Kusama Yayoi and Traditional Japanese Art

Kusama Yayoi (b. 1929) is one of the world's most famous contemporary artists. However, only certain elements of her career are best-known, which are often used to emphasise her vision as an “unconventional artist with psychiatric disorders”. Yet another interesting and overlooked element can be gleaned from her biography and artistic experience: the ability to embrace and live with the modern innovations of technological progress without necessarily neglecting tradition. The ingredients that make her style so original and distinctive are the subject of much attention and research. However, the incorporation of more traditional elements very often takes the back seat. For this reason, I would like to focus on the latter, and present, together with a critical analysis, five emblematic examples of Kusama's pictorial and sculptural works that have the flavour and charm of the Japanese artistic tradition. This paper will focus on the artistic choices made by Kusama, including the use of specific materials such as torinokogami, traditional Japanese paper used especially in her pencil drawings comparable to 19th century Japanese floral woodblock prints, and artistic representation techniques such as nihonga. It will also examine the significance of certain emblematic colours such as red on a white background, the inclusion of the natural element (especially vegetation) as a subject of her artworks, and other symbolic elements such as butterflies. It is the intention of this study to highlight the originality of Kusama's work, which can be seen in her ability to engage with elements that are commonly regarded as traditional and to combine them with her own distinctive avant-garde stylistic signature in the same creative process. The research uses artistic analysis as well as primary sources that provide direct evidence of Kusama Yayoi's biographical and artistic experiences.