Japan Society Gallery Benefit Auction to Feature 43 Lots with Sugimoto, Yoshitoshi, Simon Starling & More

For its third year running, the 2016 Japan Society Gallery Benefit Auction showcases the dynamism of visual creativity from Japan or inspired by its rich artistic heritage. Pre-event online bidding begins October 19 at Artsy.net and live and silent auctions will be held at Japan Society's landmarked Junzo Yoshimura-designed headquarters on 47th Street, New York City, on November 2.

For more than a century, Japan Society has championed the visual arts of Japan, whether expanding the appreciation of revered and renowned artists, re-contextualizing beloved but little understood disciplines, or introducing and fostering emerging talent. This year the art gives back, with all proceeds exclusively benefitting Japan Society's Gallery and related programming.

Among 43 lots up for auction, several artworks are by veteran artists with whom Japan Society has shared longstanding relationships over many decades. Highlights include:

• Hiroshi Sugimoto's Conceptual Forms 0027, a 2004 photograph depicting a 19th-century mechanical implement held at the University of Tokyo, and made in homage to the great French Conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp. Sugimoto's photography has been showcased in the 1987 group exhibition Contemporary Japanese Art in America (I): Arita-Nakagawa-Sugimoto (his first show in New York) and in 2005's Hiroshi Sugimoto: History of History, which was curated by the artist himself, both at Japan Society.

• Daid? Moriyama's Nikko Toshogu of 1977, capturing the façade of Toshogu Shrine in Nikko and demonstrating the artist's shift away from the are bure boke (grainy, blurry, out-of-focus) aesthetic that defined his practice in the late 1960s and early 70s as a member of the photo collective Provoke. Moriyama's acclaimed solo retrospective, Stray Dog, was on view at Japan Society in 1999, and his Provoke-era images were highlighted at Japan Society's presentation of For a New World to Come: Experiments in Japanese Art and Photography, 1968-1979 in 2015.

• An untitled figural painting by Izumi Kato, who made his debut in Japan Society's blockbuster 2005 exhibition Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture, and exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2007.

• A signature work by photographer Yasumasa Morimura, whose practice is often compared to Cindy Sherman, staging himself as Jodie Foster in her iconic role as the teenage prostitute Iris from Martin Scorsese's classic 1976 neo-noir film Taxi Driver.

• True to the Society's commitment to the enduring value of traditional art, the auction also includes ukiyo-e prints by mastersTsukioka Yoshitoshi and Tsukioka K?gyo, whose works are featured in Japan Society' fall exhibition Simon Starling: At Twilight, on view through January 15, 2017. A pair of studies by Simon Starling for a costume featured in At Twilight is also being auctioned.

Carefully selected by Japan Society Gallery Director Yukie Kamiya and the Japan Society Gallery team, lots will be up for online bidding from now through November 2, with all bids transferred to the auction event on November 2, when a live auction of 15 lots conducted by Christie's auctioneer Seth Watsky begins at 7:00 pm. A silent auction composed of 28 additional works will take place throughout the evening and concludes at 8:15 pm. There will be a special public preview of the live auction lots at Japan Society on November 1, 11:00 am-6:00 pm.

Full List of the 2016 Gallery Benefit Auction Featured Artists (family names denoted in caps): Miya ANDO, Takashi ARAI, Reiseki ARIYAMA, Paul BINNIE, Sarah BRAYER, Sueharu FUKAMI, Katsunori HAMANISHI, Kanako HAYASHI, Takashi HOMMA, HORIYOSHI III, Izumi KATO, Masahiko KUWAHARA, Sebastian MASUDA, Takesada MATSUTANI, Yasumasa MORIMURA, Daid? MORIYAMA, Daisuke NAGAOKA, Manika NAGARE, Koji NAKAZONO, Tam OCHIAI, Motohiko ODANI, Shinro OHTAKE, Max PINCKERS, Kiyoshi SAIT?, SHEN Chao-Liang, Motoyuki SHITAMICHI , Simon STARLING, Kishio SUGA, Hiroshi SUGIMOTO, Jir? TAKAMATSU, Shimpei TAKEDA, Cyoko TAMAI, Shir? TSUJIMURA, Yui TSUJIMURA, TSUKIOKA Kogyo, TSUKIOKA Yoshitoshi, Keiji UEMATSU, Hiroshi WATANABE, OZ Keisuke YAMAGUCHI, Yusuke YAMATANI, Daisuke YOKOTA.

Nov. 2 Event Tickets: $125/$100 Japan Society members; $1,000 for a block of 10 tickets and opportunity to join the Auction Committee. Purchase at www.japansociety.org/auction.

Japan Society Gallery is among the premier institutions in the U.S. for the exhibition of Japanese art. Extending in scope from prehistory to the present, the Gallery's exhibitions since 1971 have covered topics as diverse as classical Buddhist sculpture and calligraphy, contemporary photography and ceramics, samurai swords, export porcelain, and masterpieces of painting from the thirteenth to the twenty-first century. Each exhibition, with its related catalogue and public programs, is a unique cultural event that illuminates familiar and unfamiliar fields of art.

Founded in 1907, Japan Society is a multidisciplinary hub for global leaders, artists, scholars, educators, and English and Japanese-speaking audiences. At the Society, more than 100 events each year feature sophisticated, topically relevant presentations of Japanese art and culture as well as open and critical dialogue on issues of vital importance to the U.S., Japan and East Asia. An American nonprofit, nonpolitical organization, the Society cultivates a constructive, resonant and dynamic relationship between the people of the U.S. and Japan.

Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street between First and Second avenues (accessible by the 4/5/6 and 7 subway at Grand Central or the E and M subway at 53rd St. and Lexington Ave.) The public may call 212-832-1155 or visit www.japansociety.orgfor more information.