Lot 87: KAZUO NAKAMURA B.1926

KAZUO NAKAMURA B.1926 UNTITLED signed lower right nakamura ; titled and dated circa 1954 on a label on the reverse oil on masonite 61 by 42 cm. 24 by 16 ½ in.

Roald Nasgaard, Abstract Painting in Canada, Toronto, 2007, pp. 106 and 107

Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto

Private Collection, Vancouver

While most members of Painters Eleven are generally associated with bold assertions of aggressive colour, gesture and composition, Kazuo Nakamura's out put is decidedly serene by contrast. His process was exacting and relied on subtlety and set him apart from his contemporaries. Nasgaard calls Kazuo Nakamura "the odd man out among Painters Eleven".

Among Nakamura's Inner Structure paintings, this one is particularly subtle. Starting with a prepared white surface, he builds shallow depths using washes of pigment with invisible brushstrokes. Hues of cerulean, indigo and teal are layered and sometimes collect in the imperfections of the panel creating a sense of space that does not rely on traditional means of foreground and background; everything is surface.

Nakamura had an interest in the microscopic and mathematic and the delicate calligraphy of vertical and horizontal forms lend literalness to the title Inner Structure. However, these lines give the painting it's formal mass and align it with other works from the series. When looking at this painting, it is almost as if one is viewing Nakamura's other ethereally floating compositions from a new vantage point.