Imai Toshimitsu

signed in English and dated 73; signed and titled in Japanese and French and dated Sept. 1973 on the reverse, framed

Private Asian Collection
Acquired by the present owner from the above

This work is generally in good condition. There are hairline craquelures and cracks especially on the areas of thick impasto, which seems to be in line with the artist's working medium, and are consistent with the age of the work. Having examined the work under ultraviolet light, there appears to be no evidence of restoration.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The Rise of the Japanese Avant Garde

When one considers avant garde Japanese artists, one often turns immediately to the Gutai group. Formed in 1954 and heavily under-appreciated until recent years, the Gutai group has been at the centre of scholarly discussions and its importance deservedly reestablished in the mainstream discussion of post-war art. And yet, it is rare to find extensive mentions of Imai Toshimitsu and Domoto Hisao, two Informel Japanese artists who were instrumental in the—by now famous—interactions between Gutai and Informel advocate, Michel Tapié. Having both moved to Paris in the early to mid-fifties, Imai and Domoto can both be considered as Japanese artists working and living abroad, who for all intents and purposes can absolutely even be considered as Informel artists—and yet, the importance of their Japanese identities must likewise not be understated, as it is the joining of their Eastern and Western identities that created such a uniqueness in their pieces.

Imai Toshimitsu was born in 1928, and left Japan for Paris two years before Domoto, in 1953. While in Paris, he briefly enrolled at the Académie de la Grande Chumière, where he studied medieval history and philosophy. In 1953 and 1954, he exhibited at the Salon de L’Art Sacré in Paris and subsequently became a friend of Tapié’s through an introduction by Sam Francis, which also signalled the beginning of Imai’s introduction to, and becoming part of, the Informel movement. Imai was the first Japanese artist to join Informel, and would be central to the dissemination of its activities abroad. For instance, the artist was responsible for selecting a group of Informel works to exhibit at the Art Informel show in Japan in 1956, as well as for organising for Tapié, Sam Francis, and George Mathieu to travel to his home country. It is thus thanks to Imai himself that Gutai’s interactions with their sister movement in Europe could even have come about. Imai’s art is governed by fluidity and a rejection of fixed shape and image, where technicality and composition have both been renounced on the canvas.

In the preface of the catalogue written for his 1957 one-man show at the Stadler Gallery, the art critic Takiguchi Shuzo wrote, “What Imai has created in Paris from the very beginning has been transferred in numerous images reflecting the depth of human existence…Now his art is directed toward the sources, and goes back to the primitive elements of Japanese art whose masterpieces formerly realised the perfect unity of signs and matter.”¹ In the same text, Takiguchi highlights that Imai’s dedication to the human condition extends itself to man’s interrelationship with nature, and can even be seen to exude a “sympathy for the magic of earth and fire of ancient Japanese potters.”² It is undeniable that there is something tactile and three-dimensional about Untitled (Lot 701), painted circa 1962, a short five years after the 1957 show. Here, there is a theatricality at play, where thick impasto is splashed upon a canvas as if to mimic vines, or to capture light itself. The heavy use of red is also striking, evoking at once the boldness of fire and red earth central to Japanese pottery. When one moves on to La Fête Printanière (Springtime Celebration) (Lot 702), painted approximately a decade later, the visceral quality of paint has lost a rawness and gained much in refinement, as well as a marked contrast in colours. In this later work, nothing is lost of the organic explosion that has been constructed on the canvas, and yet, there is an alluring sense of depth and symmetry, exuding a sense of calm versus calamity, all reined in on the canvas in an almost sculptural portrayal of energy and rigour that has been painted to symbolise the deep reds of autumn. Imai would continue experimenting with eschewing form and composition, and as can be seen in the latest of the works available for the present sale by Imai, Untitled (Lot 703), painted in 1982, Imai’s explosions of colour become increasingly records of unbridled gestural execution.

A contemporary of Imai’s, Domoto Hisao was also born in 1928, and was primarily trained as a nihonga artist in his youth. When he moved to France in 1955, the artist found it increasingly difficult to continue using Japanese pigments as the dominant medium for his artworks, and switched to oil painting. His move to France also precipitated a meeting with the Informel group, who was gaining increasing moment from the fifties onwards. Almost immediately upon his arrival in France, Domoto’s works took on an Abstractionist flair, and were created organically with swift movements resembling half-circles swinging freely throughout the canvas. This bold movement is reminiscent of clouds or even waves, and aims to mimic nature. As can be seen in Painting 1960-14 (Lot 704), which is an early example of Domoto’s technique of mimesis of the ebbing and flowing inherent to his oeuvre, much attention has been paid to the balance of positive and negative space. Coupled with the light brushwork of each stroke, one is immediately reminded of delicate Eastern calligraphy or even lightly-pigmented scrolls, and it is easy to feel the amalgamation of such two worlds through the swift and bold undulations of his canvas. According to Tapié, who lavished praise on Domoto’s works, the importance of space was at the heart of the artist’s success at marrying Eastern and Western influences. They were all filled with “an ambiguous space that subsumes both the dialectical attainments of Western mathematicians in topological composition and the intuitive properties that Eastern painting has carefully upheld down through centuries. Which is to say that, no matter how complex, Domoto’s paintings are always elegant and intuitive, yet have the precision of clearly delineated proofs.”³ In such a way, Domoto can be understood as among the first of all Japanese artists—if not the first—to be able to marry traditional structured Western composition with the lyrical freedoms of Eastern philosophy.

For two artists who exhibited such startling amounts of talent, who had made such immense impacts on the avant garde art world in both Europe and in Japan, and who had risen to such international acclaim, it is difficult to fathom the full reasons as to why their renown has taken some time to join the ranks among other more well known Asian avant garde artists. With a renewed eagerness to understand the full history of the Japanese avant garde taking the art world by storm, one can be certain that the importance of artists such as Imai and Domoto will no longer remain unknown.

1 Takaguchi Shuzo on Imai Toshimitsu’s work, written for Imai’s solo exhibition at Stadler Gallery, Paris, 1957

2 Refer to 1

3 Michel Tapié on Domoto Hisao’s work, written for Domoto’s solo exhibition at the Minami Gallery, Tokyo, in 1960