Kenichi Kuriyagawa
Born in Iwamizawa, Hokkaido, in 1911. Died in 1999. Kuriyagawa taught himself graphic design and became an independent designer in 1948.
He was known in Japan and elsewhere for his posters promoting tourism in Hokkaido, the Sapporo Snow Festival, and the Winter Olympics bid, and he presented eight posters at the Japanese Graphic Design Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as a representative of Japan in 1956.
He founded the Hokkaido Design Center (later renamed the Hokkaido Institute of Design), the first design educational facility in Hokkaido, in 1962, served as the first chair of the Hokkaido Design Association in 1982, and achieved significant success as a pioneer of graphic design in Hokkaido.
He received numerous awards, including the Grand Prix at the World Tourism Poster Contest, the Sapporo Citizen Art Award, the Hokkaido Cultural Award, and the Fifth Class of the Order of the Rising Sun (Gold and Silver Rays). His designs are still seen in Sapporo, such as the subway wall designs and the drop curtain at the Sapporo Citizens Hall (today’s Wakuwaku Holiday Hall).
- Sapporo Railway Bureau competition, Won 1st prize. 1938. Sapporo, Japan
- All-Japan Tourism Poster Contest, Award. 1951. Japan
- World Tourism Poster, top prize at the 8th IUOTO competition, for "HOKKAIDO — Ainu Girl Playing the Mukkuri" poster. 1953. Lisbon, Portugal
- World Tourism Poster, top prize at the 11th IUOTO competition, for "the Lake Akan / "Legendary Lake" poster. 1956. Vienna, Austria
- Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Selected as a representative of Japan, group exhibit "Modern Art in Japanese Advertising". 1956. New York, USA.
- Boni-Moriya department store, group exhibit: 1932. Hakodate, Japan
- Marui Imai department store, 1959. Sapporo, Japan
- Sapporo Art Park Museum (Geijutsu no Mori), "Kenichi Kuriyagawa: Woven Lyricism, Hokkaido in Posters," retrospective exhibit. 1994. Sapporo, Japan.
- Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, "The Man Who Designed Hokkaido" retrospective, 2014. Sapporo, Japan
- Art House SF, "Four Seasons" solo exhibit: 2025, 2026. San Francisco, USA
- Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art. Sapporo, Japan
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Hokkaido Obihiro Museum of Art. Obihiro, Japan
- National Crafts Museum. Kanazawa, Japan
- Utsunomiya Museum of Art. Utsunomiya, Japan
Kuriyagawa's prints have been placed with private collectors through Art House SF in the United States (California, New Jersey, North Carolina, Maryland, Hawaii, Washington, Colorado, Michigan).
30 artworks
30 artworks
