Painting Woman With Cat Miçao Kono

MICAO KONO (1900-1979) Woman with cat Oil on canvas Signed and dated 1934 lower left, as well as on the back of the work. Exceptional art deco frame in straw marquetry. Dimension: 55 cm x 45.5 cm Provenance: Chateau de Champremault, Val de Loire Compatriot and pupil of Foujita, the Japanese painter Micao Kono arrived in Paris in the 1920s. Famous for the sensuality of his nudes, he explored both the traditions of Japanese representation and Western-style modernity close to Art Deco. He was recognized by amateurs for his portraits of women, his nudes and his bouquets of flowers which he exhibited in 1929 at the Georges Bernheim gallery. In 1930, the painter obtained the Nikwa Prize, equivalent to the Salon d'Automne in Tokyo. He participated in the Salon des Indépendants of 1933, where he stood out for his "porcelain nudes" and a work representing a Japanese woman in a red costume. Her oils are particularly impressive for their lightness, their pastel colors close to Marie Laurencin's palette and their shine. This brilliance combined with cracks was obtained by mixing the paint with egg white, a technique that gives the impression of extreme fragility.