Contemporary Japanese Posters: A Revolution in Graphic Design

The exhibition Contemporary Japanese Posters will document the extraordinary creativity, vitality and distinctiveness that clearly establish Japanese graphic design as the most innovative of any country in the world since the 1960’s.
 
Seizing upon the concerns that have made Japan a subject of fascination in the contemporary industrialized world and those aspects of Western culture that in turn fascinate the Japanese themselves, Japan’s leading graphic designers daringly restructured the traditional relationships between persuasion and visual communication.  Often bringing to bear the freedom associated with other artistic media, the new Japanese graphic design in general has derived its inspiration from new technology, popular culture, traditional Japanese art and personal spiritual and metaphysical concerns. The exacting degree of craftsmanship and technical expertise that is the hallmark of Japanese design is found in the complex photomontages, elaborately-printed silkscreens and richly colored lithographs that will be exhibited.
 
Sixteen internationally recognized graphic designers from Japan will be represented by their most classic works, among them Shigeo Fukuda, Ikko Tanaka, Kazumasa Nagai, Yunosuke Kawamura, Takenobu Igarashi and Tadanori Yokoo.