Eiko at the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design
The traveling exhibition “Eiko Ishioka: I Design,” which began in 2023 across various regions of Japan, is now being held at the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design (from April 19 to June 29, 2025).
Please click on preview images for a closer look.
April 19 (Sat) – June 29 (Sun), 2025
Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design
3-20 Kibamachi, Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture • Museum Info
This exhibition marks the final stop of “Eiko Ishioka: I Design,” which has toured five cities in Japan since 2023—Kitakyushu, Mito, Kobe, Masuda.
The host city Toyama was selected by The New York Times as one of the “52 Places to Go in 2025.” The name “Toyama” means “rich-abundant mountains” in Japanese. Surrounded by towering mountains, this historic port city is also rich in cultural charm, and has become a destination for visitors from around the world.
This exhibition focuses on Eiko Ishioka’s graphic design works up to the 1980s, when she was based in Tokyo, delving into the essence and origin of her creative practice―her “I.” The title of the exhibition is inspired by her self-documentary book “I DESIGN,” published in 2005.
Approximately 500 valuable works are on display, including projects for Shiseido, Parco, Kadokawa Publishing, the Japanese poster for “Apocalypse Now” by Francis Ford Coppola, early croquis, a story book from her student years, and “Symposium: Discovery of the Contemporary,” for which she received a prestigious award for newcomer of design in Japan—the first female designer to do so.
Following her move to New York, Eiko Ishioka became best known for her iconic costume and set design works, most notably the Oscar-winning costumes for the film Bram Stoker’s Dracula. However, before this remarkable leap, she had a long creative run-up in Tokyo―a period filled with bold and compelling works.
One such example featured in this exhibition is TUTU (1988), the Grammy Award-winning album package she designed for Miles Davis. This historic artwork has its roots in a Japanese limited edition exclusive record jacket Eiko designed for Miles Davis in the 1970s.
Eiko had been deeply moved by the sound of Miles Davis, a towering figure in modern jazz, since her student days at Tokyo University of the Arts. She was later introduced to him in person through her close friend Issey Miyake. Their long-standing friendship ultimately led to the creation of the iconic album TUTU. The striking photograph featured on the cover was taken by Irving Penn, with whom Eiko had previously collaborated on an advertising campaign. One of those posters is also on display in this exhibition.
Director Francis Ford Coppola was astonished by the extreme quality of the Japanese poster for Apocalypse Now, which led him to recognize Eiko’s talent. Indeed, the roots of her creative journey were cultivated in Tokyo.
Award-winning writer Koichi Kawajiri, author of TIMELESS, the world’s first biography of Eiko Ishioka, states: “From the oldest cosmetics brand in Japan to a newly founded fashion department store, and a forward-thinking publishing house―each with their own identity―Eiko led their advertising campaigns to extraordinary success. Although they are completely different companies and missions, Eiko achieved them with her “I.” This was nothing short of a miracle and marked a truly epoch-making event in postwar Japanese creative history. Even a small magazine ad from 60 years ago continues to shine―her works are truly timeless.”
At “Eiko Ishioka: I Design,” visitors can touch the living spirit at the core of her creativity. Yes, Eiko is here―alive in this space!
Thanks to the revival project that began with the 2020 Tokyo exhibitions, Japan was able to reunite with Eiko. Each venue was swept up in a wave of enthusiasm. And now, it’s the world’s turn to rediscover her. The journey in search of what has never been seen before goes on.
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You can order a copy of TIMELESS, Koichi Kawajiri’s biography of Eiko Ishioka at Asahi Publications.
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Special support for the exhibition is provided by the DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion / DNP Art Communications
Project support: S2 Corporation [Hiroko Sakomura]
Supervisor: Team EIKO (Ryoko Ishioka, Koichi Kawajiri (writer), N.G.inc [Hiroaki Nagai (designer)]
Exhibition Poster designed by Hiroaki Nagai
Eiko at the Museum of Modern Art Ibaraki
The Museum of Modern Art Ibaraki is hosting the exhibit “Eiko Ishioka: I Design Information” from April 27 to July 7, 2024 at 666-1 Higashikubo, Senba-chō, Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.
Please click on preview images for a closer look.
Read about the exhibition on the museum website (Japanese).
Read more about the exhibition at Niew Media (English).
The exhibition showcases Eiko Ishioka’s works—mainly from 1960s to 1980s—when she had her base in Tokyo. The show includes over 500 works, including approx. 150 posters, commercial films, album design, book design and personal artworks. In addition, the show also features Eiko’s own words, expressing her attitude and philosophy towards creativity. Most of the exhibits are on loan from Ryoko Ishioka’s archive collection.
Eiko Ishioka poses a question.
Does “the I” exist in her work?
Eiko Ishioka, who passed away twelve years ago, is once again attracting national and international attention. A designer who worked globally, she transcended creative genres and national borders in a career that spanned advertising, theater and film.
