Page 22 - Christies Japanese and Korean Art Sept 22 2020 NYC

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MORITA SHIRYU (1912-1998)
Choo (Conspicuousness), 1969
Aluminium flake pigment in polyvinyl acetate medium, yellow alkyd
varnish on paper
31¿ x 62 in. (79.1 x 157.5 cm.)
Artist's certificate on reverse, titled Choo (Conspicuousness), signed
Morita Shiryu and sealed Sei no ji, dated 1969
$50,000-70,000

PROVENANCE:
Yamada Art Gallery, Kyoto
Morita Shiryu made his name in the post-war Japanese art history
by revolutionizing the traditional Eastern art format – calligraphy.
He valued the moment of true feelings in the process of creation,
and for this reason, his emphasized on the expression of emotions,
the movement and rhythm of life. He pushed the boundary
between the West and the East, where his almost-abstraction-like
artistic language liberated his works from the traditional approach
of calligraphy; he also blurred the line between painting and
calligraphy, as his works could be seen as both.
For a similar work by the same artist titled Chu, 1969, see Morita
Shiryu,ed., The Works of Morita Shiryu Selected by the Artist (Kyoto:
Bokusui Press, 1970), pl. 63.

Artist’s certificate