Manhattan Suicide Addict
Yayoi Kusama
Published by Kousakusha, Tokyo, 1978, 296 pages (b/w ill.), 18.3 × 22 cm, Japanese
Price: €160 (Out of stock)

First Edition of Yayoi Kusama’s first novel, published in Japan in 1978 and never translated into English, is best described as a faux autobiography, describing Kusama’s years in New York in the 50s and 60s. Having left behind a strict family life in post-war Japan, Kusama entered a period of heightened creativity. She was free to make what she wanted, but plagued by fears of intimacy and inadequacy. Her art became a form of therapy, and she went on to create a unique body of work that not only parallels and transcends Pop art, Minimal art and Happenings of the ’60s, but remains influential today.

*Please note this publication is secondhand and has some traces of previous ownership.

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