Ink on paper

126.2 x 217.3 cm. 49 5/8 x 85 1/2 in.

Stamped with artist’s seal on lower right
Literature：Unac Tokyo,Tokyo,Japan,YUICHI：catalogue raisonné of the works 1949 - 1985,Vol.1,1996 - 1998. p. 446.
Provenance：Private Collection,Asia.

Yuichi Inoue
The Japanese Representative Of Calligraphy Art,The Pioneer Of Avant-Garde Calligraphy
When Modern Art was introduced from the West into the East,it was dubbed “Avant-garde Art” by some of the art and culture critics in Japan. The name,for the artists who practiced Modern Art,entailed an imaginary rival traditional art and esthetics. It was also a forewarning of resistance. Avant-garde Japanese calligraphy arose in the 1930s and burgeoned from 1945 to 1969. It is not difficult to see that the progress of the art form in Japan was closely associated with the art development in Europe and the US.
In 1920s,Japan brought Western art methodology into the practice of calligraphy premeditatedly. The earliest discussions centered on whether calligraphy was a temporal art or spatial art,and whether it could be categorized as an art form at all. Calligraphy had long been known as “shodo” in Japan,with “do” meaning “way”,a way to edify a person. Calligraphy,thus,was concerned with metaphysics,while art as physical. Around 1921,Hidai Tenrai,known as the Father of Modern Japanese calligraphy,advocated “artistic calligraphy”,in comparison with "practical calligraphy". The new proposition encountered much aversion.
Hostility between traditional and avant-garde calligraphies began to escalate in 1955. With the Japan Arts Exhibition（Nitten）under conservative calligrapher Bundō Shunkai’s thumb,Avant-garde calligraphy was expelled from it,and calligraphers such as Ueda Sōkyū and Uno Sesson walked out. Soon,Mainichi Avant-garde Calligraphy Exhibition parted ways with Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition. Avant-garde calligraphy has since then become more increasingly recognized as zen’ei sho locally.
To Wield With Spirit,To Calligraph With Life
Inoue Yūichi is representative of the artists,who catalyzed the growth of Modern art in post-war Japan where artistic activities were subject to governmental control. Inoue co-founded the much influential Ink People Society（Bokujin-kai）to explore the inextricable relationship between calligraphy and drawing. They demonstrated that the abstract quality is the purpose of existence itself,and calligraphy is a truthful way of self-expression.
Yuichi’s sense of spirituality transcended the confines of words and traditional calligraphy. His works are a black-and-white space that dances,encourages perceptions,attracts inspiration,and reflect the creator’s own spirituality and personality. They are a meld of the traditional Zen mentality and Western Abstract Expressionist techniques. Not only did Inoue seek to establish a unique artistic order in his ink work,but also innovated forms and reawaken spirituality in its purest form.
The changes in Yuichi’s works,his choice of words and the shapes of his brushstrokes are closely related to his life experiences. The two pieces showcased in this auction,Dream and Love,created in the 60s and 70s respectively,offer insights into the calligrapher’s psyche at a more sophisticated stage.
To Live Like A Lucid Dream,To Commemorate My Dearest Family
A number of words created in the early 60s were about the calligrapher’s own mother,who was bedridden due to exacerbated rheumatoid arthritis. Every year on New Year’s Day,Yuichi would ask his mother to write calligraphy to usher in the New Year. Since the old lady could not write Chinese characters,she always wrote in Hiragana. However,in 1961,Yuichi wrote the Chinese word “dream” for his mother to imitate. She passed away 3 months later. Yuichi then mounted the calligraphy on the cloth that had laid on his mother bed for years. To commemorate his mother and thank his wife for looking after his mother,Yuichi created Yume（Dream）,Haha（Mother）and Ko（Filial Piety）. The mild and thick ink in these works externalizes the reserved man’s affection and embodies the notion “blood is thicker than water”.
“Love” Like “Emptiness”,A Fruitless Love
From 1969 to 1973,he kept creating works of the characters Ai（Love）and Nai,which was derived from his lover’s name “Mayuno”. The ink blots left deliberately by the artist on the paper are reminiscent of the tears the calligrapher shed for his unrequited love. The gentle and deft curved strokes seem to reflect the Yuichi’s fear and joy,as well as happiness and sorrows in love. Hidden behind the visually abstract structures and seemingly simple Chinese characters formed by dark ink and white blanks are Yuichi’s life story,profound imagery and spiritual sustenance. To resolve his midlife crisis,the calligrapher devoted himself entirely to creating calligraphic works.
These works reflect a turn in Yuichi’s trajectory from the period of concision to that of variation. To make a breakthrough in the use of brush and ink,and the configuration of the characters,he altered the sequence of strokes and structures of the characters. The work Ai（Love）（1973）,consisting of one dash and 9 dots,has an almost geometric configuration and is full of energy. The dots vary in shapes so that one will never find them vapid or repetitive. The variation in configuration bespeaks both Yuichi’s deep exploration of visual expression and exceptional creativity.

Price estimate:
HKD：300,000 - 400,000
USD：38,700 - 51,600

Auction Result:
HKD:731,600