Micao Kono

MICAO KONO (Japan, 1876-1954).
"Female portrait", 1934.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 55.5 x 46.5 cm; 72.5 x 63 cm (frame).

Micao Kono was a Japanese painter active mainly in France during the first half of the 20th century, associated with the Parisian artistic environment and especially with the refined and cosmopolitan taste of the Art Deco period. His work is characterized by an elegant and stylized painting, often focused on idealized female figures, sensual portraits and compositions of intimate and sophisticated atmosphere. Influenced by both the Japanese pictorial tradition and modern European currents, Kono developed a very personal language based on soft lines, delicately modeled faces and a subtle and vaporous palette that gives his scenes a dreamlike and theatrical character.

The work in bidding perfectly reflects this artistic universe. The nude female figure, with pearly skin and extremely refined features, appears wrapped in an ethereal and silent atmosphere, accentuated by the blurred treatment of the background and the chromatic delicacy of the pastel tones. The black cat, held with an almost scenic elegance, introduces a symbolic and mysterious element very typical of the Art Deco imaginary, associated with sensuality, sophistication and exoticism. The stylization of the face, the intensely colored lips, the manicured nails and the refined composition recall the influence of fashion illustration, Japonism and artists such as Foujita or Kees van Dongen, although reinterpreted from a softer and more poetic sensibility. Overall, the work synthesizes the feminine elegance, restrained eroticism and decorative refinement characteristic of Micao Kono's painting.