Ink on paper

106 x 164 cm. 41 3/4 x 64 5/8 in.

Stamped with an artist's seal and dated on bottom right

LITERATURE
1996 – 1998, Yu-ichi Inoue Catalogue Raisonné of the Works Vol.2, Unac Tokyo Publication Tokyo, p. 191, pl. 71012
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Asia

30 Years Legacy in Calligraphy
Yuichi Inoue – A Legend of Modern Shodo (calligraphy)

"Yuichi Inoue is imbued with the ultimate essence pursued by modern painting since its move away from realism. He is one of the few great artists from the second half of the twentieth century."
——Robert Motherwell, American abstract painting master

In the 1920s, the Chinese legend Li Shutong mastered Zen calligraphy as Hong Yi after studying modern Western paintings, leaving abundant immaterial wealth for the world. Yuichi Inoue, the legend from Japan, became the only Asian calligraphy artist brought into the writing of Western art history. The art critic Masaomi Unagami summarized his Shodo career as: "Yuichi didn't start from calligraphy. He was inspired by the expression of oil painting and turned to the act of writing. His knowledge of the avant-garde Western abstract painting in black and white was before the influence of oriental calligraphy." It was his unique calligraphic painting that pioneered the modern Japanese calligraphy and opened a path of which the Eastern art could adhere to.

Bokujinkai: A Revolution in the East
In the 20th century, the wave of Eastward Spread of Western Culture quickly swept through Japan and China, leading to an underlying tendency of westernization in the art world, as well as the famous debate on whether calligraphy should be regarded as art. Calligraphers at that time began to seek modern spirit comparable to Western art, and Yuichi was one of the most important pioneers. In 1952, he co-founded Bokujinkai group (Ink Art Society), the most influential avant-garde calligraphy association in Japan, along with Morita Shiryū and three other artists, with the aim of liberating Shodo (the art of calligraphy) from its traditional forms by incorporating modern artistic concepts. He was also one of the founders of the internationally acclaimed Bokubi magazine, which was dedicated to introducing the Western abstract expressionism and other art movements into Japanese calligraphy, and innovating the Shodo tradition with a new concept of character writing. The founder of the Gutai group, Jiro Yoshihara, was also inspired by the journal.

In the summer of 1954, the Museum of Modern Art in New York held the exhibition, Abstract Japanese Calligraphy, featuring Yuichi among other Japanese artists who created subversive works during the decade after World War II. This modern calligraphy movement brought a great shock to the New York art scene, the birthplace of the Western Abstractionism wave, and left a profound impact on many modern masters from the East and the West, including Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh-Chun, Walasse Ting, Chao Chung-Hsiang, Georges Mathieu and Jackson Pollock.

In 1957, Gutetsu (Throughgoing Folly) and many other representative works of Yuichi were displayed at the 4th São Paulo Biennale, making him the first Japanese artist to participate in the Biennale. He also gained the favor of Herbert Read, a British art historian, who discussed Yuichi in his work, A Concise History of Modern Painting, together with modern masters from the west such as Pollock, Pierre Soulages and Hans Hartung

Express the Origins of All Things and the Changes of the Whole World
Yuichi Inoue's Ichimoji-sho (single-character work)

Under the influence of action painting in Europe and America, Inoue greatly enlarged the size of characters and created the unique Ishimoji-sho, capturing the spiritual essence of all things with innovative structure and style. Wu Guanzhong once praised it as "bearing the beauty of coherent motion and lingering sentiment." The surging ink and unrestrained big strokes have brought the charm of characters back to life.

Although Yuichi practiced writing daily, the works that didn't meet his standard would be destroyed by him. Consequently, less than 3,000 pieces of his works have remained. This autumn, Guardian Hong Kong puts the spotlight for the first time on Yuichi Inoue, the leading figure of the post-war Japanese calligraphy movement, presenting eight classic works created from the 60s to the 80s, the heyday of his creation of single-character Sho, and revealing the unadorned yet grand beauty beneath his utter 'foolishness'.

The 1960s: the Mind Peaceful Like Still Water, the Pen Free Like a Wandering Dragon
In 1966, Yuichi in his fifties was promoted in teaching but encountered the crisis in his exploration of calligraphy. When art was lost in daily life, Yuichi set up the ideal of "poverty" for himself and pointed out that "only the combination of art and life is the ideal state for writing calligraphy."

In Jin(end) (Lot 106), created in the same year, we can see the vision and perseverance of Yuichi to "reach the vast and extensive realm, and delve into the subtleties." The translucent fluidity of ink strokes on the thin Washi paper and the scattered ink dots around, exhibit the bold and free movement of Yuichi's brush. The ink dots at the bottom stopped abruptly at the edge of the canvas, triggering the viewer's imagination of "infinite."

In another work, Ma(Middle) (Lot 107), Yuichi wielded his brush sharp and agile as a black whirlwind. The hollow strokes convey the vitality until the end of the character. He didn't try to conceal the movement of his brush, with the vertical stroke at the top hiding both tips to contain energy, so that the viewer can distinctly feel the artist's emotional change during the painting process. The work also bears a sharp impact with a modern sense.

The 1970s: the Inherent Gesture of the Character
In the mid-70s, Yuichi in his sixties was constantly in a bad health condition, but he didn't stop working and had a limited number of works created. The stroke order of his calligraphic work in this period is often different from the tradition. For example, he started from the “mouth” part at the bottom of the character “tower,” instead of starting from the radical of the character by convention. Because in his idea, the character could have a stable root if written from the bottom, like building a tower in reality. The work, To (Stupa) (lot 102), completed in the early 1970s, reflects the evolution of Yuichi's artistic style: the dense ink deems the delicate luster of the previous period, and the contrast between round and square lines has gradually weakened. The work contains resolution and determination like never before, depicting a solid and sturdy “tower.”

In Shisso (Simplicity) (Lot 108), Yuichi advocated the sincere and honest state of mind, which is rare in the materialistic society. The compositional characteristic of the work is reminiscent of Chinese landscape painting, which blends painting and calligraphy. The word “simplicity” on the right side occupies most of the canvas, with upward momentum and visual perspective, while the inscription on the left side serves as the visual characteristic of its narrative nature, showing Yuichi's emphasis on the painterly representation of calligraphy.

The 1980s: the Last Works that Shine through Every Stroke
In the 1980s, Yuichi in his later years developed a more profound yet obscure understanding of modern calligraphy. His calligraphic style became more flexible and varied, while his works turned more painterly as Western oil paintings.

As an essential aspect of Zen, the status of Forgetting Oneself is the premise of understanding one's mind and seeing one's disposition. This state in deep meditation is intended to enable the Zen practitioner to unite all distractions and consciousness as “One.” In (The Casting-away of Body and Mind) (Lot 109), a work created in 1972, Yuichi transformed the supreme realm that transcends perceptions into bold and vigorous ink strokes, some of which overlap each other and form a block, bringing both sparseness and density into the structure. As to the composition, apart from the area at the top, Yuichi left no blank space around the characters with the bold and thick lines conveying the violent motion inherent in black ink, which is also evident in the work, Zan (A Moment) (Lot 105).

As an example, Kawa (River) (Lot 103), completed in the 1980s, displays the momentum of the flowing water. The artist arranges the picture with distinct sparseness and denseness: the character river is compactly structured, with a large area of blank space around, as if the character is situated between the heaven and the earth, creating a serene and tranquil atmosphere.

Price estimate:
HKD: 220,000 – 320,000
USD: 28,100 – 40,800

Auction Result:
HKD: 259,600