Yasumasa MorimuraJapanese, 1995M Holding a Cigarette
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “M Holding a Cigarette” now? Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.
Chicago, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
For more than 20 years, Yasumasa Morimura has presented himself in the guise of female cultural icons, re-creating their most famous portraits. His photographs do not present a seamless disguise of man as woman, artist as icon, or Japanese as Westerner. Instead, the makeup remains an obvious mask, as it does for female impersonators in Japanese Kabuki theater. Instant color photographs serve Morimura as tests for larger finished works or give him a way to adopt guises he has not pursued elsewhere. Intimate in size and self-developing, these pictures act as a kind of photographic sketchbook that allows the artist to consider adjustments to his costume, stance, pose, gaze, and gesture. M Holding a Cigarette casually reveals the edges of the rolled black backdrop as well as the metal structure supporting it, playfully showing the limits of the facade.
Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0
Details
- Accession number
- 2009.34
In the catalog
Sources
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Image: Art Institute of Chicago — © the artist or rights holder
