Toshimitsu Imai

Soleil Fendu by TOSHIMITSU ÏMAI - Abstract, Oil painting, Art Informel Movement

Executed in March 1963, Paris

*PLEASE NOTE UK BUYERS WILL ONLY PAY 5% VAT ON THIS PURCHASE. Red Composition by TOSHIMITSU ÏMAI (1928-2002) Oil on canvas 80.2 x 55.3 (31 ⅝ x 21 ¾ inches) Signed, TOSHIMITSU IMAÏ, dated, 1963 Paris and inscribed in Japanese on the reverse Provenance Private collection, USA Born in Kyoto, Japan in 1928 Imai was part of the 20th century Japanese avant-garde. He began his formal education at the Tokyo State Art Academy where he took up painting. His early works are characterised by colourful abstractions, reminiscent of Favuism. In 1951 Imai was awarded the Kansai-Shinseisaku Prize and in 1952 the prize for the best new artist at the 15th Shinseisaku Salon. Imai relocated to Paris in 1953, the same and subsequent year he exhibited at the Salon de L’Art Sacré. Meanwhile, he attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and the Sorbonne to read medieval history and philosophy. In 1955, Imai completely abandoned representational art in favour of abstraction. After meeting the art critic Michel Tapié via the artist Sam Francis, Imai was the first Japanese artist to join the Art Informel movement. In 1956 Imai was called upon by the Japanese artist Taro Okamoto to curate an exhibition entitled The World: Today’s Art in Tokyo. Artists such as Jean Dubuffet, Jean Fautrier, Lucio Fontana, and Karel Appel gained important exposure in Japan. It was also in 1957, when Imai arranged for Tapié and the artists Georges Mathieu and Sam Francis to travel to Japan, that a connection between Art Informel and Gutai occurred. The Ashiya-based Gutai Art Association formed in 1954 was proclaimed a kindred spirit by Tapié which he subsequently promoted internationally. Founding members included Yoshihara Jiro, Kanayma Akira, Murakami Saburo, Shiraga Kazuo and Shozo Shimamoto...

Phenomena like Byron by PAUL JENKINS (1923-2012) Oil on canvas 74 x 60 cm (29¹/₈ x 23⁵/₈ inches) Signed lower left, Paul Jenkins Signed, titled and dated on the reverse and on the stretcher Executed in 1990, Saint Paul Provenance Waterhouse & Dodd Fine Art, London/New York Private collection, Europe, acquired from the above in 2012 Private collection, Austria Artist biography Born in Kansas City, the multi-media artist, poet and playwright Paul Jenkins began his studies at Kansas City Art Institute and the Art Students League in New York City. After his discharge from military service at the end of February 1946, he briefly studied playwriting with dramatist George McCalmon at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. Thereafter, Jenkins spent four years studying with Japanese American artist Yasuo Kuniyoshi in New York City. His first solo exhibitions were held at Studio Paul Facchetti in Paris in 1954 and the Martha Graham Gallery in New York City in 1956. Over the past thirty years, numerous retrospectives have been curated across the globe and Jenkins’ work can found in national collections from Europe and the United States to Israel, Australia and Japan. The diversity of Jenkins’ work springs from a wealth of eclectic influences. Some of his earliest works included what he called "interior landscapes", influenced by ancient natural forms. Frequent student visits to the Frick Collection in New York fostered a love of the great masters, and lingering student visits to the renowned Eastern collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City evoked powerful sympathy for a monumental Chinese fresco...

Memories by Lélia Pissarro (B. 1963) Oil on canvas 120 x 60 cm (47 ¹/₄ x 23 ⁵/₈ inches) Signed lower right, Lélia Pissarro Signed, titled and dated May 2013 on the reverse Executed i...

Rhino sauvage sous la pluie, ta force mataille by Lélia Pissarro (b. 1963) Acrylic, oil and resin on canvas 146 x 114 cm (57 ¹/₂ x 44 ⁷/₈ inches) Signed lower left, Lélia Pissarro Si...

Roger Howard at Ladywood by Lélia Pissarro (b. 1963) Acrylic, oil and gold powder on canvas 100 x 100 cm (39 ³/₈ x 39 ³/₈ inches) Signed lower left, Lélia Pissarro Executed in 2021 ...

Rhino sauvage sous la pluie, ta force ma taille (b. 1963) Acrylic, oil and resin on canvas 146 x 114 cm (57 ¹/₂ x 44 ⁷/₈ inches) Signed lower left, Lélia Pissarro Signed and titled on the reverse Provenance Private collection Literature Lélia Pissarro, The Colours of Silence, London, 2010, p. 58 (illustrated) This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the artist. Artist biography Born in Paris in 1963, Lélia is the third and youngest child of Hugues-Claude and Katia Pissarro. She was raised, however, in the loving care of her grandparents Paulémile Pissarro, Camille’s youngest son, and his wife Yvonne, in Clécy, Normandy. From a young age, Lélia’s interest in drawing and painting was nurtured by her grandfather while she sat beside him at his easel, captivated. He taught her the fundamental Impressionist and Post-Impressionist techniques he had learnt from his father and brothers before him and watched as her skills blossomed rapidly. Standing readily on the shoulders of giants, Lélia sold her first painting to New York art dealer Wally Findlay, when she was only four years of age. When Lélia turned 11 she moved to Paris to live with her parents where, with the guiding support of her father’s teachings she began to broaden her skill sets. Under the watchful eye of her father Hughes Claude Pissarro, she became exposed to new environments and learnt to experiment with abstract styles and subjects. At age 14 Lélia submitted some of these works to the exhibition ‘Salon de la Jeune Peinture’ at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris. Being underage, however, she had to submit these works secretly under the pseudonym Rachel Manzana Pomié. With her parents dividing their time between France and California, Lélia found herself moving between Tours, Paris and San Francisco, all the while studying fine art and psychology at the University des Beaux Arts. She eventually settled in Paris to teach art at the Moria School and study oil painting conservation under the guidance of a teacher from the Louvre museum. During this time she began to present her work in solo exhibitions in Paris, Lyon, Mulhouse and Rennes. In 1988 Lélia married English art dealer David Stern and moved to London. Their three children Kalia, Lyora and Dotahn, all paved their own way in the art world. From 1995 Lélia participated in a series of exhibitions entitled Pissarro – The Four Generations, which were held in galleries in London, Tel Aviv, Boston, Austin, San Francisco, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Los Angeles as well as a number of museums in Japan in 1998 and the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2000. In 1999 Lélia also became one of the founders of the Sorteval Press, a group of artists dedicated to developing techniques in etching and printmaking. Their first exhibition took place at the Mall Gallery in London. In 2005 following a long break in painting because of cancer, Lélia started a journey into modern art creating a number of different series: Circles, Shoes, Animals, exploring these until she reached the point of abstraction and minimalism. Developing innovative techniques, she began incorporating in her work new materials such as gold, wax and encaustic paint. To coincide with a major exhibition at Stern Pissarro gallery...

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Johannes Boekhoudt is a Dutch artist born on October 20, 1966. In 1973, Boekhoudt immigrated with his parents to Costa Rica, eventually working as a commercial and air ambulance pilo...