{"id":1823,"date":"2026-03-08T15:11:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T06:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yayoikusamamuseum.jp\/?page_id=1823"},"modified":"2026-03-13T14:30:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T05:30:48","slug":"2025second","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/yayoikusamamuseum.jp\/en\/exhibition\/past\/2025second\/","title":{"rendered":"Yayoi Kusama: Fighting Woman \/ Painting Girl | Past Exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Past Exhibition<\/h1>\r\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n
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14th Street Happening<\/em> (detail)
1966
\u00a9 YAYOI KUSAMA Photo: Eikoh Hosoe<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n

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Title<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n

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Yayoi Kusama: Fighting Woman \/ Painting Girl<\/h1>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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\r\n From her earliest years, Yayoi Kusama found her greatest joy in drawing. Over the course of her long career, her artistic practice has evolved in a variety of ways. This exhibition identifies two distinct facets of Kusama\u2019s identity as revealed through her work\u2014 \u201cthe fighting woman\u201d and \u201cthe innocent girl\u201d\u2014and traces how these personas have emerged and transformed over time.\r\n <\/p>\r\n

\r\n In 1957, Kusama moved to the United States, embarking upon an uncompromising practice within an art world then dominated by white male artists, where she positioned herself with fierce resolve as a minority\u2014an Asian woman. During her New York years\u2014a period in which she must have been acutely aware of her own identity\u2014Kusama produced a substantial body of ambitious works that confronted both herself and the society around her as a woman. Following her return to Japan in 1973, she re-engaged with painting\u2014a practice she had set aside in the late 1960s\u2014with renewed intensity. In her recent works, a pronounced girl-like sense of innocence is evident, expressed through vivid colors, playful figural depictions, and other similar elements.\r\n <\/p>\r\n

\r\n The exhibition brings together early drawings; Aggregation<\/em> sculptures created as acts of overcoming a fear of sex rooted in past trauma; and archival records of her provocative nude performances and fashion projects, which openly challenged prevailing social norms and sexual mores. From her more recent works, it presents a series of paintings produced with notable intensity, as though rendering the depths of her inner world; three-dimensional works depicting girl and flower that appear to give tangible form to her imaginative realm; together with her world-premiere creation, a small-scale mirrored room. We invite visitors to experience Kusama\u2019s multifaceted creative universe, where a fearless spirit that challenges the times coexists with the ingenuousness of a young girl.\r\n <\/p>\r\n

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\r\n Exhibition Video<\/strong>
\r\n Yayoi Kusama: Fighting Woman \/ Painting Girl<\/em> is available down below.\r\n <\/p>\r\n

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\r\n All artworks \u00a9 YAYOI KUSAMA
\r\n Photo: Eikoh Hosoe(00\u201900\u2019\u2019-00\u201912\u2019\u2019, 00'45''-00'47'')
\r\n Film by Masanobu Nishino
\r\n Sound design by Noriaki Okamoto
\r\n \u00a9 2026 YAYOI KUSAMA FOUNDATION\r\n <\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n