Atsuko Tanaka, Yayoi Kusama brings together the works of two of Japan’s most innovative and influential artists. Featuring a selection of works on canvas and paper spanning Tanaka's career, and early works in various media by Kusama, this exhibition offers an opportunity to explore the parallel yet distinct artistic concerns of these pioneering figures in postwar abstract art. A fully illustrated catalogue is published to accompany the exhibition, featuring an essay by Anthony Allen.

Atsuko Tanaka (1932-2005) and Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929) both came of age in the aftermath of World War II, during a period of profound societal transformation in Japan that sparked radical shifts and innovations in the arts. Tanaka, a core member of the avant-garde Gutai movement from 1955 to 1965 and one of its few female artists, is best known for her vibrant works where circles and lines engage in dynamic interplay. Her Electric Dress (1956), a garment composed of incandescent bulbs and connecting wires, remains her most iconic work and encapsulates her fascination with notions of technological change, artificiality, and disjunction at the heart of modernity. Meanwhile, Kusama lived in New York from 1958 through 1973, and actively participated in the vibrant art scene of the 1960s. Her work of this period engaged with the hypnotic power of repetition, often evolving into immersive pieces that evoked hallucination, boundlessness and self-obliteration. Her art reflects a preoccupation with themes of obsession, depersonalization and liberation, hallmarks of an alienated age. Both artists shared a broadened approach to artmaking, incorporating textiles, fashion, sensory environments, performance, and participatory elements into their work. Each developed a deeply personal abstract language built around repeated motifs and a keen interest in large, enveloping scale.

The exhibition will present a diverse selection of works on paper and canvas by each artist. It will include examples of Tanaka’s early drawings inspired by her Electric Dress, paintings from the Gutai period and beyond, as well as a small group of watercolors made for Sam Francis. Also on view will be a selection of Kusama’s pioneering Infinity Nets paintings from the 1960s, alongside rare collages, photographs and early pastels. In addition to these works, the exhibition will include documentary photography by Peter Moore and Kiyoji Otsuji, capturing pivotal moments in the artists’ careers, and two essential films: Kusama’s Self-Obliteration by Jud Yalkut and Tanaka’s Round on Sand, filmed on the beach at Awaji Island by her friend, the artist Hiroshi Fukuzawa.

Image caption: [1] Kiyoji Otsuji, Atsuko Tanaka wearing Electric Dress, 2nd Gutai Art Exhibition, 1956–1957, printed 2012, gelatin silver print, 14 x 11 in. (35.6 x 27.9 cm). ©︎ Tetsuo Otsuji. Courtesy of Musashino Art University Museum & Library and YOKOTA TOKYO. Image courtesy the Rachofsky Collection and the Dallas Museum of Art through the TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art Fund, 2012.36.44. [2] Peter Moore, Yayoi Kusama in her studio, New York, 1965, 6 gelatin silver prints, 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm). © Northwestern University.