MATSUDA SEIZO (MASAYOSHI). PAINTING “PAYASO” (NIKULIN)

Japanese standard SM canvas (22.7 × 15.8 cm).

A painting with a unique background, in the genre of grotesque expressionism. The picture shows a performer in the guise of a sad smoking clown, accompanied by the Latin inscription “PAYASO” (Pagliaccio / clown). A thick impasto brushstroke and a muted, deep color scheme create a melancholy image inspired by the artist’s trip to the USSR in 1974. The subject was suggested by a visit to the Bolshoi Moscow Circus on Vernadsky Avenue, where during this period the great Soviet performer Yuri Nikulin appeared in the guise of a pensive smoking clown.

Matsuda Seizo (b. 1921) is a well-known Japanese master, a member of the elite historic Nika-kai association, who studied in Spain and made a number of landmark creative trips around Europe. On the reverse of the canvas an original ink signature and a printed biography of the artist have been preserved. The lot has the highest historical and collectible value.