Sugai Kumi’s work falls into two phases that are clearly distinguishable: Initially, he painted in an expressive, Informel-inspired style with strong emphasis on brushwork and noticeable influence from Eastern calligraphy. But from about the mid-1960s, Sugai gravitated towards the geometrical, with flat areas of strong, often primary colors, and a generous use of unmediated black and white. Diable Noir et Rouge, dated 1955, falls into the earlier phase; it was made about three years after Sugai’s move to Paris.

The composition is dominated by its intensely red background. In the foreground is a tumulus-like shape with a dark brown top, and the part below consisting of a pattern of six squares filled with the designs of Japanese family crests. The red background, near the upper margin, transforms into an almost black rectangle that hovers like a dark, mysterious cloud over the rest of the image. Four small, trapezoid shapes float within that dark cloud, contrasting from the background in their off-whitish tone.

Diable Noir et Rouge, in it’s formal language, is typical of Sugai’s approach in the mid-1950s. Red, black and white were already among the preferred colors of the painter during those years, and the tumulus-like mound is a prominent motif of Sugai’s; in fact, it appears in at least a dozen of his oil paintings from around 1954 to 1957. It is evocative of the Indian lingam, which is probably no coincidence considering that phallic symbolism—while not exactly an obsession—is at least a relatively consistent part of Sugai’s visual vocabulary: one might think of his 1971 bronze, L’Homme (Man), or the lithograph Portrait-E, which is part of his Portrait series of 1976.

The chessboard-like arrangement of the Japanese family crests also reappears in other works, for instance Oiseau (Bird), done a year earlier in 1954, and Oni (Demon), painted in 1955, and individual crests are used in Souvenir d’Osaka (Souvenir of Osaka) and Nagasaki, both 1956. In a sense, this motif is embedded into Sugai’s transition from painting semi-abstract animals (often reminiscent of Klee’s work) to full abstraction, with Oiseau belong to the former, Oni and the present Diable Noir et Rouge to the latter category. The crests, from left to right, represent two crossed hawk’s feathers, the “snake eye” (ja no me) and a standing drum (ryugo) on the upper register, and a left-turning triple tomoe (interlocked, comma-like heraldic shapes), an unidentified crest of three small circles and a horizontal stroke below, and two nocks of arrows (narabi yahazu) on the lower register. If Sugai used these crests in a literal sense as referring to specific Japanese families is more than doubtful, it appears more likely he painted them for visual effect. In the end, Diable Noir et Rouge presents a mysterious, elusive vista that is vibrating with intensity, but that was probably just Sugai’s intention.

Sugai Kumi (painter; 1919–1996)
Painter from Kobe. Sugai dropped out of Osaka College of Art to work as a commercial designer while studying privately with Yoshihara Jiro of the Gutai group. In 1952, he moved to France and continued to live and work in Paris. His style shifted from his early works, with emphasis on distinctive brushwork, to a new ‘flat’ approach resembling signs and symbols. Sugai was among the first postwar Japanese painters to achieve international acclaim.