This exhibition traces the history of graphic design in Japan from the Edo Period to the present with more than 250 works of Japanese graphic expression from ukiyoe to manga. Curation is provided by Rossella Menegazzo and Eleonora Lanza, researchers in Japanese art history.
The space is structured in four sections: “Nature,” “Figure,” “Sign,” and “Contemporary Japonisme.” The focus is on Japanese graphic design in ukiyoe, books, posters and advertising, but the exhibition also explores the intersections with calligraphy, film, fashion and other genres for a more creative and multilayered viewing.
Many of the pieces on exhibit are from Ikko Tanaka, one of Japan’s leading graphic designers, and the IKKO TANAKA ISSEY MIYAKE project, which began as an expression of Issey Miyake’s respect and gratitude to Tanaka, is featured as an example of the intersection between graphics and clothes.
The project provided two haori coats with motifs from Tanaka’s Nihon Buyo and The 200th Anniversary of SHARAKU posters, original posters by Tanaka, and an overview of the collaboration between Tanaka and Miyake as seen in photographs by Francis Giacobetti and Henry Leutwyler.

Items by Issey Miyake on display:
“NIHON BUYO” IKKO TANAKA ISSEY MIYAKE, 2015
“SHARAKU” IKKO TANAKA ISSEY MIYAKE, 2015

GRAPHIC JAPAN: da Hokusai al Manga