Yoshitomo Nara - 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Evening Sale Hong Kong Saturday, May 27, 2017 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Pace Gallery, Hong Kong
    Acquired from the above by the present owner

  • Catalogue Essay

    Provoking an expansive discourse around themes of mischief and innocence in childhood, Yoshitomo Nara’s prolific oeuvre harnesses a profound visual language that is both highly personal and universally relatable. In Study for Miss Spring, Nara places his viewer in an encounter with a figure that embodies the very essence of childhood by conflating two important archetypes – the rebellious youth and the lonely child – in order to privilege both innocence and mischief. One may sense remnants of the artist’s longstanding desire to reconnect with a lost childhood transformed into the depiction of this iconic girl figure with a large head, upturned eyes and abbreviated body in an ethereal pastel-hued palette. By enshrining the eternal mystery embodied in the innocent yet wicked looking girl, Nara proposes the endless imaginative possibilities afforded to us by daring to conjure the prejudice-free state of childhood in the adult-present.

Property of an Important Asian Collector

34

Study for Miss Spring

2012
signed, titled, and dated '"Study for Miss Spring" Nara [in Japanese] 2012' on the reverse
acrylic on canvas
60.3 x 55.1 cm (23 3/4 x 21 3/4 in.)
Painted in 2012, this work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Rabbit Hills.

Estimate
HK$2,500,000 - 3,500,000 
€301,000-421,000
$321,000-449,000

Sold for HK$2,960,000

Contact Specialist
Jonathan Crockett
Deputy Chairman, Asia and Head of 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Asia
+852 2318 2023

Sandy Ma
Specialist, Head of Evening Sale
+852 2318 2025

General Enquiries
+852 2318 2000

20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Evening Sale

Hong Kong Auction 28 May 2017