Exhibition Overview
The exhibits will center on Mr. Asaba’s posters created for Misawa Homes’ Bauhaus Collection, including his prize-winning works of 2009. Also on display will be remade versions of works he originally serialized in the magazine “World Table Tennis” and his graphics created for the AGI Design Congress held in Japan in 2006.

Yusaku Kamekura Design Award
The Yusaku Kamekura Design Award was established to honor the design achievements of the late Yusaku Kamekura (1915-1997), as a way of contributing to the ongoing development of the graphic design field. Made possible through a gift from the Kamekura family, the award program is operated by the Japan Graphic Designers Association Inc. (JAGDA), where Mr. Kamekura long served in the role of its founding president. Under this program, the “Yusaku Kamekura Design Award” is presented to a Japanese graphic designer once annually and the “Yusaku Kamekura International Design Award” to an internationally active non-Japanese designer once every three years. The former award is bestowed upon the creator of the work or works deemed most outstanding among all entries for inclusion in the JAGDA yearbook, Graphic Design in Japan; the latter is awarded to what is judged to be the best work, especially in terms of universal global appeal, among entries for the International Poster Triennial in Toyama held at the Museum of Modern Art, Toyama.
Mr. Kamekura garnered wide acclaim for his design of the posters used to promote the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Never satisfied to rest on those laurels, however, he subsequently continued to create graphic works always at the forefront of artistic invention, often vying against designers far his junior. He also devoted his energies to pursuing the quintessential artistry of graphic design as founder and editor of “CREATION” magazine; and it is this commitment to graphic design – both its universal appeal and innovative vigor – that the awards established in Mr. Kamekura’s name aim to carry on. Each award comes with a prize of JPY 500,000 and a plaque designed by Taku Satoh.

Previous Award Winners
Ikko Tanaka (1999), Kazumasa Nagai (2000), Kenya Hara (2001), Kashiwa Sato (2002), Masayoshi Nakajo (2003), Kazunari Hattori (2004), Mitsuo Katsui (2005), Shin Matsunaga (2007), Taku Satoh (2008), Ryosuke Uehara (2009), Katsumi Asaba (2010). (No works were judged worthy of the award in 2006.)

Message from the Award Winner
I wish to express my appreciation and deep gratitude for receiving the Yusaku Kamekura Design Award. For the first time in a long while, I reread “Takeoff and Landing,” a thick book in which Mr. Kamekura wrote his thoughts on design. I received the book from him 37 years ago, and I noted how his autograph, written at the time by fountain pen, had faded. I recalled how I had heard a rumor that he was angry at me for not sending him a thank-you note, so I had dashed one off in haste. The conversation between Mr. Kamekura and Kiyoshi Awazu at the front of the book contained important statements regarding typography. In the chapter titled “One Book: The Bauhaus and Me,” Mr. Kamekura wrote that he intensely felt his fate had been sealed when, at the age of 19, he had found “STAATLICHES BAUHAUS IN WEIMAR 1919-1923,” known for its cover by Herbert Bayer, in a used bookshop in Kanda. The book was likely very important to him, because it was always kept inside a glass case and I was never able to see what it contained. Fortunately, a Japanese translation of the original was completed by Isao Toshimitsu, former president of Oita Prefectural College of Arts and Culture, and published on August 20, 2009, the year marking the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus. Mr. Toshimitsu wrote that as a translator there could be no greater joy than if his work inspired a reexamination of the Bauhaus, a shining remnant of 20th century artistic and educational culture. Every day, we art directors and graphic designers have to ask ourselves, “Where are we going? And what are we going to do?” We have to take something completely formless and give it form, to send a message to people. Misawa Homes, which had earlier held study sessions centered on Kiyoshi Awazu, started its “Misawa Bauhaus Collection” in 1989, its core consisting of works gleaned by collectors in Europe. Today the collection contains some 1,500 items. The Bauhaus existed for only 14 years, from 1919 to 1933, yet no design education has spread worldwide to its extent. Japan alone has the ability to give form to both what is Eastern and what is Western. With such sentiments in mind, for three years now I have continued to create Bauhaus posters.