Hat left behind in the field
Medium: Screenprint on Hakou-shi paper
[12 screens, 12 colors, 12 runs]
Year: 1981
Image: 41 x 51.8 cm (16.1 x 20.4 inches)
Sheet: 50.5 x 65 cm (19.9 x 25.6 inches)
Edition: 100
Artist’s Proofs: 10 AP
Printer: Ishida Ryoichi
Literature: ABE 3
Yayoi Kusama Prints 1979-2007, ABE PUBLISHING LTD, Number 3, Illustrated page 13
Signed, titled, numbered, and dated in pencil
Some works have nu publication year or ‘1979’ on the margin
Hat Left Behind in the Field is a significant screenprint from Yayoi Kusama’s early foray into printmaking. It features a vibrant red hat adorned with a green scarf, set against a background of uncharacteristically loose, pink floral motifs. Kusama utilizes her signature “Infinity Nets” pattern to create the texture of the hat, giving it a tactile, woven appearance.
The hat refers to the “Kasa”, a traditional straw hat worn by Japanese farmers. This is a direct nod to Kusama’s upbringing in an agricultural family that cultivated seeds in Nagano. The “left behind” aspect of the title captures a sense of abandonment, nostalgia, and solitude. It symbolizes leaving behind a part of oneself while moving forward in life. For Kusama, hats and clothing are tools for self-obliteration and identity. By covering these objects in repetitive patterns (dots or nets), she merges the individual object with the infinite universe.
In 1979, Kusama began exhibiting her first major series of prints after returning to Japan from New York. This period marked a shift from her earlier performance art to a more introspective phase. She created these works while living by choice in a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo, where she remains today, using her art as a “means of survival” to manage her hallucinations and neuroses. Her move into printmaking was a way to democratize her art, making her obsessive motifs accessible to a wider audience through reproduction.
Auction Results
iART Tokyo: 27 April 2025
Estimated: JPY 2,500,000 – 3,500,000
JPY 3,105,000 (Hammer)
JPY 3,617,325 / USD 25,195
YAYOI KUSAMA
HAT LEFT BEHIND IN THE FIELD, 1981
Print (screenprint)
Signed
From the edition of 100
Mainichi Auction Tokyo: 8 February 2025
Estimated: JPY 2,000,000 – 3,000,000
JPY 4,140,000 / USD 27,345
YAYOI KUSAMA
Hat Left Behind in the Field (ABE 3), 1981
Screenprint
Signed, dated and numbered
From the edition of 100
Mallet Japan: 3 March 2022
Estimated: JPY 2,500,000 – 3,500,000
JPY 7,200,000 (Hammer)
JPY 8,388,000 / USD 72,520
YAYOI KUSAMA
Hat left behind in the field, 1981
Screenprint in colors
Signed
From the edition of 100
SBI Art Auction: 26 April 2019
Estimated: JPY 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
JPY 3,795,000 / USD 33,950
YAYOI KUSAMA
Hat left behind in the field (Kusama 3), 1981
Screenprint
Signed, titled and numbered from the edition of 100
SBI Art Auction: 27 October 2018
Estimated: JPY 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
JPY 3,680,000 / USD 32,890
YAYOI KUSAMA
Hat left behind in the field (Kusama 3), 1981
Screenprint
Signed, titled and numbered from the edition of 100