Accreations I, 1967
Oil on canvas
80×70.5 cm (31.5×27.8 inches)
Signed, titled and dated ‘KUSAMA 67 ACCREATIONS I’ (on the stretcher)

Provenance
Galerie Orez, The Hague
Galerie Ornis, The Hague
Private Collection, The Netherlands
Anon. sale, Christie’s New York, 4 June 1998, lot 245
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

 

Christie’s London: 11 February 2016
GBP 662,500 / USD 957,369

Source: Christie’s
Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929) (christies.com)

 

 

Comprising an enigmatic veil of fiery red loops and swirls, Yayoi Kusama’s Accreations I of 1967 is an early example of one of the artist’s Infinity Net paintings with which she made her name. Upon a white canvas, Kusama weaves a meticulous lace-like pattern of red lines which flows over the surface of the canvas with intoxicating and hypnotic intensity. This is the result of the powerfully contemplative process that Kusama employs, her face in close proximity to the surface of the canvas, often for hours at a time, losing herself in an almost trance-like state as she renders her intricate tracery of color. Here, pulsating waves of red pigment flow over the surface with a poetic force that beguiles the viewer with its delicate beauty.