This exhibition showcases around 500 works including posters, commercials, artwork and sketches with a primary focus on the work Eiko created in Tokyo from the 1960s through to the 1980s—which caused a sensation at the time—complemented by Eiko’s words that convey her intense and lifelong passion for design.
Eiko’s work in Japan coincided with an era in which advertising represented a cutting-edge culture. The “consumption” of advertising coincided with the major changes that Japan was undergoing at the time. That Eiko’s work for Shiseido and Parco remains relevant even today is nothing short of amazing.
And it is “I design” that is the key that unlocks the secret behind the timelessness of Eiko’s work.
A creator must develop the power of her true self. In other words, the creator must polish her “I.”
Eiko held fast to this belief as she continued her journey of creating innovative visual art, collaborating with leading photographers, film makers and illustrators across all genres.
The target for this exhibition lies in the concept of “I = me” that is at the core of Eiko Ishioka’s creative process. It is our wish that, through Eiko’s visual work and her own words that continue to emanate passion and vibrancy, visitors will be able to experience the vitality of Eiko’s time-transcendent designs.
This is not a “retrospective” exhibition.
Eiko Ishioka is right here, right now.
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Following the end of the exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art Ibaraki the show will travel:
September 28 — December 1, 2024
Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art
December 14, 2024 — February 24, 2025
The Shimane Arts Center
Summer 2025
Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art & Design
•••••••••••••
Special support for the exhibition is provided by the DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion / DNP Art Communications
Project support: S2 Corporation [Hiroko Sakomura]
Supervisor: Team EIKO (Ryoko Ishioka, Koichi Kawajiri (writer), N.G.inc [Hiroaki Nagai (designer)]
Exhibition Poster designed by Hiroaki Nagai
Eiko at the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art
The Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art is hosting the exhibit “Eiko Ishioka: I Design Information” from September 9 to November 12, 2023 at 21-1 Tobata-ku Nishi Sayagatanimachi, Kitakyushu City 804-0024 Fukuoka.
Please click on preview images for a closer look.
Read more about the exhibition at Tokyo Art Beat.
The exhibition showcases Eiko Ishioka’s works—mainly from 1960s to 1980s—when she had her base in Tokyo. The show includes over 500 works, including approx. 150 posters, commercial films, album design, book design and personal artworks. In addition, the show also features Eiko’s own words, expressing her attitude and philosophy towards creativity. Most of the exhibits are on loan from Ryoko Ishioka’s archive collection.
Eiko Ishioka poses a question.
Does “the I” exist in her work?
Eiko Ishioka, who passed away twelve years ago, is once again attracting national and international attention. A designer who worked globally, she transcended creative genres and national borders in a career that spanned advertising, theater and film.
This exhibition showcases around 500 works including posters, commercials, artwork and sketches with a primary focus on the work Eiko created in Tokyo from the 1960s through to the 1980s—which caused a sensation at the time—complemented by Eiko’s words that convey her intense and lifelong passion for design.
Eiko’s work in Japan coincided with an era in which advertising represented a cutting-edge culture. The “consumption” of advertising coincided with the major changes that Japan was undergoing at the time. That Eiko’s work for Shiseido and Parco remains relevant even today is nothing short of amazing.
And it is “I design” that is the key that unlocks the secret behind the timelessness of Eiko’s work.
A creator must develop the power of her true self. In other words, the creator must polish her “I.”
Eiko held fast to this belief as she continued her journey of creating innovative visual art, collaborating with leading photographers, film makers and illustrators across all genres.
The target for this exhibition lies in the concept of “I = me” that is at the core of Eiko Ishioka’s creative process. It is our wish that, through Eiko’s visual work and her own words that continue to emanate passion and vibrancy, visitors will be able to experience the vitality of Eiko’s time-transcendent designs.
This is not a “retrospective” exhibition.
Eiko Ishioka is right here, right now.
•••••••••••••
Following the end of the exhibition at the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art the show will travel:
April 27 — July 7, 2024
The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki
September 28 — December 1, 2024
Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art
December 14, 2024 — February 24, 2025
The Shimane Arts Center
Summer 2025
Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art & Design
•••••••••••••
Special support for the exhibition is provided by the DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion / DNP Art Communications
Project support: S2 Corporation [Hiroko Sakomura]
Supervisor: Team EIKO (Ryoko Ishioka, Koichi Kawajiri (writer), N.G.inc [Hiroaki Nagai (designer)]
Exhibition Poster designed by Hiroaki Nagai
Eiko on view at M+ Hong Kong
2023: Eiko Ishioka’s poster “Poster, Tradition et Nouvelle Techniques: 12 Graphiste Japonais” (1984) is currently on display on the façade at M+ Hong Kong, as part of their Collection Highlight Videos display.
See the Eiko Ishioka works in the M+ collection.
Parco Poster on View in Hamburg
2023: Eiko Ishioka’s poster “Parco – 西洋は東洋を着こなせるか (Can the West wear the East?)” is currently on view as part of the exhibition “The F*word – Guerrilla Girls and Feminist Graphic Design” at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg.
Photograph by Henning Rogge, courtesy of Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg.
