The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Baby Stroller

Baby Stroller

1962
(Japanese, 1929-)
Japan
presumably found baby stroller, paint, canvas, cotton, and steel
Overall: 89.5 x 102 x 74 cm (35 1/4 x 40 3/16 x 29 1/8 in.)
Gift of Henry H. Hawley in memory of Berenice H. Kent 2010.463
Location: 229C Contemporary

Did You Know?

The silver phalluses covering the baby stroller is a motif found throughout Kusama’s work.

Description

During the 1960s, Yayoi Kusama transformed everyday objects by covering them with hand-sewn and stuffed phallic protrusions. This process, which she called "obliteration," relates to the artist's interest throughout her career in the repetition of organic forms. In this work, Kusama creates a tension between the baby stroller, designed to carry children, and the sexual imagery that it totes instead.
  • Collection of Joe Butler III, Youngstown, OH; Bernice Kent, Cleveland, OH; donated for auction to the Cleveland Ballet; purchased at auction by Henry H. Hawley, Cleveland, OH; gift to the CMA in 2011 from Henry H. Hawley in memory of Bernice Kent.
  • Kusama, Yayoi, and Lynn Zelevansky. Love Forever: Yayoi Kusama, 1958-1968. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1998. Reproduced p. 139, fig. 56
    Hoptman, Laura J., Yayoi Kusama, Akira Tatehata, and Udo Kultermann. Yayoi Kusama. London: Phaidon, 2000. Reproduced p. 49
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 114
    Kusama, Yayoi, Akira Tatehata, Laura J. Hoptman, Udo Kultermann, and Catherine Taft. Yayoi Kusama. Second Edition. London: Phadion Press, 2017. Reproduced p. 46
  • Contemporary Gallery Reinstallation 2021. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
    Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 7-September 30, 2018).
    Yayoi Kusama, Akron Art Museum (July 9 - October 2, 1994)
  • {{cite web|title=Baby Stroller|url=false|author=Yayoi Kusama|year=1962|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2010.463