$250
Japanese, Edo Period (1603-1868). "Courtly Figures in Garden", pigment on paper, apparently unmarked. Painting depicts a gathering of six courtly or religious men in brightly colored robes with black ornamented hats, each sitting in a meditative pose along a wooden path and into the adjacent grass before a structure, one figure with his back to viewer possibly indicating him as the teacher or speaker, with white flowering tree to right foreground, angular field of gold leaf to upper left indicating an architectural screen, and stylized clouds above. Framed approximately 17 5/8" x 17 1/8", sight size approximately 6.75" x 7.25". Provenance: From the Estate of Mr. Soichi Furuta, Woodstock, Georgia. Note: Soichi Furuta (1927-2011) was a Renaissance Man of sorts, beginning his career in fine art arena. After attending UCLA, he joined a creative design and packaging firm in New York where he later became president. The firm (Stuart, Gunn & Furuta) was responsible for packaging design for a number of major brands including Michelob, Hershey's, Vicks, and Nestle. Concurrently, Mr. Furuta taught graduate-level courses in design at the City University in New York, later, he served as an adjunct professor of literature at St. Andrews Presbyterian College in North Carolina. Later in life, Furuta penned a dozen books in both English and Japanese with subjects ranging from poetry to translations and even a memoir. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for his book of poetry Read more…
Auctioneer:
Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery
Date:
2015-03-22
