Peculiar
Yoshitomo Nara
(Japanese, born in 1959)
1991
Medium/TechniqueAcrylic on canvas
DimensionsHeight x width: 100.3 × 120.7 cm (39 1/2 × 47 1/2 in.)
Credit LineGift of Joan and Michael Salke in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Accession number2021.555
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPaintings
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Influenced by both Japanese and Western pop culture, Yoshitomo Nara (Japanese, born 1959) is internationally known for his cartoonish paintings and sculptures of children and dogs. Dating to Nara’s student days at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, Germany (1989-1993), Peculiar belongs to a group of early paintings from an important nascent stage in his artistic development. While more expressive than his later work, Peculiar shows Nara moving towards the stark compositions of his portraits of menacing young figures with few or no narrative clues.
ProvenanceJune 10, 2002, sold by Marianne Boesky Gallery to Joan and Michael Salke, West Stockbridge, MA and Boca Raton, FL; 2021, gift of Joan and Michael Salke to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 30, 2021)
Copyright© Yoshitomo Nara
