EXPO ’70
Shigeo Fukuda [Designer]
Shigeo Fukuda [Designer]: EXPO ’70 [Poster title]. [Tokyo: The 1970 World Exposition Corporation], 1967. Original edition. 20.5 x 28.75-inch lithographic poster printed recto only. Pin holes to corners. Lightweight uncoated sheet with faint horizontal creases and mild ruffling to image area. Trivial edgewear including a few handling divots. Linen- or archival- backing would easily solve these conditions. The silver metallic ink lightly rubbed and still vibrant, so a very good example.
20.5 x 28.75-inch Expo ’70 poster designed by Shigeo Fukuda. Poster with printed copyright dated 1967 by The 1970 World Exposition Corporation, so probably printed prior to 1970.
“I believe that in design, 30% dignity, 20% beauty and 50% absurdity are necessary. Rather than catering to the design sensitivity of the general public, there is advancement in design if people are left to feel satisfied with their own superiority, by entrapping them with visual illusion.” – Shigeo Fukuda
Shigeo Fukuda passed away on January 11, 2009. Here are excerpts from the Steven Heller obituary (January 19, 2009) in the New York Times: "Mr. Fukuda was expert at communicating messages using minimal graphic means. Although he admired Japanese woodblock traditions, his spare style was universal, his symbolism bridging cultural divides. ... Although he had some commercial clients, most of his work was for social and cultural concerns, like the 1970 World’s Fair in Osaka, for which he designed the official poster.
"Graphic wit was part of Mr. Fukuda’s upbringing. Born in 1932 in Tokyo to a family of toy manufacturers, he enjoyed making origami as child. Yet as a young man in the late 1940s and ’50s he developed a keen interest in minimalist Western graphic design known as the Swiss Style. He graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1956.
"Mr. Fukuda was the first Japanese designer inducted into the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. He was also the subject of a major show at the I.B.M. Gallery in New York in 1967 organized by Paul Rand, designer of the I.B.M. logo. The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco mounted an exhibition in 1987, and in 1999, the Japan Foundation in Toronto presented the show "Visual Prankster: Shigeo Fukuda."