Kazumasa Nagai (
Japanese: 永井 一æ£, ''Nagai Kazumasa'';
ÅŒsaka, April 20, 1929) is a Japanese printmaker and graphic designer. He attended the University of the Arts in
Tokyo to study sculpture, but had to stop due to health problems.
In 1964, he took part in ''
documenta
''documenta'' is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany.
The ''documenta'' was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultura ...
'' III, in
Kassel
Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...
.
He was a founding member of the
Nippon Design Center (NDC)(1959), where he was its President from 1975 to 1986, Vice-President until 2001, and Senior Executive Advisor until today.
Although his first works were abstract at the beginning, he changed for handmade designs of animals and plants in the 1980s. Some of his works appeared on the cover of ''
LIFE''.
His work is held in many museums, including the
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the
National Gallery of Australia, the
Museum of New Zealand, the
British Museum, the
University of Michigan Museum of Art, the
Walker Art Center, the
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. , the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, the
Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, and the
Museum of Modern Art.
References and sources
* ''documenta III. Internationale Ausstellung''; Katalog: Band 1: Malerei und Skulptur; Band 2: Handzeichnungen; Band 3: Industrial Design, Graphik; Kassel/Colonia 1964
External links
documentaarchiv in German
1929 births
Living people
Japanese printmakers
Japanese graphic designers
People from Osaka
Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon
20th-century Japanese artists
20th-century printmakers
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