Yayoi Kusama // Untitled, 1952

  • Yayoi Kusama, Untitled, 1952. Gouache and pastel on paper, 38 × 30 cm. Signed and dated on the front and reverse.
    Untitled, 1952
    Gouache and pastel on paper, 38 × 30 cm (15 × 11 7/8 in.)
    © Yayoi Kusama. All rights reserved. Image reproduced for educational and informational purposes only.
     
    Created in 1952, this Untitled work by Yayoi Kusama reflects the formative period of her artistic development in postwar Japan. Executed in gouache and pastel on paper, it highlights her early experimentation with vibrant colour, layered textures, and expressive mark-making.
     
    At this stage, Kusama was in her early twenties and shaping the distinctive visual language that would later define her international career. The drawing embodies the spontaneity of her early practice and her interest in translating inner visions into striking, graphic compositions.

  • “Without obsession, life is nothing. Obsession is the wellspring of my art.”

    – Yayoi Kusama

    The modest scale of the piece encourages close looking, revealing Kusama’s sensitivity to materials. The gouache produces dense, opaque fields of colour, while the pastel introduces softer tonal variation and subtle surface shifts. The work is signed and dated on both the recto and verso, a detail that underscores Kusama’s sense of authorship and careful documentation. Although distinct from her later motifs of pumpkins and Infinity Nets, the composition embodies her fascination with rhythm, repetition, and psychological intensity, anticipating the themes that would shape her mature practice.