SADAO HASEGAWA (1945-1999)
"Red Dan." Double-page illustration for the story "Red Dan" by Nat Wit published in the March 1988 issue of Advocate Men, pages 14-15. Mixed media including tempera, watercolor, ink, and metallic paint on paper, 1987. 285x420 mm; 11¼x16½ inches, image, on 12¾x18-inch sheet. Signed in Japanese with fish symbol, lower left, and with characters that translate to "Amulet against Evil." Tipped to matte and framed. A copy of the published magazine accompanies the artwork. 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. 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. He was prolific during his short life but commercially limited by his own refusal to distribute his work outside of Japan. 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. 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. Aside from their collection and limited appearances in gay magazines, Hasegawa's monograph Paradise Vision (1996 Kochi Studio) has been the main gateway into his works. Red Dan is a beautiful image that is remarkably more detailed and brilliant in person than the printed version, which dulls the metallic paint and vibrant color of this original.