TADASHI SATO (1923-2005) Untitled 29 1/2 x 41 1/2 in. (74.9 x 105.4 cm) (Painted in 1975.)

TADASHI SATO (1923-2005) Untitled signed and dated 'Tadashi Sato '75' (lower right) oil on canvas 29 1/2 x 41 1/2 in. (74.9 x 105.4 cm) Painted in 1975. Footnotes: Provenance Robert and Dorothy O'Brian, Maui, Hawaiʻi, circa 1982-1984. Private collection, Pacific Northwest, acquired from the above by descent. Tadashi Sato was a nisei and oldest son, born in a rural area of East Maui from humble beginnings. His family were pineapple farm and service workers who became general store owners once they moved west to Lahaina. Despite showing artistic ability at a young age, Sato did not pursue art-making until his mid-20s. As the first-born son of immigrants, he was expected to graduate from high school, join the workforce, and support the family business. The outbreak of World War II changed everything. After three years of military service in the Pacific, he returned to Hawaiʻi and pursued further education through he G.I. Bill. Sato enrolled in business school but became quickly disillusioned. He pursued his latent interest instead, transferring to the newly-formed school affiliated with the Honolulu Academy of Arts in 1946. 1 Sato flourished at the Honolulu School of Art, gaining not only technical skills but a cosmopolitan understanding of the art world. An opportunity to work with the visiting Precisionist painter Ralston Crawford in the summer of 1947 led to a scholarship at the Brooklyn Museum Art School and brought him to New York. Perhaps most importantly, it was at the Honolulu school where he met classmate Isami Doi, who was two decades older and already a professional artist. Doi helped Sato envision a life as an artist and continued to be a lifelong mentor and friend. The 1950s were formative years for Sato where he traveled between New York, Hawaiʻi and Japan. Amid the swell of Abstract Expressionism in New York City, Sato made several key patron and gallery connections that launched his fine art career. He returned to Lahaina in 1960, where he settled permanently. Sato's body of work after his return to Maui expresses the forms and phenomena of the natural world around him. They are site-inspired but not site-specific. They gravitate toward 'the forces of earth and air, fire and water' revealing 'both the artist's clear attention to the subtle nuances of the environment and his capacity to extract and make visible its purest patterns and rhythms.' 2 In the present work, Sato explores the ocean as a theme and attempts to capture what is both fleeting and enduring in the phenomena of light on rippling water. 1 James Jensen, Tadashi Sato: A Retrospective, Honolulu, The Contemporary Museum, 2002, pp. 11, 79. 2 Ibid, p. 14. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing