Paire de saumons en bronze , 1968 — Saka Tand? (1920-1998)

A pair of patinated bronze sculptures depicting two swimming salmon, signed Saka Tand? and dated 1968 on their original tomobako, bearing the inscription "1968, Nitten H?san, work by Saka Tand?." Designed to be viewed together, these two works interact in a dialogue of forms and movements: one soars forward, mouth open, while the other, more restrained, seems to follow its trajectory in silent balance. Their rhythmic tension expresses the fish's struggle against the current and, more broadly, the vital flow of nature. The white marble bases, originally supplied but not fixed, accentuate the modernist purity of the ensemble, typical of the 1960s.

Saka Tand?, born in 1920 in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, came from a family of artists. His father, Kanji Saka, was a Western painter, and his grandfather, Aishu Saka, a painter of the Nihonga school. After his father's death, he grew up in Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido. He studied sculpture at the Tokyo Bijutsu Gakk? (now Tokyo University of the Arts) before being drafted during the Pacific War. Taken prisoner in Thailand, he returned to Japan profoundly transformed, finding in the representation of the living—animals, the body, matter—a form of homage to the persistence of the vital breath.

Since the 1950s, he has exhibited regularly at the Nitten, where he received the Special Prize for his "Young Man" in 1964. In 1966, he became a permanent member of this institution. His work, associated with sculpture from northern Japan, has profoundly influenced the Hokkaido art scene. He is responsible for several public monuments, including the famous "Clark on the Hill" in Sapporo.

The two salmon sculptures from 1968 fully illustrate his maturity: an expressive naturalism, sensual in the texture of the metal, and a restrained force reminiscent of post-war European sculpture. With their dense and vibrant modeling, these pieces reflect Saka Tand?'s dual quest: to celebrate life in its struggle and to restore nature's sculptural nobility.

Dimensions: 39 × 18.5 cm and 41 × 17 cm excluding the marble bases.

Patinated bronze, white marble bases, original tomobako dated 1968.