Ambiguous Beauty / Aimai-no-bi
Artist
Yasumasa Morimura
(Japanese, born 1951)
CultureJapanese
Date1995
MediumLithograph | Paper | Wood
DimensionsOverall: 19 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 11 1/2 in. (49.5 x 29.2 x 29.2 cm)
Base: 3/4 in. (1.9 cm)
Base: 3/4 in. (1.9 cm)
InscribedOn verso, in bottom right corner: Morimura. Japanese characters also on verso, centered.
Credit LineSent by the Norton Family to Robert Frankel for Christmas, December 1995
Object number95.44
Not on view
DescriptionThis is a traditional Japanese fan style featuring a transgender male nude set against a red backdrop. The artist himself, Morimura is in costume, complete with false breasts, to appear as a white American pin-up gazing at the viewer. The fan is contained in a wooden box with Japanese characters on top.ProvenanceCommissioned by Peter Norton Family and given as a gift to Robert Frankel, Chrysler Museum director in 1995.
