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“Or maybe for me, the reason why I continuality create works depicting children is because I desire to forever remain childlike, as opposed to merely wanting to be the ‘selfish child’”
— Yoshitomo NaraYoshitomo Nara is presently one of the most influential artists in the world. His works showcase the expression of inner emotion, conveying sensitivity, fragility, and other intimate feelings in a distinctly sincere way. In presenting a pure and simple ‘expression’ of art, his works conjure emotional responses that are universal, resonating with all viewers. Nara once said, ‘one cannot understand inner loneliness and sadness when he is young’. As a result, though Nara uses the motif of the child, he paints from an adult perspective with emotional tension. As such, his depictions of children are a contradictory mixture of innocent and rebellious.
Yoshitomo Nara, Missing in Action, 2000
Sold by Phillips Hong Kong in Association with Poly Auction on 8 June 2021 for HK$ 123,725,000Pandora's Box was created in 1990, by which time Nara had already commenced his studies at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany, where he stayed between 1988 and 1994. When he first arrived in Germany, Nara became deeply influenced by the German Neo-Expressionism he was becoming acquainted with, gradually coming to explore and incorporate its characteristics into his own practice. He began to combine this his own cultural background, as well as his interest in Japanese comics and children’s drawings – which he understood as containing profound layers of interpretation despite their relatively simple illustrations. In fact, it was the directness of this visual language that inspired the artist’s exploration of the iconic nature of symbols and stylisation, which he continued to evolve in subsequent work. This period of study and exploration marked the beginning of Nara’s signature aesthetic, profoundly impacting his future works.
Utagawa Hiroshige, Fifty-Three Stations of the Toukaidou, 1948-1952
Collection of the Fujisawa Ukiyo-e Museum, Fujisawa, Japan
Studying alone in Germany, Nara faced difficulty expressing himself verbally and communicating with others as he was not fluent in the language, which consequently left him feeling intensely lonely. As a result, he turned to his paintings as an outlet for his emotions, considering the children or small animals in his compositions as self-portraits. Pandora’s Box, an iconic early work by
The little girl’s feet are submerged in a rippling puddle, making her tiny body appear like a floating island in the vast ocean. In his successive works, Nara has repeatedly used returned to this motif of the ‘puddle’, even naming his first major solo exhibition in 1995 ‘In the Deepest Puddle’, demonstrating that the artist considers the ‘puddle’ as one of the most representative symbols in his work. In Pandora’s Box, the figure is still a young girl with a rich heart and expressive face, grimacing humorously with stubborn eyes that look straight on. There is no audience around her, as if she is not willing to follow the current of the stream, evoking a profound sense of isolation. The slightly opened Pandora’s Box in the young girl’s hand is not only a symbol of the artist’s hope in the face of loneliness, but also a testimony of Nara’s courage and belief in never backing down from a difficult situation.
Although his years of study in Germany may have seemed lonely and difficult, Yoshitomo Nara won the recognition of the European art circle with his highly individualistic style. In 1990, he began working with the d'Eendt Gallery in Amsterdam, and signed an official contract with the gallery in 1991, thus allowing him to kickstart his career as a professional artist. With Nara a veteran rock fan, a version of Pandora’s Box was also used as the cover of indie rock band, The Birdy Num Nums’s, for their album Mannaka over the World which was released in 1991. The cover of the album was still hung in Nara's home when he was interviewed in May 2000, testament of the significance of the image to him.
The cover of the album Mannaka over the World, released by an indie rock band "The Birdy Num Nums" in 1991
In Pandora’s Box, we can trace the artistic language and emotional symbols that the artist had already started to develop under the influence of German academic system. The whole painting is presented in flat coating, using minimalistic thick lines to outline the figures without any deliberate focus on perspective, showing Nara’s inheritance of traditional Japanese painting. However, he was also influenced by Expressionism, which can be seen in the use of bold colours, the artist’s use of extremely vivid colours and the natural dripping of paint on the background. Thanks to his exploration of collage, the use of clashing colours in this work divides the painting into contrasting blocks of hue, creating a striking visual effect that introduces a vibrant sense of dimension and expression to the painting. What is revealed, is that Nara was in the process of integrating his own Eastern cultural experiences with the avant-garde nature of the West, coming to form his own stylised visual language.
