WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Atsuko Tanaka

Atsuko Tanaka

1932–2005

WA-00003747

PaintingInstallation ArtGutai

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

100%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (2)

WikidataQ274945

MoMA

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

New Humans: Memories of the Future

New Museum

2026

No image

Atsuko Tanaka, Yayoi Kusama

Paula Cooper Gallery

2025

No image

The New Japanese Painting and Sculpture

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1966–1967

Field Verification (6 fields)

5 cross-verified · 1 single-source

Death yearWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
Primary mediumWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
Birth yearWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
DeceasedWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
BiographyWikipedia + Unknown· 88%✓
NationalityWikidata + Artsy+1· 92%

Source Registry (4)

Paula-Cooperhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/atsuko-tanaka
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Sothebyshttps://www.sothebys.com/en/artists/atsuko-tanaka
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Hauser-Wirthhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/atsuko-tanaka
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/5799
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Atsuko Tanaka (1932, 2005) was a Japanese artist whose work bridged performance, painting, and constructed objects through an engagement with electricity, light, and the body. A core member of the Gutai Art Association, she is best known for Electric Dress (1956), a wearable sculpture of flashing neon tubes and painted bulbs worn in live performance. Her subsequent paintings on canvas translated that same circuitry into looping, interconnected forms rendered in bold synthetic color. Her work is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Source: Paula Cooper · Trust score: 100% · Updated 2mo ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Installation Art

Medium

Painting

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

New Museum

Canonical record

Artworks (8)

WattsOS

For 1954

2005 · Portfolio of five etchings (one with aquatint)

plate (each approx.): 7 11/16 x 5 3/4" (19.6 x 14.6 cm); sheet (each approx.): 12 5/8 x 9 13/16" (32 x 25 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from For 1954

2005 · One from a portfolio of five etchings (one with aquatint)

plate: 7 11/16 x 5 3/4" (19.6 x 14.6 cm); sheet: 12 5/8 x 9 13/16" (32 x 25 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from For 1954

2005 · One from a portfolio of five etchings (one with aquatint)

plate: 7 3/4 x 5 3/4" (19.7 x 14.6 cm); sheet: 12 5/8 x 9 13/16" (32 x 25 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from For 1954

2005 · One from a portfolio of five etchings (one with aquatint)

plate: 7 3/4 x 5 11/16" (19.7 x 14.5 cm); sheet: 12 5/8 x 9 13/16" (32 x 25 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from For 1954

2005 · Etching and aquatint from a portfolio of five etchings (one with aquatint)

plate: 7 11/16 x 5 3/4" (19.6 x 14.6 cm); sheet: 12 5/8 x 9 13/16" (32 x 25 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from For 1954

2005 · One from a portfolio of five etchings (one with aquatint)

plate: 5 3/4 x 7 11/16" (14.6 x 19.6 cm); sheet: 9 13/16 x 12 5/8" (25 x 32 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled

1964 · Acrylic on canvas

10' 11 1/4" x 7' 4 3/4" (333.4 x 225.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled

1956 · Crayon, watercolor, and felt-tip pen on paper

42 7/8 x 30 3/8" (108.9 x 77.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Artwork sources (1)

8 published of 16 catalogued · 14 with image

MoMA
8 publishedof 16 catalogued14 img

Record

Images

20 assets

Artsy