Footnotes

Provenance
Collection of the artist, Japan
Private Collection, Japan (by descent from the above)
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Exhibited
Kanagawa, The Hiratsuka Museum of Art, The Avantgarde Pop Art by Key Hiraga, the Contemporary Painter, 2000, p. 18, no. 1, illustrated in colour
New York, Bonhams, The Spirit of Burai: The Life and Times of Key Hiraga, 2018, p. 13, no. 18, illustrated in colour (also illustrated on the catalogue cover)

Literature
Paris Burai - Collected Paintings of Key Hiraga, Tokyo 2000, p. 53, illustrated in colour


Key Hiraga is one of the most compelling artists to emerge from Post-War Japan. With a distinct style, surreal yet figurative, strange yet delicate, his unique vision delivers works that are enthralling and truly singular in their approach. The present work, Girl Embracing a Butterfly from 1961, coming to market for the first time, is one of the most significant early canvases ever to appear at auction.

Whilst Girl Embracing a Butterfly captures the influence of Hiraga's youth in Post-War Japan, it also draws comparisons with European trends of the period, notably the work of Jean Dubuffet. Here he employs thick, tactile layers reminiscent of the shikkui plaster technique that was used in Japanese construction methods for centuries. From its monochromatic, heavily built-up surface a butterfly and figure emerge, where one ends and the other begins remains a mystery, and despite the subject matter being conventionally beautiful, the rough, reworked surface speaks to the remaining trauma that Japan continued to reckon with during this period. The butterfly, an important symbol in Japanese culture, alludes to transformation and change and the hypnotic ambiguity between the figure and the insect further emphasises this. Meanwhile, the thick, almost organic texture of the work parallels Dubuffet's use of unconventional, sometimes natural materials, which he would carve and sculpt to create paintings that fundamentally question the prevailing theories of art and painting. The flattening and morphing of the figure also draws influence from Dubuffet's iconic Corps de Dame series, notably The Tree of Fluids from 1950 in the Tate Collection, London. In these works, both artists deconstruct and question the traditional ideas of beauty and form, a concept that would grip Dubuffet and Hiraga for the rest of their careers not only in their aesthetic sensibilities but in the subject matter that they chose to memorialise.

Born in Tokyo in 1936, Hiraga's early childhood played out in the shadow of World War II and the rebuilding that followed. An autodidact, he was raised primarily by his aunt who owned a restaurant catering to the local geisha clientele, which would prove influential on his lifelong fascination and depiction of nightlife and people living on the societal fringes. He initially shirked an artistic pursuit in order to study economics at university and only after he graduated would he turn to art and begin creating works, such as Girl Embracing a Butterfly, that would help to very quickly establish his reputation at home and abroad. In 1965 one of his works was acquired by MoMA, New York and was also included in the travelling exhibition New Japanese Paintings and Sculpture that visited eight major US museums from 1965 to 1967. During the same period, he won the National Young Artists Grand Prix, which provided the grant that would allow him to move to Paris, where he would live for the following decade.

In Paris, he not only associated with the Japanese ex-patriate community that had developed there, notably with the artist Toshimitsu Imaï, but also with more established figures in the art world, with Pablo Picasso said to have attended his gallery openings. Following in the footsteps of many artists before him, he took up residence in the Pigalle district of Paris, known for being the location of the infamous cabaret club the Moulin Rouge. As the artist himself described, life in Paris was a 'culture shock' but once assimilated the debauchery and characters of the Pigalle would become enduring themes in Hiraga's oeuvre for the rest of his life. He returned to Japan in the late 1970s, where he lived in an artistic commune of sorts in Hakone near Tokyo and where a museum of his work was established in 2000 shortly before his death. As his place in the artistic canon continues to be re-examined, he has since been the subject of several exhibitions at home and abroad with works such as Girl Embracing a Butterfly demonstrating his distinct and captivating vision.