As a projection of the artist’s self, Pandora’s Box not only strikes a harmonious balance between Eastern and Western visual languages and poetic subjectivity, it also resonates with the feelings, memories, and imaginations of viewers on a universal level – about the past, present and future. Transcending all geographical, age and cultural divisions, Nara’s art evokes vulnerability, courage, and faith – emotions shared by all human beings.
The album cover was hung in Nara’s room when he was interviewed in 2000Provenance
Galerie Humanité, Nagoya
The Kurokochi Collection, Japan
Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 5 April 2013, lot 807
Acquired at the above sale by the present ownerExhibited
Nagoya, Galerie Humanité, Cogitationes Cordium, 1991
Yokohama Museum of Art (p. 123, illustrated); Ashiya City Museum of Art & History; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art; Hokkaido Asahikawa Museum of Art; Hirosaki, Yoshii Brick Brew House, I Don't Mind, If You Forget Me, 11 August 2001 - 29 September 2002
Yokohama Museum of Art, Works by Nara Yoshitomo in Yokohama Museum of Art Collection, 21 January - 20 March 2011Literature
Kadokawa Shoten, ed., Yoshitomo Nara: In the Deepest Puddle, Tokyo, 1997, n.p. (illustrated)
Noriko Miyamura and Shinko Suzuki, eds., Yoshitomo Nara: The Complete Works Volume 1: Paintings, Sculptures, Editions, Photographs 1984-2010, Tokyo, 2011, no. P-1990-019, p. 71 (illustrated)
Bijutsu Shuppan-Sha, ed., Yoshimoto Nara: The Complete BT Archives 1991-2013, Tokyo, 2013, p. 81 (illustrated)
Yeewan Koon, ed., Yoshitomo Nara, New York, 2020, pl. 54, p. 49 (illustrated)
Property of an Eminent Private Asian Collector
42
Pandora's Box
signed, inscribed and dated '22. Nov '90 Yoshitomo Nara "For The Birdy Num Nums" - MITTEN OVER ThE WORLD - NARA MICHI '90' on the reverse
acrylic on canvas
90 x 90 cm. (35 3/8 x 35 3/8 in.)
Painted in 1990.
Estimate
HK$7,500,000 - 10,000,000
€849,000-1,130,000
$962,000-1,280,000
Sold for HK$13,560,000
Charlotte Raybaud
Head of Evening Sale, 20th Century & Contemporary Art
+852 2318 2026
CharlotteRaybaud@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale in Association with Poly Auction
Hong Kong Auction 30 November 2021
1
Cinga Samson
Ivory V
Estimate HK$250,000 - 350,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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2
Salman Toor
East Village Iqbal Bano
Estimate HK$1,800,000 - 2,800,000
Sold for HK$4,536,000
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3
Nina Chanel Abney
Untitled (IXI Black)
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for HK$3,024,000
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4
Jamian Juliano-Villani
Clear Cough from Your Schedule
Estimate HK$200,000 - 400,000
Sold for HK$781,200
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5
Mr.
Yume—Breath of the Earth
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for HK$4,032,000
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6
Julie Curtiss
Escargot
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$1,449,000
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7
Javier Calleja
30 works: Untitled
Estimate HK$10,000,000 - 15,000,000
Sold for HK$12,108,000
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8
Javier Calleja
You Me
Estimate HK$3,000,000 - 4,000,000
Sold for HK$7,026,000
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9
Aya Takano
In the Lab (the Birth of Jelly)
Estimate HK$200,000 - 300,000
Sold for HK$441,000
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10
Hernan Bas
Minimalism (cracking the code)
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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11
Joel Mesler
Untitled (Night Out)
Estimate HK$500,000 - 700,000
Sold for HK$1,512,000
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12
Shara Hughes
Magic Island
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for HK$4,788,000
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13
Scott Kahn
Cadman Plaza
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for HK$7,510,000
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14
Matthew Wong
Nature’s Church
Estimate HK$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for HK$9,204,000
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15
Matthew Wong
Far Away Eyes
Estimate HK$8,000,000 - 12,000,000
Sold for HK$21,183,000
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16
Gerhard Richter
Kerzenschein (Candle-light)
Estimate HK$55,000,000 - 75,000,000
Sold for HK$101,970,000
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17
This lot is no longer available.
