Beautiful reclining female nude by Mikao Kono.
Oil on paper pasted on canvas.
Signed and dated XXXIII (33) in red bottom left.
Dimension: 46 x 38cm (without frame), 52 x 44cm (with frame)

Miçao Kono was a Japanese artist who came to Paris in the early 1920s. He painted in oils and watercolors, and also did a number of etchings.
Micao Kono became famous with his nude portraits combining traditional Japanese style with the modernity of the Art Deco. His paintings were very popular in the Art Deco interiors. They were romantic and sensuous; his work is close to his Japanese fellow countryman Foujita.
Kono’s technique was unusual as he used heavy white over which her painted his subject in pastel colors. Either by design or by the passage of time the white paint always shows signs of cracking