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Last updated 21/10/2026

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Yoko Ono's connection with origami is not often mentioned in the literature of art, but it seems to me an interesting question to ask to what extent her strong connection with origami, in which the end product, the artform, is described in the form of diagrams / written instructions, influenced her later work where her art is largely in the form of written instructions e.g in Grapefruit.

Note that paperfolding is also a common motif in the work of other artists of the Fluxus collective.

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Chronology

1933

Yoko Ono was born in 1933.

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1960

The Prattler of 7th April 1960 reported that Yoko Ono demonstrated origami at an event at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn on 23/3/1960 (top and bottom of the right column). The photos below were not in the artoicle but were taken at the same event.

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1961

According to this article: 'In the early 60's, Yoko's life was not exactly a bed of roses. Despite the fact that her parents were wealthy and living nearby in Scarsdale, she had cut herself off from that lifestyle, preferring to make it on her own. Toshi occasionally worked as an accompanist for extra money, and Yoko found extra work as a waitress. Yoko also was the manager of an apartment building and taught calligraphy, sumi painting, origami and Japanese folk music in New York's public schools during this "starving artist" period.'

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This photo is said to show Yoko Ono at Abraham & Strauss bookshop NYC in 1961 (see anonymous comment here).The article itself dates the photo to 1963, but 1961 is more plausible as Ono appears to be demonstrating designs from the paperfolding kit 'Origami: The Oriental Art of Paper Folding' by Harry C Helfman, which was published by Platt and Munk in New York in 1960, a copy of which can be seen behind her, with a stack of further copies at the bottom right.

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This photo, by David Follansbee, shows Ono wearing the same kimono while she folds and is probably from the same year.

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The last paragraph of this article from the issue of Hokubei Mainishi for 13th June 1961 mentions 'Yoko Ono, origami demonstrator' performing at an event in New York.

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This article from the Chicago Daily Tribune of 23rd July 1961 is partly about a forthcoming exhibition of Japanese art at which Yoko Ono is booked to demonstrate origami and calligraphy.

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The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly, Vol. 55, No. 3 Sep., 1961 pp. 56-57 carried an advert for the exhibition. The second paragraph on the second page mentions Yoko Ono.

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1962

The St Louis Post Dispatch of 21 Jan 1962 contained an article about a Mrs Gordon of New York illustrated with pictures of Yoko Ono. The text explains that Mrs Gordon works for Japan Society, Inc and is presumably promoting origami on their behalf.

It is of interest that in the step by step photos Yoko is folding a penguin created by Giuseppe Baggi, which clearly raises the possibility that they may have been acquainted.

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1964

Yoko Ono included a piece about folding paper in her book 'Grapefruit', first published by Wunternaum Press, Tokyo, Japan, in 1964.

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