18
Yayoi Kusama
INFINITY-NETS (OPRT)
Estimate HK$15,000,000 - 25,000,000
Sold for HK$22,635,000
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19
Yayoi Kusama
Repetition
Estimate HK$15,000,000 - 20,000,000
Sold for HK$19,005,000
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20
Nicolas Party
Still Life
Estimate HK$6,200,000 - 9,400,000
Sold for HK$17,190,000
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21
David Hockney
Bridlington Violets
Estimate HK$10,000,000 - 15,000,000
Sold for HK$12,350,000
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22
Léonard-Tsuguharu Foujita
Self-Portrait with a Cat
Estimate HK$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for HK$5,292,000
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23
This lot is no longer available.
24
Sanyu
Paysage Aux Hirondelles
Estimate HK$26,000,000 - 46,000,000
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25
Zao Wou-Ki
Sans titre ("Notre Dame")
Estimate HK$7,500,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for HK$10,051,000
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26
Zao Wou-Ki
Brume d’automne
Estimate HK$4,500,000 - 7,500,000
Sold for HK$4,788,000
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27
Auguste Rodin
Le Baiser, 1ère réduction dite aussi "réduction n°1"
Estimate HK$10,000,000 - 15,000,000
Sold for HK$11,745,000
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28
Zao Wou-Ki
20.3.64.
Estimate HK$20,000,000 - 30,000,000
Sold for HK$22,030,000
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29
This lot is no longer available.
30
Alexander Calder
Two Red Petals in the Air
Estimate HK$16,000,000 - 20,000,000
Sold for HK$20,820,000
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31
Claude Monet
Pavots dans un vase de Chine
Estimate HK$9,500,000 - 15,000,000
Sold for HK$13,560,000
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32
Georges Mathieu
Saxifrage
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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33
This lot is no longer available.
34
Huang Yuxing
Floating Bubbles
Estimate HK$1,800,000 - 2,800,000
Sold for HK$2,772,000
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35
Zhou Chunya
Smell the Flowers
Estimate HK$5,000,000 - 7,000,000
Sold for HK$6,905,000
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36
This lot is no longer available.
37
Liu Ye
Flagship No. 2
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$5,922,000
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38
Wang Xingwei
Untitled (Heart-Shaped Dance)
Estimate HK$2,800,000 - 4,800,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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39
Liu Ye
Untitled
Estimate HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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40
Liu Wei
You Like Smoking?
Estimate HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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41
Izumi Kato
Untitled
Estimate HK$4,500,000 - 7,500,000
Sold for HK$11,745,000
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42
Yoshitomo Nara
Pandora's Box
Estimate HK$7,500,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for HK$13,560,000
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43
George Condo
The Dreamer
Estimate HK$4,600,000 - 6,200,000
Sold for HK$11,140,000
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44
George Condo
Entangled Figures
Estimate HK$6,200,000 - 9,200,000
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45
This lot is no longer available.
46
KAWS
NEW YORK
Estimate HK$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for HK$5,040,000
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47
KAWS
FINAL DAYS
Estimate HK$6,200,000 - 8,200,000
Sold for HK$8,115,000
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48
Raymond Pettibon
Untitled (Force makes nature...)
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for HK$3,906,000
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49
Robert Nava
Angel Shark
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for HK$4,410,000
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50
Susumu Kamijo
Marching To The Sun
Estimate HK$450,000 - 650,000
Sold for HK$2,142,000
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51
Jadé Fadojutimi
Fishing For Steps
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 2,200,000
Sold for HK$4,788,000
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52
Mickalene Thomas
Looking Up from the She Works Hard For the Money Pin-Up series
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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53
Billie Zangewa
Cirque d'hiver
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$567,000
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54
Godwin Champs Namuyimba
The Connector
Estimate HK$200,000 - 400,000
Sold for HK$1,323,000
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55
Tunji Adeniyi-Jones
Blue Ancestor
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$1,071,000
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56
Tomoo Gokita
Final Confrontation
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 2,200,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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57
Ewa Juszkiewicz
Appropriation
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$1,890,000
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58
Lucas Arruda
Untitled from the series Deserto-Modelo
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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