Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
Widely inspirational and innovative artist Yayoi Kusama has a body of work that is exceptionally varied, ranging from graphic prints and paintings to polka-dot pumpkin sculptures, hypnotic collages, large-scale installations and fashion design.
Even if you don’t know her name, you’ve likely experienced Kusama’s art — or have seen it on Instagram. Her soft sculptures and dazzling “Infinity Mirrors” are the stuff of selfie-takers’ dreams, but Kusama’s impressive decades-long career certainly holds far more cachet than it does fodder for today’s aspiring social-media influencers.
Born in Matsumoto, Japan, in 1929, Kusama has worked with her signature polka dots since the age of 10, when she began to experience vivid hallucinations and claimed that patterns and dots were moving around her, swallowing up everything in view. She started to incorporate them into her paintings as a child. Kusama saw circular forms and nets on every surface and became especially fascinated with the pebbles that lined the bottom of the creek near her childhood home. Her family was sternly opposed to her art and her mother physically abused Kusama and discouraged her at a very early age. She has suffered psychological turmoil her whole life and is vocal about her mental illness. Today, Kusama is a voluntary resident at a psychiatric facility in Tokyo, and she calls her work “art medicine.”
At the Kyoto School of Arts and Crafts, Kusama trained in Nihonga, a traditional style of Japanese painting that originated during the Meiji period. On advice she solicited from painter Georgia O'Keeffe, a pioneer of modernism in America whom she greatly admired, she subsequently moved to New York City in 1958. There, Kusama flourished, creating prescient sculptures and large-scale monochrome paintings that bridged current styles with minimalism, which hadn’t yet achieved any kind of prominence as an art movement. She pushed boundaries with her “Accumulations” series, which saw her transforming found furniture pieces into sexualized objects, as well as with an avant-garde staging of theatrical orgies on the street — both stemming from her anxieties about sex as well as an endeavor to make a feminist statement about patriarchal authority and sexism.
Kusama was captivated by Surrealists as well as the Abstract Expressionists and greatly influenced the Pop artists who followed, befriending such icons as Donald Judd — who called her work “the best paintings being done” — and Andy Warhol, with whom she exhibited and later accused of stealing her ideas. Kusama moved with ease through artistic circles and made a point to draw attention to her “otherness” as a Japanese woman by wearing kimonos to her openings.
In 2021, Kusama brought her floral and vegetal sculptures to the New York Botanical Garden and her works can be found in the collections of many of the world’s top museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. She famously collaborated with Louis Vuitton in 2012, and she created a 34-foot-tall balloon for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan in 2019, becoming the first female artist to design a work for the event. In addition to her visual artwork, Kusama is a writer, publishing poetry, novels and an autobiography.
Find a collection of Yayoi Kusama art on 1stDibs.
1960s Pop Art Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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2010s Contemporary Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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1970s Pop Art Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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1970s Pop Art Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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1970s Pop Art Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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1980s Pop Art Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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Mid-20th Century Pop Art Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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1980s Pop Art Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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20th Century Pop Art Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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Early 2000s Pop Art Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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1970s Pop Art Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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1990s Pop Art Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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1960s Pop Art Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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1960s Pop Art Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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1960s Pop Art Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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1960s Pop Art Yayoi Kusama Nude Prints
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Yayoi Kusama nude prints for sale on 1stDibs.
Artists Similar to Yayoi Kusama
- 1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022Yayoi Kusama is primarily a sculptor and installation artist, but she has also produced paintings, prints, decorative objects and video art over the course of her career. Her work generally falls under the categories of Pop art, Minimalism and Environmental art. Find a selection of Yayoi Kusama art on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Yayoi Kusama’s first Pumpkin sculptures were cast from a variety of materials including bronze, plastic and stainless steel. Pumpkin motifs are largely favored in Kusama’s sculptures and paintings. Find a selection of Kusama pumpkin art from some of the world’s top dealers on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Yayoi Kusama created a series of pumpkin art, both paintings and sculptures. In Japanese the word for pumpkin is kabocha, and to Kusama the large orange fruit is a symbol of a cheerful piece of her troubled childhood. Shop a collection of Kusama pumpkins from some of the world’s top sellers on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Yayoi Kusama has stated that her artwork is an expression of her life, most notably her obsessive-compulsive neuroses. She admits to having a long fascination with repetitive patterns in nature and enjoying vigorous and psychedelic colors, the reflection of light, electric lights and the concept of infinite space. This is visible in her vibrant works of art, whether they’re paintings, installations, sculptures or even performances. On 1stDibs, find a variety of original artwork from top artists.
- 1stDibs ExpertNovember 26, 2024What Yayoi Kusama's art style is called depends on the piece, as she has produced works that can be classified as Minimalism, Pop art and Surrealism. However, you can refer to all of her work as contemporary art. After moving to New York City in 1958, the Japanese artist flourished, creating prescient sculptures and large-scale monochrome paintings that bridged current styles with Minimalism. Kusama was captivated by the Surrealists as well as the Abstract Expressionists and greatly influenced the Pop artists who followed, befriending such icons as Donald Judd — who called her work “the best paintings being done” — and Andy Warhol, with whom she exhibited and later accused of stealing her ideas. On 1stDibs, shop a selection of Yayoi Kusama art.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Yes, Yayoi Kusama is indeed still making art. Beloved for her immersive installations, her 2020 work ‘I Want to Fly to the Universe’, debuted at the New York Botanical Garden. Shop a selection of Yayoi Kusama pieces from some of the world’s top art dealers on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertSeptember 23, 2024What Yayoi Kusama's most famous work is called is open to debate, as opinions differ as to which of her works is the most widely known. One major contender is her Infinity Nets series of paintings made up of tiny dots. Other notable works by the Japanese artist include the Infinity Mirror Room series; Narcissus Garden; Pumpkin; I'm Here, But Nothing; Obliteration Room; Fireflies on the Water; Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees and Love Forever. Shop a selection of Yayoi Kusama art on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Yayoi Kusama's “Infinity Mirror Rooms” are on display in a number of locations around the world. They include The Broad in Los Angeles, California; the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark; The Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia; and the Phoenix Art Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. On 1stDibs, find a collection of Yayoi Kusama art.