Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Phallic Girl
Yayoi Kusama Japanese
Not on view
In the 1960s, Kusama often covered objects, furniture, and human figures with a proliferation of phallic protrusions. This female mannequin is almost obliterated, conceptually and visually, through the addition of these cushioned forms. As a result, the mannequin becomes a proxy for the artist consumed by her phallocentric phobias and neuroses. Through her use of penile encrustation, Kusama also externalizes sex in a manner that can be seen as a feminist counterpoint to the eroticism of the female mannequin often explored by male artists. The protuberant accumulations seem almost talismanic and are formally reminiscent of ancient sculptures of goddesses with multiple breasts.
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