthetic resins C c

M and, last year, at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. physically and conceptually, of the expressive gesture.” and pebbles.

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bucking convention, Gutai works were poorly received in Japan, particularly among Tokyo’s cultural elite, who regarded them as bourgeois exercises aimed at seducing the West. Moreover, their often playful nature failed to reflect the nation’s continued societal unease with American political policies in the wake of World War II. A consummate promoter and not one to be dissuaded, Yoshihara underwrote the publication of the Gutai Journal, of which a dozen issues were produced between 1955 and 1965 under the watchful eye of fellow artist , who is credited with coining the group’s name. The journal was instrumental in disseminating information about Gutai in international circles, piquing the curiosity of artists such as Pollock, de Kooning, and Allan Kaprow, who were clearly influenced by the group’s activities. Despite a philosophical emphasis on “concreteness,” many Gutai works were ephemeral in nature, performance- based pieces to be enjoyed in the here and now, leaving little tangible evidence of their existence. As a result, those that survive and are to be found on the art market tend to be parietal or sculptural, with works by Shiraga leading by ever-increasing margins following the recent retrospectives. At auction, prices for his prime pieces—paintings from the early 1960s, which he executed with his bare feet while suspended above a canvas, often as spectators looked on— have been in a steady climb since they first crossed the $1 million mark at Sotheby’s Paris in December 2007. The 66 most pronounced jump in his market, however, has come in the wake of the Guggenheim show, “Gutai: Splendid Playground,” in the spring of 2013. The record-breaking Phillips sale in November was The museum recently added the artist’s oil-on-canvas followed by the sale of Shiraga’s Chiinsei Hakukada, 1961, Chikatsusei Maunkinshi, 1960, to a suite of galleries showing for €2,113,500 ($2.9 million) at Christie’s Paris in December, artists ranging from Jackson Pollock, Joan Mitchell, and and Chitaisei Honkshin, 1960, for HKD18,040,000 Willem de Kooning to Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, ($2.3 million) at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in April. The latter had and Cy Twombly. traded at Sotheby’s Paris as recently as December 2010 for Founded in 1954, the Gutai association—its name means a far more modest price of $225,000. All of the sales reaching “embodiment” or “concreteness”—was the brainchild of $2 million or more have been achieved since June of last year. Jiro Yoshihara, scion of a family that made its fortune in the “Shiraga is the barometer for Gutai, and he is the artist cooking oil business. A quintessential impresario, Yoshihara who has the most work out in the market,” says Fergus was at once an artist, visionary, patron, gallerist, and McCaffrey of New York–based McCaffrey Fine Art, noting publicist, who handpicked his collaborators and curated their output. Much of it—from 1962 on—was presented in a suite of renovated family-owned warehouses in Market leader Osaka that came to be known as the Gutai Kazuo Shiraga’s Pinacotheca. By the time the association oil on canvas Keishizoku, 1961, disbanded following Yoshihara’s death above, sold for in 1972, the original 16-artist collective had $3,973,000, a record for Gutai grown to include 59 members, half of work, at Phillips whom are alive today. New York last November. At Yoshihara’s guiding mantra was “Do right, Gutai works what no one has done before,” and works from the 1950s on produced by Gutai artists included just view in Düsseldorf included a trio of about anything and everything—from paintings by Jiro paintings and sculptures made of mechanical Yoshihara, foot- steps on a path by devices to happenings in public parks Akira Kanayama, to performances in which artworks were and a kraft paper work by Saburo sent heavenward, tethered to balloons.

Murakami. Provocative as they may have seemed in Visser P hillips; Mattijs F ro m top:

Art+Auction june 2014 | blouinARTINFO.COM in Antwerp. collection in the Vervoordt II Strings oil-on-canvas string, and dual-sided burlap, Maekawa Tsuyoshi Dallas; in space exhibition Warehouse R at Howard show arecent in Povera Arte affinities with demonstrated Untitled on newspaper Shimamoto Shozo top: From 68 achofsky’s achofsky’s , 1950, 1950, , , 1959, 1959, , ’s ’s

