Bonhams’ “Post-War and Contemporary” sale will be led by Yayoi Kusama’s “No. A.A.,” from the collection of ICA co-founder Sir Herbert Read. The painting, estimated at £250,000-350,000, will be offered up for auction for the first time in London on March 7, 2018.Kusama (b. 1929, Matsumato City, Japan) studied at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts in 1948 where she developed a foundation in the traditional techniques of Japanese scroll painting. Not long afterwards she began to develop her own avant-garde practice in the 1950s, where she began experimenting with surfaces in crossing mediums, color, and objects in highly perceptual works. “No. A.A.,” completed in 1958, coincided with Kusama’s move to New York where she began broadening her practice to include performances across the city that engaged the female artist in the heart of contemporary, political discourse. The painting plays with a central theme across Kusama’s work — infinite and cosmic depictions of space.Other highlights from the sale include Leon Kossoff’s “Nude on a Red Bed No. 3,” 1968 (estimate: £300,000-500,000); Anish Kapoor’s “Untitled,” 2014 (estimate: £300,000-400,000); and Frank Auerbach’s “Reclining Head of E.O.W. II,” 1969 (estimate: £280,000-350,000).
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