Lot 8
Blue Spots
Sold
$3,206,000
Est $2,500,000 - $3,500,000
Live Auction
20TH CENTURY & CONTEMPORARY ART EVENING SALE
ARTIST
Yayoi Kusama
Size
31 1/2 x 26 7/8 x 4 in. (80 x 68.3 x 10.2 cm)
Description
PROPERTY FROM THE AGNES AND FRITS BECHT COLLECTION

Medium
stuffed cotton and kapok on wood
Signature
Executed in 1965, this work is accompanied by a registration card issued by Yayoi Kusama Studio Inc. This work has been requested for inclusion in the artist’s forthcoming exhibition Yayoi Kusama. The Dutch Years 1965-1970 organized by the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, to be held from September 23, 2023–January 25, 2024.
Provenance
Internationale Galerij Orez, The Hague Acquired from the above by the present owners in 1965
Literature
Floor Show: Kusama, exh. cat., Catellane Gallery, New York, 1965 (illustrated on the exhibition poster) Yayoi Kusama: Early Drawings from the Collection of Richard Castellane, exh. cat., Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, 2000, p. 9 (Castellane Gallery, New York, 1965, illustrated on the exhibition poster) Yayoi Kusama: Eternity-Modernity, exh. cat., The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 2005, fig. 21, pp. 232, 301 (Internationale Galerij Orez, The Hague, 1965, installation view with the artist illustrated, p. 233) Yayoi Kusama, exh. cat., Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2011, p. 108, note 9 (titled Black Dots) Louise Neri and Takaya Goto, eds., Yayoi Kusama, New York, 2012, p. 289 (illustrated) David Alm, “At 87, Yayoi Kusama Continues to Create Spaces of Wonder; 'Infinity Mirrors' to Tour US in 2017,” Forbes, August 22, 2016, online (illustrated) Caroline de Westenholz, Higher that Level! A History of International Gallery Orez, Amsterdam, 2016, p. 231, note 112 (Internationale Galerij Orez, The Hague, 1965, installation view with the artist illustrated, p. 78) Roger Catlin, “Follow the Polka Dots to Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms That Are Breaking Museum Records,” Smithsonian Magazine, February 28, 2017, online (Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., 2017, installation view illustrated) Nina Azzarello, “the hirshhorn museum hosts six immersive infinity mirror rooms by yayoi kusama,” designboom, March 8, 2017, online (Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., 2017, installation view illustrated) Eliza Jordan, ““Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors” at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden,” whitewall, April 18, 2017, online Claudia Rousseau, “Reflections on Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors,” East City Art, May 2, 2017, online Tijs Visser, ed., KUSAMA: with love from holland, Voorschoten, 2022, p. 107 (Internationale Galerij Orez, The Hague, 1965, installation view with the artist illustrated, pp. 68, 70, 143, 144; Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 1968, installation view illustrated, p. 99)
Exhibited
The Hague, Internationale Galerij Orez, Facets of Contemporary Eroticism, May 1965 Eindhoven, Stedelijk van Abbemuseum; Ghent, Sint Pietersabdij, ‘three blind mice’ de collecties: Visser, Peeters, Becht collections, April 6–August 15, 1968, no. 127, p. 76 (installation view in the Becht's home illustrated, p. 58; installed and illustrated in horizontal orientation) Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Collectie Becht, March 16–May 6, 1984, no. 300, p. 230 (illustrated, p. 134) Labège, Centre régional d'art contemporain Midi-Pyrénées, Collection Agnes et Frits Becht, September 23–November 8, 1987 Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York, The Museum of Modern Art (no. 79, pp. 177, 182, 186, 187; illustrated, p. 161); Minneapolis, The Walker Art Center; Tokyo, The Museum of Contemporary Art (no. 79, pp. 180, 185, 189, 190; illustrated, p. 161), Love Forever: Yayoi Kusama, 1958-1969, March 8, 1998–July 4, 1999 Columbus, Wexner Center for the Arts, Part Object Part Sculpture, October 30, 2005–February 26, 2006, pp. 19, 167, 272, 276 (illustrated, p. 18) Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen; Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art; City Gallery Wellington, Yayoi Kusama: Mirrored Years, August 23, 2008–February 7, 2010, pp. 289, 291, 297 (installation view illustrated, pp. 14, 17, 18; the artist with the present work, 1965, illustrated, p. 151) The Hague, Gemeentemuseum, Happy Days: Art in The Hague 1947-1967, September 1, 2012–January 20, 2013 Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg; Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Art & Textiles: Fabric as Material and Concept in Modern Art from Klimt to the Present, October 12, 2013–June 22, 2014, p. 370 (illustrated, p. 163) Humlebæk, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art; Oslo, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter; Stockholm, Moderna Museet; HAM Helsinki Art Museum, YAYOI KUSAMA. In Infinity, September 17, 2015–January 8, 2017, pp. 58, 125 (illustrated, p. 59) Washington, D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; Seattle Art Museum; Los Angeles, The Broad; Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario; Cleveland Museum of Art; Atlanta, High Museum of Art, Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors, February 23, 2017–February 17, 2019, fig. 11, pl. 39, p. 220 (the artist with the present work, 1965, illustrated, p. 24; illustrated, p. 156) Berlin, Gropius Bau, Yayoi Kusama: Retrospective. A Bouquet of Love I saw in the Universe; then travelled as Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective, March 19, 2021–April 23, 2022, p. 337 (illustrated, p. 116; Castellane Gallery, New York, 1965, illustrated on the exhibition poster, p. 115)