Kusama, Yayoi, 1929-

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Yayoi Kusama (born March 22, 1929, Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan), Japanese contemporary artist who works primarily in sculpture and installation, but is also active in painting, performance, film, fashion, poetry, fiction, and other arts. Her work is based in conceptual art and shows some attributes of feminism, minimalism, surrealism, Art Brut, pop art, and abstract expressionism, and is infused with autobiographical, psychological, and sexual content. She has been acknowledged as one of the most important living artists to come out of Japan.

Kusama was raised in Matsumoto, and trained at the Kyoto School of Arts and Crafts in a traditional Japanese painting style called nihonga. Kusama was inspired, however, by American Abstract impressionism. She moved to New York City in 1958 and was a part of the New York avant-garde scene throughout the 1960s, especially in the pop-art movement. Embracing the rise of the hippie counterculture of the late 1960s, she came to public attention when she organized a series of happenings in which naked participants were painted with brightly colored polka dots. Since the 1970s, Kusama has continued to create art, most notably installations in various museums around the world.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Kusama, Yayoi, 1929-. Artist file. Brooklyn Museum Libraries & Archives
referencedIn Kate Millett papers, 1912-2002 and undated, bulk 1951-2001 David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
creatorOf Nanae Momiyama papers Archives of American Art
creatorOf KUSAMA, YAYOI. Artist file : miscellaneous uncataloged material. Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)
referencedIn Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.). Yayoi Kusama, 1958-1868. 1998 : Archives pamphlet file : miscellaneous uncataloged material. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Thomas J. Watson Library
referencedIn Howard Somers Conant papers Archives of American Art
referencedIn Brooklyn Museum. Listening to pictures : interviews. Brooklyn Museum Libraries & Archives
referencedIn Public Art Fund Archive, 1966-2009 Fales Library & Special Collections
referencedIn Kusama, Yayoi : [miscellaneous ephemeral material]. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Thomas J. Watson Library
referencedIn Public Art Fund Archive, 1966-2009 Fales Library & Special Collections
creatorOf Kusama, Yayoi, 1929-. Self-obliteration, 1968. Getty Research Institute
referencedIn Nanae Momiyama papers Archives of American Art
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Oral history interview with Frank S. Okada Archives of American Art
Relation Name
associatedWith Brooklyn Museum. corporateBody
associatedWith Conant, Howard Somers, 1921- person
associatedWith Millett, Kate person
associatedWith Momiyama, Nanae, 1924-2002. person
associatedWith Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) corporateBody
associatedWith Nanae Momiyama person
associatedWith Okada, Frank S. (Frank Sumio), 1931-2000, person
associatedWith Public Art Fund. corporateBody
associatedWith Yalkut, Jud. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
United States
Subject
Happening (Art)
Performance art
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1929-03-22

Japanese

Japanese

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SNAC ID: 84630454