Mysterious Illusion of KAINOSHO

For nearly four decades, Yasumasa Morimura has used props, costumes, makeup, and digital manipulation to transform himself into celebrated subjects from art history. In this work, Morimura poses as Kainosho Tadaoto (1894–1978), an openly gay painter from Kyoto best known for self-portraits dressed in women’s kimonos. Morimura echoes Kainosho’s meticulous attention to traditional Japanese makeup and dress and frames the image against a beautiful patterned backdrop that recalls the scroll paint-ings for which Kainosho earned his initial acclaim.