Mysterious Illusion of KAINOSHO
<p>For nearly four decades, Yasumasa Morimura has used props, costumes, makeup, and digital manipulation to transform himself into celebrated subjects from art history. In this work, Morimura poses as Kainosho Tadaoto (1894–1978), an openly gay painter from Kyoto best known for self-portraits dressed in women’s kimonos. Morimura echoes Kainosho’s meticulous attention to traditional Japanese makeup and dress and frames the image against a beautiful patterned backdrop that recalls the scroll paint-ings for which Kainosho earned his initial acclaim.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 2023
- Medium
- Inkjet print
- Dimensions
- 120 × 75 cm (47 1/4 × 29 9/16 in.); frame: 162 × 98.8 cm (63 13/16 × 38 15/16 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Yasumasa Morimura
Artist
Photography
Yasumasa Morimura is a contemporary Japanese performance and appropriation artist whose work encompasses photography, film, and live performance. He is known for his reinterpretation of recognizable artworks and figures from art history, history, and mass media through his adoption of personas that transcend national, ethnic, gendered, and racial boundaries. Across his photographic and performative series, Morimura's works explore a number of interconnected themes, including: the nature of identity and its ability to undergo change, postcolonialism, authorship, and the Western view of Japan – and Asia, more broadly – as feminine.
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Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Yasumasa Morimura
- Year
- 2023
- Medium
- Inkjet print
- Dimensions
- 120 × 75 cm (47 1/4 × 29 9/16 in.); frame: 162 × 98.8 cm (63 13/16 × 38 15/16 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-2023-143865
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified