Pumpkin (YT)
Medium: Screen-print in colors on Verin d’Arches paper
[3 screens, 2 colors, 3 runs]
Year: 1996
Image: 29.8 x 22.8 cm (11.7 x 9 inches)
Sheet: 40 x 32.5 cm (15.7 x 12.8 inches)
Edition: 120
Artist’s Proofs: 12 AP
Printer’s Proofs: 5 PP
Printer: Okabe Tokuzo, Tokyo
Literature: ABE 228
ABE Publishing Ltd., Yayoi Kusama: Prints 1979-2017, Tokyo, 2017, Number 228, page 138
Signed, dated, and numbered in pencil on lower edge
Pumpkin (YT) belongs to one of the most structurally rigorous and conceptually distilled phases of Yayoi Kusama’s graphic work. The composition is frontal and centered, presenting a single pumpkin isolated against a dark ground entirely covered with an irregular, web-like pattern. The pumpkin itself is rendered in a warm yellow-orange tone, articulated through vertical bands of dense black polka dots that follow the natural ribbing of the form. The contrast between the luminous pumpkin and the absorbing black background is deliberate and tightly controlled.
Technically, the work reflects Kusama’s mastery of screenprint and related printmaking processes developed from the late 1980s onward. The precision of the dots, their gradual modulation in scale, and the clean separation between figure and ground demonstrate a careful balance between mechanical repetition and visual rhythm. The background pattern, resembling cracked earth or an abstract infinity net, introduces a secondary layer of visual tension, preventing the image from becoming purely decorative.
Conceptually, the pumpkin functions here as both personal symbol and formal device. For Kusama, pumpkins are associated with childhood memories, stability, and a sense of comfort, but they are also vehicles for exploring repetition, accumulation, and self-obliteration. In this print, the pumpkin is monumental yet contained, organic yet systematized by dots. The surrounding network reinforces the idea of an all-over field, situating the motif within Kusama’s broader investigation of infinity and psychological space.
By 1998, the pumpkin had become one of Kusama’s most recognizable motifs, and this print exemplifies how she translated that imagery into a disciplined, highly legible graphic language. It is neither illustrative nor expressive in a traditional sense; rather, it operates through clarity, structure, and visual insistence. The result is a work that is immediately iconic, yet firmly anchored in Kusama’s lifelong engagement with pattern, perception, and control.
Est-Ouest Auctions Tokyo: 18 November 2021
Estimated: JPY 2,300,000 – 3,300,000
JPY 7,260,000 / USD 63,555
AUCTION RECORD FOR PUMPKIN (YT)
YAYOI KUSAMA
PUMPKIN (YT), 1996
Screenprint
Signed
From an edition of 120
Auction Results
SBI Art Auction: 25 January 2025
Estimated: JPY 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
JPY 6,095,000 / USD 39,065
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (YT) (Kusama 228), 1996
Screenprint
Signed, titled and numbered
From the edition of 120
Mainichi Auction: 3 February 2024
Estimated: JPY 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
JPY 8,050,000 / USD 54,265
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (YT), 1996
Screenprint
Signed
From the edition of 120
Mainichi Auction: 9 September 2023
Estimated: JPY 4,000,000 – 6,000,000
JPY 7,820,000 / USD 52,910
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (YT), 1996
Screenprint
Signed
From the edition of 120
SBI Art Auction: 27 May 2023
Estimated: JPY 3,500,000 – 5,500,000
JPY 8,395,000 / USD 59,965
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (YT) (Kusama 228), 1996
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 120
Est-Ouest Auctions Tokyo: 18 November 2021
Estimated: JPY 2,300,000 – 3,300,000
JPY 7,260,000 / USD 63,555
AUCTION RECORD FOR PUMPKIN (YT)
YAYOI KUSAMA
PUMPKIN (YT), 1996
Screenprint
Signed
From an edition of 120
Mainichi Auction: 22 May 2021
Estimated: JPY 1,500,000 – 2,000,000
JPY 3,900,000 (Hammer)
JPY 4,543,500 / USD 41,705
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (YT), 1996
Screenprint
Signed
Edition: 87/120
iART Auction Tokyo: 6 June 2020
Estimated: JPY 1,500,000 – 2,500,000
JPY 2,600,000 (Hammer)
JPY 3,029,000 / USD 27,640
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (YT), 1996
Print, silkscreen
Signed
From an edition of 120