As one does, I recently acquired two new works at the Prints, Drawings & Editions auction from Rachel Davis Fine Arts in Cleveland. These additions to my collection fill gaps based on family memories and my personal collection wish list. Let’s delve into the Warrior Kajiwara Kagesue woodblock first, and you’ll understand why nobody at the auction but me was walking away with this baby.

The Hasegawa piece caught my eye for two reasons. First, the recent Takashi Murakami retrospective at the Cleveland Museum of Art had me salivating over revisiting my longstanding admiration for Japanese art. I didn’t leave the museum dreaming of Murakami’s flowers, but rather the 300-year-old scrolls embossed with gold leaf. Something about them not being in my budget curbed that dream—for now.

Second, this woodblock triggered a deeply personal memory. My brother’s late partner, Hitoshi Ninomiya (Toshi), was Japanese and a profound influence on my aesthetic development. A renowned visual merchandiser in the 1980s, his artistry shaped the windows of Tiffany, Loewe, and Valentino—at a time when high-end retailers partnered with artists, not corporate design teams. Think museum quality exhibitions in shop windows. Back in the day walking down Fifth Ave in NYC was a feast for the eyes. This was Toshi’s world and it was beautiful. His eye was astounding. His taste level exquisite. While I might characterize my eye as one that knows beauty and how to cultivate it, his was much more direct. I would characterize his work as distilled wonder and perfection. And Toshi’ SoHo studio was a shrine to creativity. I gladly soaked up every drop during my visits from junior high through college.

Years later, when Toshi passed, I returned with my brother to Uwajima to return his ashes to his family for a traditional ceremony. The ceremony was serenely beautiful. I remember every moment of that day. During that trip, Toshi’s sister took us to a historic Edo-era castle. It was literally out of a Shogun movie. But then you realize, baby this ain’t a movie. It’s real life, history, and you are walking through it. For me this was always someone else’s history. Though life shows you in these instances how we are all connected. I think my fondness for Japanese art began during that trip, where I was able to connect the past and an entire culture to someone I deeply admired, yet knew little about in terms of his origin story. There was always more to explore and reveal. I wonder what Toshi would have thought of this print? I actually think he would have said, “It’s nice. But you should consider something more contemporary like…” And then he would have pulled out one of his many art books that now rest in my library to show me.

I bought that piece in honor of someone who opened my eyes to new worlds. So yeah, you basically had to be Warrior Kajiwara himself going into battle to win that woodblock print from me on this auction day!

Who Is Warrior Kajiwara Kagesue?

Kajiwara Kagesue (1162–1200) was a historical samurai of the Minamoto clan during the Genpei War. He appears in The Tale of the Heike, where he and Sasaki Takatsuna famously raced across the Uji River on horseback to reach the battlefield¹. He later died in battle in Suruga Province alongside his father, Kajiwara Kagetoki².

The woodblock print by Sadanobu Hasegawa III (1881–1963), published by Uchida, captures Kagesue astride his black horse, Surusumi, in the heat of battle. It reflects a tradition of ukiyo-e storytelling that memorializes heroism, family honor, and legendary episodes from Japan’s classical history³.

Citations:

1. Kajiwara Kagesue – Wikipedia

2. Kajiwara Kagetoki – Samurai Archives

3. Hasegawa School – Ukiyo-e Printmakers

Have you considered?

Wifredo Lam (1902–1982)

My second acquisition is one for which I am still pinching myself. As a collector and advisor, I know when a work is not just a great find but also a great price for such find. And this was the case with the Lam lithograph. I have been stalking the interwebs for about 5 years hoping to find a work by Lam that I liked and could afford. To be clear, I love all of his work, but one does not always want to live with surrealist work. It has to be something that you can walk by in the middle of the night. Finally, the collecting stars aligned and this piece was on the block…and now in my home. And I’m quite sure the framing will cost more than what I paid for the lithograph. But we’ll save that for another time.

Wifredo Lam was a groundbreaking Cuban modernist whose visual language fused Afro-Cuban spirituality, Surrealist experimentation, and African sculpture. Born in Sagua La Grande, Cuba, to a Chinese father and a mother of African, Spanish, and Indigenous descent, Lam’s practice was inseparable from his hybrid identity. He studied at the Academia de San Alejandro in Havana and later joined avant-garde circles in Spain, fighting on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War¹.

In 1938, Lam relocated to Paris and quickly integrated into a circle of Surrealist artists, including Picasso and André Breton. But Lam was not content to remain in Europe’s shadow. His most iconic painting, The Jungle (1943), was a radical act: it re-centered Afro-Caribbean cosmologies within modernism, breaking with colonialist narratives while challenging Western conceptions of “the primitive”².

Throughout his life, Lam moved between Cuba, Haiti, Paris, and Italy, leaving behind a body of work that resists categorization. He remains a key figure in postcolonial and diasporic studies, and his influence continues to echo through contemporary art³.

One particularly meaningful work is Barcelona Galerie Joan Prats (1976), a lithograph produced for a landmark exhibition at the newly founded Galeria Joan Prats in Barcelona. Opened that same year, the gallery was a pioneering institution dedicated to bringing global avant-garde art to Spanish audiences during a time of political and cultural transformation. Lam’s inclusion helped define the gallery’s reputation and underscored his international relevance⁴.

Why You Should Consider

Lam’s work is essential for collectors exploring modernism’s global reach. He masterfully synthesizes multiple cultural histories—African, Caribbean, Chinese, and European—into compositions that are as intellectually rich as they are visually commanding.

While Lam’s paintings are held in institutions like MoMA, Tate, and Centre Pompidou, his market remains comparatively undervalued. His prints and works on paper offer accessible entry points for new collectors. Works like Barcelona Galerie Joan Prats, which are tied to important moments in art history and institutional development, offer a unique combination of cultural and market significance⁵.

Collecting Lam is about more than acquiring a piece of history—it’s an acknowledgment that the story of modernism isn’t complete without global, diasporic voices⁶.

Citations

1. Museum of Modern Art – Wifredo Lam Biography

2. Tate – In Focus: The Jungle

3. Guggenheim Museum – Artist Profile: Wifredo Lam

4. Galeria Joan Prats – About the Gallery

5. Sotheby’s – Wifredo Lam: The Market for a Modern Master

6. Centre Pompidou – Wifredo Lam Exhibition Archive

Do Consider

Auction House Alerts & Artist Discovery Tools
If this issue has you curious about bidding in auctions or uncovering lesser-known works by major artists, start with these platforms:

• LiveAuctioneers – Aggregates auctions from around the world with filters by artist, price, and medium. Create alerts for specific artists or styles.

• Invaluable – A great resource for browsing smaller auctions that often fly under the radar but feature significant works at accessible prices.

• ArtNet Auctions – Ideal for researching past sales, current listings, and value trends—especially for prints and works on paper.

Set up accounts, favorite a few artists, and see what turns up in your inbox. Sometimes your next treasure doesn’t come from a gallery—it comes with a paddle.

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