{"id":370,"date":"2025-08-28T14:38:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T05:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yayoi-kusama.jp\/mw\/?page_id=370"},"modified":"2026-04-02T14:12:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T05:12:59","slug":"biography","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/yayoi-kusama.jp\/en\/biography\/","title":{"rendered":"BIOGRAPHY"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Yayoi Kusama<\/h2>\r\n\t\t

Avant-garde artist, novelist<\/p>\r\n\t\t

\r\n\t\t\tYayoi Kusama was born in 1929, in Matsumoto City, Japan. From childhood she experienced visions and hallucinations, which engendered her first polka-dot and net-themed drawings. Using watercolors, pastels, and oil paints, she developed her own unique form of expression at an early age.
\r\n\t\t\tKusama relocated to the United States in 1957. The following year, while based in New York City, she began exhibiting innovative works in rapid succession, including net paintings, soft sculptures, and installations employing mirrors and lights. She formulated a philosophy of art she dubbed \u201cself-obliteration\u201d based on simple motifs of obsessive repetition and proliferation. The scope of her activities widened to include body painting events, fashion shows, anti-war \u201chappenings,\u201d films, and newsletters, helping to establish her status as a leading avant-garde artist.
\r\n\t\t\tAfter returning to Japan in 1973, she resumed writing fiction and poetry and created outdoor sculptures, large-scale installations, and the \u201cInfinity Mirror Room\u201d series. In 2009, she began work on her \u201cMy Eternal Soul\u201d series, which continued until 2021, by which time she had produced roughly 900 paintings. In 2021, she began work on a new series, \u201cEvery Day I Pray for Love.\u201d Today she continues energetically producing works with a consistent theme of infinity transcending nature, love, life, and death.
\r\n\t\t\tThe Yayoi Kusama Museum opened in Tokyo in 2017.\r\n\t\t<\/p>\r\n\t<\/section>\r\n\t

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Awards and honors<\/h2>\r\n\t\t
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1968<\/dt>\r\n\t\t\t
Awarded a prize at the Fourth International Experimental Film Competition in Belgium; Second prize at the Ann Arbor Film Festival; Awarded a prize at the Second Maryland Film Festival (for the film Kusama\u2019s Self-Obliteration, 1967)<\/dd>\r\n\t\t\t
1983<\/dt>\r\n\t\t\t
Receives the Tenth Literary Award for New Writers from the monthly magazine Yasei Jidai for the novel Hustlers Grotto of Christopher Street (Kurisutopha Danshokutsu)<\/dd>\r\n\t\t\t
1996<\/dt>\r\n\t\t\t
Chosen \u201cBest Gallery Show of 1995\/96\u201d and \u201cBest Gallery Show of 1996\/97\u201d by the American branch of the International Association of Art Critics<\/dd>\r\n\t\t\t
2000<\/dt>\r\n\t\t\t
Recipient of the Minister of Education\u2019s Art Encouragement Prize and a Commendation by the Minister for Foreign Affairs<\/dd>\r\n\t\t\t
2001<\/dt>\r\n\t\t\t
Awarded the 71st Asahi Prize<\/dd>\r\n\t\t\t
2002<\/dt>\r\n\t\t\t
Awarded the Medal with Dark Blue Ribbon (for philanthropy)<\/dd>\r\n\t\t\t
2003<\/dt>\r\n\t\t\t
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres [Order of Arts and Letters, France]; The Nagano Governor\u2019s Prize (for contributing to the encouragement of art and culture)<\/dd>\r\n\t\t\t
2006<\/dt>\r\n\t\t\t
Art Lifetime Achievement Award; The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette; The Praemium Imperiale (for painting)<\/dd>\r\n\t\t\t
2009<\/dt>\r\n\t\t\t
Person of Cultural Merit<\/dd>\r\n\t\t\t
2016<\/dt>\r\n\t\t\t
Order of Culture<\/dd>\r\n\t\t<\/dl>\r\n\t<\/section>\r\n<\/section>\r\n