Untitled (Two Men in Ecstasy), 2005.
Oil on paper.
Signed and dated on the bottom left, "Shozo Nagano; 2005".

Sight: 21 x 13 in. (53.3 x 33 cm)
Mat: 25 1/2 x 18 in. (64.8 x 45.7 cm)

Auctioneer's Note: This item was subject to a previous Vallots sale and entered into a private collection. The collector has since passed, and as per the estate of the collector, this item has been consigned for sale with Vallot Auctioneers.

Notes:
Shozo Nagano (1928-2008) was born in Kanazawa, Japan, along the western coast of Honshu. Nagano began his art education shortly after the end of the American occupation of Japan. In 1952, he attended the Kanazawa College of Art studying under the western-style (Yōga) master Kazuya Takamitsu alongside many other famous Japanese modernists such as Norio Azuma.

In 1965, Nagano emigrated to New York City with little to his name, residing in an East Side tenement and studying at the Art Students League and the Pratt Institute. On arrival in New York, Nagano became interested in Christian imagery, particularly images of the crucifixion, and would create a series of homoerotic paintings in reference to the New Testament. Later, during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, Nagano would focus on the male body in duress. His new subjects were increasingly sexualized, often engaged in dichotomous scenes of ecstasy and pain. His work included male bodies in the midst of heated embrace, often with their muscles drawn taught against rope and tensioned cloth. Nagano’s figures were gifted with beauty and chiseled forms, but also rendered in a state of surrender to the viewer.

Nothing adverse to note.

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Property of a Provincetown, Massachusetts Estate.

Vallot Auctioneers. Providence, RI. MALE NUDES + HOMOEROTIC ART. October 31, 2024, lot 25. Acquired from the above.

Property of a Wisconsin Estate, purchased from the above.