Very good condition.
Signed lower right.
Signed on the upper right, dated on upper left and titled on the lower center of the stretcher.

Born in Kochi Prefecture in 1940, Sawako Goda (1940-2016) developed a strong interest in the beauty of the formative arts by collecting junk from the ruins of the postwar fire. In 1963, she graduated from Musashino Art School (Musashino Art University). Her creative activities are wide-ranged, including theatre-related works with ‘Jokyo Gekijo’ led by Juro Kara and Shuji Terayama. In her early career, Goda mainly produced sculptural works. In 1971, Goda stayed in New York briefly, by accompanied for the then-partner Tomio Miki. During this time, Goda had found silver disc photographs on the street, she then started painting based on those found pictures, which has later became her known style.

This work, 'POLA NEGRI', is an oil painting produced in 1971. The model, Pola Negri, who is shown in the title, was a Polish actor gain worldwide fame during the silent and golden era of Hollywood and European film for her femme fatale roles. Due to her financial circumstances, Goda could only afford to buy primary paint colours. However, such a backlash has never stopped her from pursuing her expression, but rather the monoclonised tone worked out beautifully with her worldview. This work of the portrait is representative work of Goda’s early paintings, with strong contrasts in black and white, depicting movie stars at the time, which was often seen in her style of the time.