# Sadamasa Motonaga artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/sadamasa-motonaga/
Profile generated: 2026-05-31T06:16:45.368Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: Japanese
- Movements: Gutai Art Association
- Common media: painting, book illustration

## About Sadamasa Motonaga

Sadamasa Motonaga (1922–2011) was a Japanese painter, visual artist, and book illustrator recognized as a first-generation member of the Gutai Art Association, one of the most influential postwar Japanese art collectives. Active from the early 1950s, Motonaga contributed to Gutai's experimental ethos, which merged painting, performance, and installation in ways that anticipated later conceptual and process-based art movements internationally. His practice spanned painting and illustration, and his work is represented in major museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Motonaga's role within Gutai places him at a key intersection of postwar Japanese art and the global avant-garde, making his work a frequent reference point for collectors and scholars of twentieth-century Japanese art.

## Common works and media

Motonaga's auction-recorded works primarily include paintings in oil and acrylic, works on paper, and illustrated books. He is known for both abstract paintings characteristic of the Gutai movement and experimental works that explore material and process. Collectors may also encounter prints, exhibition posters, and book illustrations bearing his name. Works from his Gutai period (1950s–1960s) are particularly sought after.

## Market and appraisal context

Motonaga's work appears regularly in the international auction market, with nearly 190 documented lots. As a founding-generation Gutai artist, his paintings and works on paper attract interest from collectors of postwar Japanese and contemporary Asian art. Valuation depends on medium, size, date of execution, provenance, condition, and whether a work can be firmly attributed to his Gutai period. Institutional holdings at museums such as MoMA reinforce his market profile. Collectors should verify attribution and consult catalogue notes, as Gutai-era works can vary widely in medium and format.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine independent artist-identity research from authority files and museum sources with auction records, auction-house catalogue context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Sadamasa Motonaga, identity data is drawn from Getty ULAN, VIAF, the Library of Congress, RKD, and the Museum of Modern Art.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q965472
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadamasa_Motonaga
- Getty Research Institute: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500468253
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/22473374/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n84210934
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/4127
- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/319731