Tilsa Tsuchiya Castillo Painting Brings Peruvian Myth to Life in Post-War Art Auction

An angelic, almost surreal figure lays on top of a rock-like structure with its wings stretched out into the golden sky in an oil painting by Tilsa Tsuchiya Castillo (1928 – 1984). The Peru-born French artist of Japanese descent won numerous awards like the prestigious Bienal of Teknoquimica Prize for painting. Tsuchiya often painted Peruvian myths and legends and included issues of gender and identity in her works. This mythical painting remained with Tsuchiya’s youngest son, Gilles Mercier Tsuchiya, until now. Swann Auction Galleries is presenting this masterpiece alongside Modern and Post-War Art in its upcoming auction. Painted by Tsuchiya in 1973, this painting comes with a certificate issued by the Museo de Arte.

Post-war abstraction lots in the sale include works by Robert Lee Neal, Dorothy Dehner, John Von Wicht, and Shinkichi Tajiri. Dorothy Dehner’s Candles and Mellons is a corten steel sculpture with an oxidized patina available in the auction. Although Dehner immersed herself in art from an early age, she didn’t start making her metal sculptures until the 1950s. She was encouraged by her husband David Smith, an American Abstract Expressionist painter and sculptor. The couple traveled extensively, which influenced Dehner’s art. This season’s Modern & Post-War Art sale will feature the Gary Snyder collection, Museum of Non-Objective Painting exhibitors, and Indian Space painters. Find the listed items and more by visiting Swann Auction Galleries and registering to place a bid.