KUSAMA, Yayoi
Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929), Japanese, Portrait of Yayoi Kusama, Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro and David Zwirner
Yayoi Kusama was born in 1929 in Nagano, Japan. Kusama began painting in response to persistent hallucinations that began around age 10. Her artwork is largely autobiographical documenting her mental disease. After studying traditional painting in Kyoto, she moved to New York in 1958, becoming a key figure in the avant-garde art scene. Kusama developed a distinctive style linked to Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Pop art, Feminist art, and Institutional Critique, starting with large-scale monochromatic paintings that quickly garnered critical acclaim.
By the 1960s, Kusama was creating paintings, drawings, sculptures, Happenings, installations, fashion, and films. In 1969, she founded Kusama Enterprises, selling products featuring her unique aesthetic of polka dots and repeating patterns.
In 1973, Kusama returned to Japan and, two years later, entered a facility for treatment of obsessive-compulsive neurosis, where she continues to live and work. She remains prolific, expanding her creative pursuits in the 1980s to include poetry and fiction. In 2021 the artist made headlines when a large polka-dotted pumpkin sculpture was swept out to sea in a typhoon. The sculpture has subsequently been conserved and returned.
“I am an obsessional artist.”
Yayoi Kusama: Artist Market Analysis
A Flower (2014), Yayoi Kusama, photo via Artnet.com.
In 2023, Kusama's painting A Flower (2014) sold for nearly $10 million at Christie’s Hong Kong auction, marking her most expensive piece sold to date.
In the 2024 “Hiscox Artist Top 100,” Yayoi Kusama is the obvious darling of the report which focused on art produced after 2000. “Despite being 95 years old, Japanese trailblazer Yayoi Kusama remains one of the most influential female artists,” Robert Read, head of art and private clients at Hiscox.
From 2011, Kusama’s market has been steadily climbing, both in total sales and average sale per piece, interrupted by a brief valley in 2020. With her highest sales coming out of the Asian market, Kusama has a robust global demand. As a prolific artist, there are ample pieces available to purchase at varying value thresholds, from prints and multiples to record-breaking originals. At the date of posting, work by Yayoi Kusama appear that they will hold or increase in value in the immediate future.
Yayoi Kusama Recent Sales
HKD 23,970,000 ($3,068,455)
Buds (triptych)
1987, Acrylic on Canvas, overall: 76 3/8” x 153 1/2”
Sold May 28, 2024, Christie’s Hong Kong
HKD 48,775,000 ($6,243,844)
Pumpkin
2013, Urethane on Fiber Reinforced Plastics, 80 3/4” x 82 5/8” x 82 5/8”
Sold May 28, 2024, Christie’s Hong Kong
HKD 58,455,000 ($7,482,837)
Flowers
2015, Acrylic on Canvas, 51 1/3” x 38 1/5”
Sold May 28, 2024, Christie’s Hong Kong
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
EHRMANN, Thierry. “The Art Market in 2022.” artprice. Accessed May 28, 2024. https://www.artprice.com/artprice-reports/the-art-market-in-2022/top-500-artists-by-fine-art-and-nft-auction-turnover-in-2022.
“Flowers.” YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929), Flowers | Christie’s. Accessed May 28, 2024. https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6430046.
Harris, Gareth. “Typhoon-Battered Yayoi Kusama Pumpkin Goes Back on Display in Japan.” The Art Newspaper - International art news and events, October 10, 2022. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/10/10/typhoon-battered-yayoi-kusama-pumpkin-goes-back-on-display-in-japan.
“Life, Death and Polka Dot Pumpkins: Yayoi Kusama at Guggenheim Bilbao.” Hero. Accessed May 28, 2024. https://hero-magazine.com/article/236679/yayoi-kusama-guggenheim.
McAndrew, Clare. Rep. Global Art Market Report 2024. Art Basel and UBS, n.d.
Petterson, Anders. “Hiscox Artist Top 100: 2024 Edition.” ArtTactic. Accessed May 29, 2024. https://www.hiscoxgroup.com/sites/group/files/documents/2024-04/HSX172_2024HAT100FB.pdf.
“Pumpkin.” YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929), Pumpkin | Christie’s. Accessed May 28, 2024. https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6486586.
Rea, Naomi, ed. “The Intelligence Report: The Year Ahead 2024.” Artnet, n.d. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://media.artnet.com/image/upload/Intelligence%20Report%20Feb%202024/Artnet_IR_Year_Ahead_24.pdf.
“Sales per Year Yayoi Kusama.” Yayoi Kusama - Art Sales per Year. Accessed May 28, 2024. https://www.askart.com/artist_charts_sales_per_year/Yayoi_Kusama/101337/Yayoi_Kusama.aspx.
Solomon, Tessa. “Yayoi Kusama Was the Top-Selling Contemporary Artist of 2023, Report Says.” ARTnews.com, April 9, 2024. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/yayoi-kusama-top-selling-contemporary-artist-2023-1234702187/.
Yayoi Kusama | Moma. Accessed May 28, 2024. https://www.moma.org/artists/3315.
“Yayoi Kusama.” Buds. Accessed May 28, 2024. https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6486568.
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