But a note he left near his portrait of an earlier queer Japanese writer and victim of suicide, Yukio Mishima, requested that the work he left behind be donated to Gallery Naruyama in Tokyo, who currently holds the majority of his collected works. His suicide at the age of 54 shocked the art world and his influence might have narrowed even further when his family was prepared to destroy his remaining paintings. He was prolific during his short life but commercially limited by his own refusal to distribute his work outside of Japan. Now recognized as one of the most influential creators of homoerotic art in Japan and throughout the global queer community, Hawegawa's reputation was fairly confined during his lifetime. Hasegawa was a master of homoerotic fetish art, often within fantastical and mystical settings, featuring Indian, Thai, Tibetan Buddhist, African, Japanese, and Balinese elements influenced by his extensive travels. Provenance: Private collection, Los Angeles. Stamp-signed in Japanese, upper right dated year, month/day '1981 2/15' lower left. Hasegawa was a master of homoerotic fetish art, often within fantastical and mystical. It’s a good piece of neo-noir, worth seeking out.įor more Tadanori Yokoo, see some of the recent posts by Will at A Journey Round My Skull.SADAO HASEGAWA (1945-1999) Angels. Ken Takakura reprised his gangster persona in that film, along with Robert Mitchum. By convoluted coincidence, Schrader received his start in Hollywood ten years earlier with a co-written screenplay, The Yakuza, which Sidney Pollack directed. Yokoo regarded Mishima as a major influence and further cemented the relationship by making an appearance in Paul Schrader’s 1985 film, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. One of these from 1966 is dedicated to Mishima, while the one above shows actor Ken Takakura in one of his many yakuza roles. Searching around earlier turned up a nice collection of poster works by the great Japanese collage artist, Tadanori Yokoo. The Ballad To a Severed Little Finger (1966). The French twist the title into “forbidden loves” and in so doing lose Mishima’s punning subtlety.

I included this photograph in the very first posting which examines the recurrence of Flandrin’s Jeune Homme Assis au Bord de la Mer but this is the first time I’ve seen it used on a book cover.

Wilhelm von Gloeden‘s version of the Flandrin pose as it appears on the cover of a 1989 Gallimard edition of Forbidden Colours by Yukio Mishima.

Sadao Hasegawa