Details
Kazuo Shiraga (b. 1924)
Tanjo
signed in Japanese (lower left); signed again, titled and dated in Japanese (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
24 x 28 1/2 in. (60.9 x 72.4 cm.)
Painted in 1986.
Provenance
Anon. sale; Est-Ouest Auctions Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 30 November 2007, lot 174
Anon. sale; Phillips, London, 3 April 2008, lot 107
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Sale Room Notice
Please note the correct title is Tanjo.

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Saara Pritchard
Saara Pritchard

Lot Essay

“When, on discovering my true nature, I decided to cast off all the existing uniforms and be naked, figuration shattered into fragments and I dropped my painter’s knife which broke in two. [...] One day I swapped my knife for a piece of wood which I rejected out of impatience. I tried with my bare hands, with my fingers. Then, convinced I needed to be even bolder, I went even further and that is how I came to feet. That was it! Painting with the feet” -Kazuo Shiraga
(K. Shiraga, quoted in “L’Acte Même”, in 1910-1970 Japon des Avant-gardes, exh. cat., Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1986, p. 300).

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