Yayoi Kusama

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (b.1929) is arguably Japan's most famous living artist. Reprinted with new cover art for 2020, this thorough and insightful book was first published in 2012 to accompany Tate's groundbreaking Yayoi Kusama exhibition, the first major retrospective exhibition of the artist's work to be staged in the UK. Lavishly illustrated, the exhibition book features an introductory essay by Frances Morris as well as four other substantial essays by leading international critics. Topics covered include Kusama's time in New York, her career after her return to Japan, her installation works and an exploration of her art from a psychoanalytical point of view. Kusama's originality, innovation and powerful desire to communicate have propelled her through a career that has spanned six decades. During this time, Kusama has explored painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, collage, film and video, performance and installation, as well as product design. From the late 1950s to the early 1970s Kusama lived in New York and was at the forefront of many artistic innovations in the city. Returning to Japan in her forties, she rebuilt her career, waiting years for the international recognition she has recently achieved. In her ninth decade her imagination remains richly creative as she continues to extend the range of her large- scale, dazzling installations and relentlessly hand-paints extensive series of minutely detailed figurative fantasy paintings. Kusama has exhibited widely around the world, including representing Japan at the Venice Biennale, and her work is in many major collections. Frances Morris is Director, Tate Modern. Contributors Jo Applin, Juliet Mitchell, Mignon Nixon, Rachel Taylor and Midori Yamamura.