Sawako Goda
Born in 1940 in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan, the artist Sawako Goda traversed, in the first half of her life, many aspects of Japan’s inventive postwar avant-gardes. Precocious, she gained early attention in the mid-1960s for junk assemblages of materials collected on still-war-damaged streets.
In 1971, Sawako Goda lived in New York City for a year with her then-partner, Tomio Miki—an “Obsessional Artist” - and at a pivotal moment. On returning to Japan, she began painting with oils, drawing inspiration from old magazines and photographs found in a New York antique shop, and from a precious book, the Museum of Modern Art’s catalogue of E. J. Bellocq’s Storyville Portraits, which depicted prostitutes in early 20th century New Orleans. Decadent, faded, surreal, seedy glamor became her central preoccupation. She painted prolifically, made illustrations for magazines and advertisements, and, over the course of the 1970s, designed stage sets and posters for underground theater troupes, including Jūrō Kara’s Jōkyō Gekijo (Situation Theater), and Tenjō Sajiki (Top Floor Gallery), a troupe led by the avant-garde poet and dramatist Shūji Terayama.
If her work stood out for its Western preoccupations—surreal portraits of film icons Marlene Dietrich and Veronica Lake, tributes to Lou Reed and Marcel Duchamp’s femme alter-ego Rrose Sélavy—she was nevertheless woven tightly throughout this period into a rich community of forward-thinking artists and was showing her work regularly. In the mid-1980s, however, she became increasingly obsessed with a different fantasia, that of ancient Egypt. After a visit to Cairo with her two daughters in 1978, she decided to relocate her family there in 1985. The move proved less than permanent. They returned to Japan after just a year. Yet the encounter with Egypt provoked a dramatic transformation in her life and her practice became increasingly visionary and abstract.
Public Collection:
The Museum of Art, Kochi, Japan, Mitaka City Gallery of Art, Mitaka, Japan, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
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Sawako GodaPainting for the advertisement of Prince Lighter プリンスライター, n.d.Oil on canvas35 7/8 x 25 5/8 in (91 x 65.2 cm)
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Sawako GodaPrince Lighter プリンスライター, n.d.Oil on canvas46 x 31 5/8 in (116.7 x 80.3 cm)
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Sawako GodaLaughing Child (3) 笑う子 供 (3), 2010Oil on canvas, framed16 1/8 x 20 7/8 in (41 x 53 cm)
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Sawako GodaQueen of the Requiem Hiroshima 鎮魂 の 王妃 ヒロシマ, 2006Oil on canvas, framed37 3/8 x 17 3/4 in
95 x 45 cm -
Sawako GodaMorse Code モールス 信号, 2000Oil on canvas, framed12 1/2 x 16 1/8 in (31.8 x 41 cm)
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Sawako GodaA Walk of the Sea Shell 巻き 貝 の 散歩 , 1999Oil on canvas, framed28 5/8 x 20 7/8 in (72.7 x 53 cm)
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Sawako GodaPermanent, 1997Oil on canvas17 7/8 x 15 in
45.5 x 38 cm -
Sawako GodaMissing Person, 1997Oil on canvas, framed35 7/8 x 46 in (91.1 x 116.7 cm)
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Sawako GodaIsis (Young Garbo) イシス( 若 き ガ ル ボ ), 1997Oil on canvas16 1/8 x 12 1/2 in (41 x 31.8 cm)
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Sawako GodaPromise, 1997Oil on canvas, framed40 1/8 x 25 3/4 in
102 x 65.4 cm -
Sawako GodaViolet Nude バイオレットなヌード, 1996Oil on canvas, framed35 3/8 x 17 3/4 in (90 x 45 cm)
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Sawako GodaViolet Nude バイオレットなヌード, 1996Oil on canvas, framed35 3/8 x 17 3/4 in (90 x 45 cm)
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Sawako GodaMother Ship 母船, 1996Oil on canvas, framed46 x 35 7/8 in (116.7 x 91 cm)
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Sawako GodaPurple Egg and Garbo 紫卵 の ガ ル ボ, 1995Oil on canvas, framed20 7/8 x 17 7/8 in (53 x 45.5 cm)
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Sawako GodaUntitled タイトル無し, 1995Oil on canvas, framed20 7/8 x 17 7/8 in (53 x 45.5 cm)
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Sawako GodaA Green Look 緑 の ま な ざ し, 1994Oil on canvas, framed17 7/8 x 25 5/8 in (45.5 x 65.2 cm)
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Sawako GodaLa Bohème (Lillian Gish), 1994Oil on canvas, framed35 7/8 x 24 1/8 in (91.2 x 61.2 cm)
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Sawako GodaMarlene Dietrich (crystal eyes) マレーネ・デートリッヒ (クリスタルの目), 1994Oil on canvas, framed7 x 5 1/2 in (18 x 14 cm)
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Sawako GodaHedy Lamarr, 1991Pencil on paper えんぴつ/紙5 3/8 x 7 3/4 in (13.6 x 19.8 cm)
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Sawako GodaUntitled, 1991Pencil on paper えんぴつ/紙5 3/8 x 7 3/4 in (13.6 x 19.8 cm)
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Sawako GodaArletty, 1991Pencil on paper えんぴつ/紙5 3/8 x 7 3/4 in (13.6 x 19.8 cm)
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Sawako GodaAutomatism series オートマティズムシリーズ Toe Sensation 足の指のセンセーション, 1991Pastel crayon on paper クレパス/紙5 x 4 in
12.7 x 10.2 cm -
Sawako GodaAutomatism series オートマティズムシリーズ Toe Sensation 足の指のセンセーション, 1991Pastel crayon on paper クレパス/紙7 3/4 x 5 3/8 in
19.8 x 13.8 cm -
Sawako GodaJoan Crawford, 1990Pencil on paper えんぴつ/紙5 3/8 x 7 3/4 in (13.6 x 19.8 cm)
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Sawako GodaAnnabella アンナベラ, 1989Oil on canvas, framed12 1/2 x 16 1/8 in (31.8 x 41 cm)
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Sawako GodaBoy's Head, 1979Oil on canvas, framed17 3/4 x 24 in (45.2 x 60.8 cm)