Japanese Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Yasumasa Morimura

もりむら やすまさ

Morimura Yasumasa

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1951-06-11 （Saikugaya, Tennoji-ku, Osaka, Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Osaka, Japan (resident) → Kyoto, Japan (studies / lived) → Kita-Kagaya, Osaka (opened M@M museum)

Career

Occupations
Contemporary artist, Artist, Photographer, Writer, Lecturer (part-time)
Active Years
1975-
Affiliations
Morimura@Museum (M@M), Yasumasa Morimura Art Research Institute
Influenced By
Cindy Sherman, Ernest Satow (photographer), Vincent van Gogh, Edouard Manet, Rembrandt van Rijn

Education

Kyoto City University of Arts
Faculty of Fine Arts / Crafts/Design Course; Graduate design program
Period: 1971–1976（学部・専攻科）
Year of Graduation: 1975
Country: Japan
Graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts; completed the graduate specialization. Also worked as a part-time lecturer.

Awards

Higashikawa Prize (Domestic Photographer Award)
2002
Category: 国内作家賞
Organization: Higashikawa Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Oribe Prize
2003
Organization: Oribe Prize
Result: 受賞
Kyoto Prefectural Cultural Award (Merit)
2006
Category: 功労賞
Organization: Kyoto Prefecture
Result: 受賞
Art Encouragement Prize (Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)
2008
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs (Japan)
Result: 受賞
Mainichi Art Award (52nd)
2011
Organization: The Mainichi Newspapers
Result: 受賞
Japan Photographic Society Award (Artist Award)
2011
Category: 作家賞
Organization: Japan Photographic Society
Result: 受賞
Kyoto Art & Culture Award
2011
Organization: Kyoto Art & Culture Award
Result: 受賞
Medal with Purple Ribbon
2011
Category: 褒章
Organization: Cabinet Office (Japan)
Result: 受章

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Portrait: Gogh

1985 Photography (self-portrait)

A self-portrait work in which Morimura impersonates Vincent van Gogh. One of the key early works that marked his approach to self-portraiture.

self-portraiturereinterpretation of art historyappropriationrace and gender

The Third Mona Lisa

1998 Photography (self-portrait)

A work referencing Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa in which Morimura places himself into the famous painting's context to unsettle its meaning.

variations on canonical paintingsidentitygaze and spectatorship

I Became an Actress (series)

1996 Photography / Video (disguise / self-portrait)

A series in which Morimura impersonates Hollywood and historical actresses, exploring issues of gender and identity.

disguisegenderquotation of pop icons

Finger Shoron (Nojima) 1-4

1990 Color photography (series)

A four-piece color photograph series themed on the bushukan (a citrus fruit). Features copies and transitions between organic forms and human limbs.

substitution of objectstransformation between part and whole

Symposium of Self-Portraits

2016 Photography / Video

A recent group of works including photographs and video that revisit self-portraiture, offering reinterpretations of art history and multiplicity of the self.

splitting of the selfdialogue with art historystaging of vision

Bibliography

  • The Disease of Reaching Beauty — I Became an Actress: Yasumasa Morimura Exhibition (Yokohama Museum catalogue)
  • Misstepping Art History
  • Lectures on the Anatomy of Art
  • The Heart of 'Well, It's Okay'
  • Woman? Japan? Beauty? Toward New Gender Criticism (co-authored)

Adaptations

  • Filament (film appearance)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
simulationismappropriationself-portrait–based practiceconceptual methods combined with theatrical staging
Recurring Motifs
self-portrait / disguisereworking Western art historyquestions of gender and racesubstitution of local (Japanese) motifs into global canonical works

Legacy

Yasumasa Morimura is widely regarded for using self-portraiture to interrogate art history and identity. His works are held in numerous museum collections and, through exhibitions and teaching, he has influenced later generations of artists both in Japan and abroad.

Museums

  • Morimura@Museum (M@M) Kita-Kagaya, Suminoe-ku, Osaka, Japan Opened in 2018
  • 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan
  • The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
  • Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
  • Fukuyama Museum of Art Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan

Archives

  • Morimura@Museum collection
  • Collections of The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto

Trivia

  • He joined Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (now Panasonic) but resigned after three days.
  • The 1985 work 'Portrait: Gogh' marked a turning point in his self-portrait practice.
  • He was selected for the Aperto section of the Venice Biennale in 1989, gaining international attention.
  • He served as artistic director of the Yokohama Triennale in 2014.
  • In 2018 he opened a private museum, Morimura@Museum (M@M), in Kita-Kagaya, Osaka.
  • He was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2011.