KAZUMASA NAGAI (1929- ) A.M. CASSANDRE / TOKYO METROPOLITAN TEIEN ART MUSEUM. 1991. 40 1/2x28 1/2 inches, 103x72 1/2 cm. Condition A: minor creases at edges. Paper. Nagai is one of the giants of 20th Century Japanese graphic design, along with Ikko Tanaka, Yusaku Kamekura and Shigeo Fukuda. He helped to found the Nippon Design center, is a former President of JAGDA (the Japanese Graphic Design Association) and has won numerous awards and medals for his work within the graphic arts. In his lofty position within the world of Japanese graphic design, he would have been free to follow his own inspiration when designing posters, as is evident here. Advertising the first large exhibition of works by A.M. Cassandre in Tokyo, Nagai chooses to represent one of the grotesque little animals that populate his own work during this period. The creature is carrying a miniature version of one of Cassandre's posters, in some respect seemingly downplaying the very work which is being advertised. It is an inspired and unique treatment of an exhibition poster. As a counterpoint, it should be noted that for a subsequent Cassandre exhibition, at the Suntory Museum in 1995, a younger Japanese Graphic designer Kamijo employed a montage of different Cassandre posters.
