Flower
Medium: Lithograph with collage on Verin d’Arches paper
[3 plates, 3 colors, 3 runs]
Year: 1982
Image: 22.3 x 15.5 cm (8.8 x 6.1 inches)
Sheet: 35.5 x 27.5 cm (14 x 10.8 inches)
Edition: 100
Artist’s Proofs: 3 AP
Printer’s Proof: 3 PP
Publisher: BOX Gallery, Nagoya
Printer: Shimo-oka Yoshiaki
Literature: ABE 10
Yayoi Kusama Prints 1979-2007, ABE PUBLISHING LTD, Number 10, Illustrated page 17
Signed, titled, numbered, and dated in pencil
Flower centers on a single, frontal flower rendered with striking clarity and restraint. A red, rounded bloom, punctuated with black dots, rises from a straight green stem, flanked by two stylized leaves. The figure stands against a black ground entirely animated by white, interlocking net-like lines, while a blue border punctuated with white polka dots frames the composition with rhythmic regularity. Formally, the image is built on a sharp dialogue between figure and ground. The flower itself is simple, almost emblematic, its symmetry and saturated red asserting immediate visual presence. In contrast, the background is restless and continuous, recalling Kusama’s Infinity Nets, here rendered in white lines over black. This opposition, solid form versus infinite pattern, creates a subtle tension: the flower appears both isolated and absorbed by the field that surrounds it.
The use of color is economical and deliberate. Red and green, complementary and symbolic, anchor the central motif in natural imagery, while the black-and-white background denies any illusion of depth. The blue polka-dotted border functions as a conceptual frame rather than a decorative one, reinforcing Kusama’s insistence on containment, repetition, and visual order. Produced in the early 1980s, this print belongs to a period when Kusama was reasserting her signature vocabulary after decades marked by personal struggle and artistic marginalization. Flowers during this time become less descriptive and more archetypal, vehicles through which she could restate her core concerns: obsession, accumulation, and the fragile boundary between individuality and dissolution.
Within Kusama’s printed work, Flower exemplifies her ability to distill complex psychological and formal ideas into a deceptively simple image. Accessible yet uncompromising, the print demonstrates how repetition and pattern, far from mere ornament, operate as the conceptual engine of her practice. It is this clarity of language, combined with unwavering consistency, that underpins the enduring appeal of her works from this period among collectors and institutions alike.
Auction Results
SBI Art Auction: 27 January 2024
Estimated: JPY 1,200,000 – 1,800,000
JPY 3,105,000 / USD 20,954
YAYOI KUSAMA
Flower (Kusama 10), 1982
Lithograph and collage
Signed, titled, dated and numbered from the edition of 100
Mallet Japan: 19 November 2020
Estimated: JPY 700,000 – 1,000,000
JPY 1,150,000 (Hammer)
JPY 1,339,750 / USD 12,895
YAYOI KUSAMA
Flower, 1982
Lithograph in colors with collage on Arches
Signed
Edition: 24/100 (there were also 2 A.P.)
K Auction Seoul: 26 March 2020
Estimated: KRW 8,000,000 – 15,000,000
KRW 10,925,000 / USD 8,930
YAYOI KUSAMA
Flower, 1982
Lithograph, collage
Signed, titled, dated and numbered 48/100 on the recto
SBI Art Auction: 1 February 2020
Estimated: JPY 800,000 – 1,400,000
JPY 1,265,000 / USD 11,675
YAYOI KUSAMA
Flower (Kusama 10), 1982
Lithograph, collage
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 100
Mainichi Auction Tokyo: 19 October 2019
Estimated: JPY 800,000 – 1,200,000
JPY 1,150,000 (Hammer)
JPY 1,339,750 / USD 12,360
YAYOI KUSAMA
Flower, 1982
Lithograph and collage
Signed
Edition: 41/100