Kazumasa Nagai | Kokuho-Ten Poster

Kokuhō-Ten (国宝店). Poster for the official shop of the National Museum of Tokyo.
Design: Kazumasa Nagai (born 1929)
Production: NDC Graphics, 2014
Printing company: Yamada Photo Process Co., Ltd
Color offset poster
Sheet size: 103 x 72.8 cm
Good condition. Slight finger marks in the lower left area. A few fine scribbles along the left edge (see photos).

This humorous poster was produced as an emblem for the official shop of the Tokyo National Museum and depicts two national treasures from the museum: the clay figure 'Jōmon Venus' riding on the back of the elephant from the painting 'Fūgen Bosatsu' (Samantabhadra).

Kazumasa Nagai is a graphic artist and poster designer. His work has received numerous awards and has been exhibited in many museums. His career began in the early 1950s when he designed flyers and posters for a textile manufacturer in Osaka. In 1960, he joined the newly founded Nippon Design Center in Tokyo. Today, the center is one of Japan's largest and most influential design institutions. Over time, his style evolved from abstract, geometric compositions to figurative works, particularly featuring animals—both real and fictional.