<b>HYMN</b> / Toko Shinoda2003<b>SOLD</b></em>

Details

Born in Manchuria (occupied China), Toko Shinoda returned to the homeland with her fellow native Japanese after the war. Shinoda recounted how she never felt welcomed or at home in Japan.

This alienation afforded her freedom from the strict Japanese social structure and allowed her to pursue a career in the visual arts, an unconventional vocation for a woman of her generation. Shinoda's early influence was calligraphy expressed as sumi work on paper. However, internationally-minded artistic movements, such as abstract expressionism, inspired Shinoda to move beyond the calligraphic idiom and dabble with abstraction. In this new format, Shinoda found early success with a 1953 exhibition of her work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. She subsequently moved to New York three years later, residing there until 1958. During her stay, she came into contact with the work of Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, and other key figures of the abstract expressionist movement. This left a deep impression on her – she later praised these artists as "very generous people" with whom she "would share ideas and opinions on our work." During this time, her work was represented by Betty Parsons Gallery and placed in a number of high-profile collectors. Upon her return to Japan, Shinoda honed he work beyond traditional calligraphy towards an expressive, abstract style. By the 1960s, she began working in lithography with hand-applied embellishments. It was her printed work that became a force in the field and finally provided traction for her acceptance in Japanese artistic circles.

Hymn is a quintessential and iconic work that demonstrates Shinoda's unique synthesis of calligraphy with abstract expressionism. Each element within the composition emanates from the spirit of the calligraphic brush, but their expressive interaction owes much to the power of the various modes of abstraction from the late 1950s. In this design, Shinoda places two large rectangles executed in her instantly recognizable cinnabar red at the center of the composition, while two white translucent boxes hover over the lower right of the red. All the while, a black sumi-like splash adorned in gold accents soar overhead, dominating the composition as if a bird of prey. All the elements in this composition appear vibrant, possessing the animated quality of a skillful hand.

Interestingly enough, this work is actually printed via stone lithography. Only the gold splash across the design and the white translucent boxes are hand-applied embellishments by the artist herself. This work is a prime example of why her lithography is so sought-after in the worldwide marketplace.

Connoisseur's Note

This design is among the last large-scale lithographic works the artist produced. After producing this design, Shinoda elected to concentrate on smaller-scale prints and original work until her passing in 2021. This design was executed in a very limited number, only totaling 28 impressions. Despite its commanding size, this work has never been framed and has been kept by its original owner in a flat file, safe away from light and the unforgiving hands of less experienced framers.