MORIMURA Yasumasa – ShugoArts

MORIMURA Yasumasa Works and Info

Self-Portrait through Art History(Van Gogh/Blue Flame)

2016/2018, inkjet print on canvas, 65x54.5cm, ed.10 [15079]

Self-Portraits through Art History (Van Eyck in a Red Turban)

2016 /2018, chromogenic print, transparent medium, 32x25cm, ed.10 [15852]

Self-Portraits through Art History (Dürer's Hand Is Another Face)

2016/ 2018, chromogenic print, transparent medium, 66x48cm, ed.10 [15851]

Self-Portraits through Art History (What Leonardo's Face Says)

2016 /2018, Japanese paper, piezograph, 32x21cm, ed.10 [15849]

Self-Portraits through Art History (Two Caravaggios / David Painting Goliath)

2016, chromogenic print, transparent medium, 158x119cm, ed.5 [15856]

Self-Portraits of Youth (Shunsuke Matsumoto / Where Am I Standing? 1)

2016/2018, chromogenic print, 160x124cm, ed.5 [15855]

Scene with Kafka 2

2015/2024, gelatin silver print, image: 29.7x21.6cm, ed.10 [17981]

A Requiem: Unexpected Visitors / 1945, Japan

2010, chromogenic print, 187.5x150cm, ed.5 [08849]

A Requiem: Theater of Creativity / Self-portrait as Marcel Duchamp (Based on the photo by Julian Wasser)

2010, chromogenic print, 150x187.5cm, ed.5 [08845]

A Requiem: MISHIMA, 1970.11.25 - 2006.4.6

2006, chromogenic print, 150x120cm, ed.5 [07045]

An Inner Dialogue with Frida Kahlo (Collar of Thorns)

2001, chromogenic print, 120x96cm, ed.10 [05880]

Self-portrait/ White Marilyn

1996, type C print, 120x95cm, ed.10 [10788]

Self-portrait as Marilyn in Tokyo University, Komaba campus

1995/2008, gelatin silver print, 137x137cm, ed.7 [07958]

Self-portrait(Actress)/after Brigitte Bardot 2

1996, chromogenic print, 120x95cm, ed.10 [11655]

Tableau of Symphony ”EROICA No.6”

2023, archival inkjet print on canvas, 163.5x139cm, ed.5 [17977]

Want to change the world ? Be seriously unserious (Miró A)

2020, chromogenic print, image: 137x100cm, ed.7 [17978]

Vermeer Study: What to Pour into My Town

2019, pigment print on canvas, 45.5x41cm, frame: 72x67cm, ed.10 [14494]

Une Moderne Olympia 2018

2017-2018, chromogenic print, transparent medium, frame, 210x300cm (frame: 325x235cm), ed.5 [13055]

In praise of Velásquez: Distinguished ones in confinement

2013, chromogenic print, 60×50cm, ed.10 [10807]

Mona Lisa in its Origin

1998, chromogenic print, image: 77x54.5cm, frame: 99x76.5cm, ed.10 [04550]

White Darkness

1994/2008, gelatin silver print, sheet: 168x135cm frame:183x150x6cm, ed.7 [07860]

Portrait (Futago)

1988, Chromogenic print, transparent medium, frame, 210x300cm (frame: 225x315cm), ed.5 [10801]

Portrait (Shounen 1, 2, 3)

1988, chromogenic print, transparent medium, frame, 209x118.5cm each, frame: 227x137cm each, 3pcs, ed.5 [15103]

Portrait (Van Gogh)

1985, Chromogenic print, 120x100cm, ed.10 [04983]

overview: Born in 1951 in Osaka, Japan. Morimura currently lives in Osaka. He exhibited his first self-portrait work, Portrait／Van Gogh, in 1985. Since then, he has continued to present "self-portrait photographs in the disguise of something or someone" on a variety of subjects with the consistent theme of "I". His works are completed by approaching the subjects (people and artworks) from his unique perspective while incorporating meticulous research, self-created dioramas and studio set construction, costumes and makeup, etc. At the same time, he has been involved in a wide range of activities including video, performance, and writing. His major works include Art History series, Actress series, and A Requiem series. Having established M@M (Morimura@Museum) in 2018, where visitors can view Morimura's documents and self-produced exhibitions, Morimura continues to work both domestically and internationally.

Selected Solo Exhibitions
“My Self-Portraits as a Theater of Labyrinths”, Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, Higashiyama Cube, Kyoto, 2022; “Jam Session: The Ishibashi Foundation Collection × Morimura Yasumasa A Gift of the Sea, M-Style Morimura Yasumasa’s Auto-Mytholo”, Artizon Museum, Tokyo, 2021; “Yasumasa Morimura: Ego Obscura, Tokyo 2020”, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 2020; “YASUMASA MORIMURA: EGO OBSCURA”, Japan Society, New York, 2018; “My Chronicle 1985 - 2018”, ShugoArts, Tokyo, 2018; “Yasumasa Morimura. The history of the self-portrait”, Pushkin Museum, Moscow, 2017; “The Self-Portraits of YASUMASA MORIMURA: My Art, My Story, My History”, National Museum of Art, Osaka, 2016; “Yasumasa Morimura: Theater of the Self”, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, 2014; “Yasumasa Morimura: LAS MENINAS RENACEN DE NOCHE”, Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, 2013; “Yasumasa Morimura: Rembrandt Room Revisited”, Hara Museum, Tokyo, 2013; “A Requiem: Art on Top of the Battlefield”, Travelled to Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo; Toyota Municipal Museum of Art; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima; Hyogo Prefecture Museum of Art, Kobe, 2021-2011; “Yasumasa Morimura—Requiem for the XX Century, Twilight of the turbulent Gods”, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa Galleria di Piazza San Marco, Venice, 2007.

Selected Publications
Jigazo-no-yukue, Kobun-sha; Utsukushiitte-nandaro? Bijutsu-no-susume, Riron-sha; Bijutsu-no-kaibogakukogi, Chikuma-gakugei-bunko; Geijyutuka-M-no-dekirumade, Chikuma-syobo.

Selected Public Collections
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (Ishikawa, Japan). Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia). Carnegie Museums of Art (Pittsburg, USA). Hara Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo, Japan). J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, USA). Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid, Spain). Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan). Museum of Modern Art (New York, USA). The National Museum of Art, Osaka (Osaka, Japan). The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (Kyoto, Japan). Saatchi Gallery (London, UK). San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, USA).
Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan). Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, USA).
cv: PDF
texts / movies: MORIMURA Yasumasa Library
link: MORIMURA Yasumasa website >>; morimura@museum >>; MORIMURA Yasumasa Facebook >>; MORIMURA Yasumasa Twitter >>; MORIMURA Yasumasa Instagram >>
topics: Yasumasa Morimura and Cindy Sherman: Masquerades

14 December, 2024 - 5 May, 2025; A Renewal of Passion: The Impact of Van Gogh

31 May - 30 November, 2025