Pumpkin (BSQ)
Medium: Screen-print in colors on Verin d’Arches paper
[3 screens, 2 colors, 3 runs]
Year: 1998
Image: 30×30 cm (11.8 x 11.8 inches)
Sheet: 39.5 x 38 cm (15.6 x 15 inches)
Edition: 120
Artist’s Proofs: 12 AP
Printer’s Proofs: 5 PP
Printer: Okabe Tokuzo, Tokyo
Literature: ABE 244
Yayoi Kusama Prints 1979-2017, ABE Publishing Ltd., Number 244, Illustrated page 144
Signed, dated, and numbered in pencil on lower edge
Pumpkin (BSQ) dated 1998 belongs to a pivotal period in Yayoi Kusama’s graphic production, when she was reasserting key motifs that had structured her work since the 1950s (most notably the pumpkin, polka dots, and infinity nets) through the medium of print. During the late 1990s, Kusama increasingly used prints as a disciplined, repeatable format that allowed her to translate her visual language with precision and control.
Pumpkin (BSQ) features a single pumpkin rendered in a blue-on-black color scheme, articulated through carefully modulated polka dots that follow the natural lobed structure of the form. The dots are not ornamental but structural: their density and scale create volume, depth, and rhythm, transforming the pumpkin into a measured, almost architectural object. The background is composed of a subtle Infinity Net, a recurring motif that Kusama has described as an expression of endlessness and self-obliteration. Here, the net remains restrained, functioning as a stabilizing field rather than a dominant visual force.
The choice of blue is significant. Unlike Kusama’s more familiar yellow pumpkins, which often convey warmth and immediacy, blue pumpkins from this period tend to read as cooler and more introspective. They reflect Kusama’s long-standing interest in psychological balance and repetition as a means of imposing order. The pumpkin itself, a form rooted in her childhood memories and rural upbringing, operates as a personal symbol of comfort and continuity.
Overall, this 1998 print exemplifies Kusama’s mature yet still inward-looking approach at the end of the 20th century. It combines formal rigor, controlled repetition, and symbolic restraint, offering a clear example of how Kusama used printmaking not merely for reproduction, but as a fully autonomous extension of her artistic practice.
Auction Results
SBI Art Auction: 6 July 2024
Estimated: JPY 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
JPY 6,900,000 / USD 42,924
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (BSQ) (Kusama 244), 1998
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 120
Sotheby’s London: 6 October 2021
Estimated: GBP 15,000 – 20,000
GBP 23,940 / USD 32,240
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (BSQ), 1998
Signed in pencil, dated and titled
Numbered 104/120
Mallet Japan: 17 May 2018
Estimated: JPY 1,500,000 – 2,000,000
JPY 1,900,000 (Hammer)
JPY 2,213,500 / USD 19,980
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin(BSQ), 1998
Screenprint in colors
Signed
Edition: 118/120