’s oil oil ’s

the ($195,000), achieved lastJulyat auction recordof¥19,550,000 students tostrivefor.” innovation thathepushedhis do notexhibitanyofthe the leaderofgroup, hisworks incredibly importantfigureas that although Yoshihara is “an May 2012. McCaffreynotes Auctioneers inHongKong ($690,000) atUnited Asian a triple-estimateHKD5,360,000 an artistrecordwhenitsoldfor oil oncanvasUntitled, 1966, set of Shiraga’s highs. Yoshihara’s prices fortheirworksfallshort Gutai artistsareinascendance, of theGuggenheimshow. public park, wasthecenterpiece first presentedinan Ashiya tubes filledwithcoloredwater, 2013, asuiteofpolyethylene in New York inthefallof2012. Motonaga’s Water, 1956– lighted in “A Visual EssayonGutai” atHauser& Wirth works wereamongthoseofadozenGutaiartistshigh­ of SadamasaMotonagaandSaburoMurakami, whose McCaffrey nowrepresentstheartist’s estateaswellthose of GutaiintheUnitedStatesformorethanadecade, in LondonandGeorgNothelferBerlin. A champion Stadler inParis, andtheninthe1990sbyDavidJuda that awarenesswasfosteredearlyoninEuropebyGalerie Motonaga hasalower Although theseandother assessment and minewereforeverchanged.” Since2011the in 2008. “At thatmoment,” saysBoris, “my father’s vision particular, havingbefriendedtheartistbeforehisdeath seminal importanceoftheGutaimovement, andShiragain collection.” Itwasthen, hesays, thattheyrealizedthe Uecker, andLucioFontana, whichwereonloanfromour Gutai worksalongwiththoseofJef Verheyen, Günther the MuseumKunstpalast, inwhichheplannedtopresent “Mattijs wasputtingtogetherhis2006Zeroexhibitionat Düsseldorf. “At thattime,” says Vervoordt’s son, Boris, Mattijs Visser, nowdirectoroftheZero Foundationin pieces afterbeingintroducedtothemin2005bycurator and designer Axel Vervoordt, whobegancollectingGutai of worksbyShiragaisheld Antwerp-based dealer Murakami, Motonaga, Shimamoto, and Atsuko Tanaka. dozen Gutaipieces, includingimportantpiecesbyShiraga, Rachofsky andhiswife, Cindy, haveacquiredsomethree space inDallas. Guidedbyartadviser Allan Schwartzman, ’60s, and’70s” atthe Warehouse, hisnot-for-profit exhibition “Parallel Views: ItalianandJapanese Art fromthe1950s, works alongsidethoseofnoted Arte Poveraartistsin Rachofsky, whothispastspringpresentedadozenGutai collectors, includingformerhedgefundmanagerHoward New York andM+HongKong. works havegonetotheMuseumofModern Art in range, between$250,000and$600,000. Severalsignificant covered inkraftpaper—havehoveredaslightlylower performance piecesinwhichheburstthroughaframe Impastoed paintingsbyMurakami—whoisbestknownfor changed handsinthelowsevenfigures, saysMcCaffrey. in privatesales:Severallarge, rare, earlycanvaseshave high estimate. Still, herecentlycrackedthe$1millionmark 1959, soldformorethantwiceits¥8million($80,000) sbi Art Auction in Tokyo, whenhisoilonpanelUntitled, One ofthemostimportantEuropeanprivatecollections Some ofthisdemandisalsoattributabletoprivate sold inJulyat sbiArtAuction burlap oncanvasWork auction highwhenhisoiland Maekawa, whosawanew focusing onthe78-year-old destroyed manyofherworks.” depression duringwhichshe she wentthroughaperiodof They arequiterare, as group, havecaughtoureye. few womenintheGutai by Yuko Nasaka, oneofthe geometric plasterreliefs says Boris, “the gray-blue to $400,000. “Most recently,” were onofferfor$200,000 by Tsuyoshi Maekawa, which tactile, multilayeredcanvases past spring, theyshowcased Norio Imai, andShiraga. This Sadaharu Horio, Shimamoto, exhibitions ofworksby Vervoordts have stagedselling Art+A Several galleries, too, are uction june 2014 june | blouinARTINFO

, 1963,

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From top: Kevin Todora; Jan LiEgeoi and Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp, and Hong Kong theassessment

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Shiraga’s Chitaisei for ¥11,500,000 ($115,000). The Tokyo-based Whitestone weakening in the market, due in part to the substantial Honkshin, 1960, recently found a Gallery brought a selection of his works to the Armory number of works that have recently come on the block.” taker at Sotheby’s Show in New York in March, and at her Madison Avenue In light of Gutai’s recent successes, August Uribe, world­ Hong Kong for $2.3 million in the space this past spring, Dominique Lévy presented seven wide co-head of contemporary art at Phillips New York, April 5 evening paintings executed shortly after Maekawa joined the Gutai says it is important to note that only a third of the artists sale of modern and contemporary group in 1962. belonging to the movement have appeared at auction; Asian art. Despite the initially chilly reception in its native Japan, most remain relative unknowns, their works (when Gutai is at last beginning to gain favor among local available) selling for less than $10,000. buyers, judging from recent auction results at the Tokyo There may still be room for growth even at the top end. houses Mallet Auctions and sbi. The latter sold a relatively According to McCaffrey, even Shiraga remains under­ late Shiraga, Deishaku, 1987, for ¥86,250,000 ($842,000) valued relative to Western peers like Yves Klein, Twombly, on an estimate of ¥20 million to ¥30 million ($195– Rauschenberg, and de Kooning. “I don’t think we are 293,000) on April 19. “Like the auction record-setting going to see $30 million Shiragas in the near future, as Maekawa last summer,” says sbi manager Rei Kagami, “it most of the material that could possibly drive the market was sold to a Japanese collector in the room, which is that high is already in museum collections,” he says. an encouraging fact for us.” (In commenting on the price “But if something special were to appear, I think the for Shiraga’s later works, McCaffrey says that “By market could push eight figures.” comparison, in 2007 a large, high-quality Shiraga from A show dedicated to Shiraga and Motonaga, organized the 1990s would have sold for $250,000.” Today the by Gabriel Ritter and slated to go on view at the artist’s later works can command more than $2 million— Dallas Museum of Art next spring, is sure to reinforce as evidenced by Kosha, 1992, which brought the principals of Gutai deeper into the United States geo­ $2.1 million at Sotheby’s London this past February.) graphically and perhaps deeper still into the American Shikiko Ikegami, a director of Mallet Auctions in psyche. As to how the market will respond, in McCaffrey’s Tokyo, however, warns of oversaturation. “While sales estimation, “It is simply too soon to tell, as there is still otheby’s

remain strong,” she says, “we have seen a slight much material awaiting discovery.” S

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