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The Paper has learned that on October 26, 2021, Japanese designer Masayoshi Nakajo died of illness at his home in Tokyo at the age of 88.
Looking back on his creative process for more than half a century, he has dabbled in almost all areas of design, from flat to three-dimensional, from a book to a space. In 2018, Nakajo Masayoshi held a solo exhibition "Drink & Vomit, IN & OUT" at the Design Center of the Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, "I feel very emotional in my heart, I think that such a large-scale exhibition is estimated to be my last exhibition." Having said that, I have a bad problem, which is that once I get rid of fatigue and do nothing, I feel itchy in my heart. Of course, this presupposes that you must still be alive. At that time, Nakajo Masayoshi said that he called himself "Young N" and never stopped creating until his old age.
Nakajo Masayoshi at psD "Drink & Vomit Nakajo Masayoshi Design Exhibition" scene, 2018.
Nakajo was born in Tokyo in 1933 to a carpenter father and an older brother who was 5 years older than him. Because of the aftermath of the world economic crisis, the family's life is stretched. Later, due to the outbreak of war, the family was evacuated to the small town of Chiba Prefecture. The turbulent times and tasteless small-town life made Nakajō Yoshiyoshi depressed and worried as a teenager.
After entering high school, Nakajō Masayoshi joined the painting club, and he developed a strong passion for painting, and was deeply influenced by the dual influences of Eastern and Western art schools such as Picasso, Matisse, Ryosaburō Umehara, and Sataro Yasui. Painting has brought excitement and motivation to his life, and he has persevered even in environments where there is a lack of tools and materials. Later, under the organization of his high school teacher, Nakajo Masayoshi traveled to Tokyo Ueno to visit the Art Museum and Tokyo University of the Arts, and this visit made him firm in his pursuit of art.
Welcome to Japan, 1998, poster, Nakajō Justice
The strong painterliness contained in Nakajo's design language is inseparable from his painting experience. Looking at his designs, the non-standardized lines and geometric figures outlined by hand bring a strong sense of impact and driving force.
In 1951, Nakajō Masayoshi was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts of Tokyo University of the Arts and moved back to Tokyo. At this time, Tokyo was the center of the post-war revival of Japanese graphic design, and in the same year that Masayoshi Nakajo was admitted to to to the TodaiDai, designers such as Yusaku Kamekura and Takashi Kono launched the "Japan Propaganda Art Festival" and began to publicly collect design works and hold exhibitions, giving young designers the opportunity to emerge. In addition, the "Japan Design Council", established in 1955, encourages original Japanese design through a reward mechanism and promotes cultural self-improvement of Japanese design. In 1960, the World Design Conderence was held in Tokyo, redirecting Japanese design to the world stage.
In an era of rising graphic design, Nakajo Masayoshi felt the charm of design and chose graphic design when he was a junior major. With his painting skills and abundant creativity, he has made great efforts in the field of graphic design, and won the encouragement award of the Nichiren Art Exhibition for two consecutive years during his university years.
The Eastern and Western art schools and the wave of graphic design in Japan had a profound impact on Nakajō Masayoshi, and these influences could be seen in Hana-Tsubaki magazine when he was artistic director – in "Hana-tsubaki", you can see jumping geometric patterns, original lines and bold color schemes. These elements gave the girls in the magazine a quirky fun. Nakajo once said, "It doesn't matter if the magazine is messed up, I just like that, too beautiful to be boring." Since 1970, Masayoshi Nakajo has officially served as the artistic director of Shiseido's corporate culture magazine Hana-Tsubaki, and with its unique sense of design and aesthetic style, this magazine has an influence beyond the average corporate magazine. Nakajo's work lasted for forty years, "I never store or delay ideas. When ideas are still fresh and vibrant, I bring them up to others and try to convince them. I've worked this way every month for the past forty years, and the repetitive process has made me smarter and learn from experience to avoid doing useless work. Of course, the main reason is that I love this job from the bottom of my heart. Nakajō Masayoshi wrote in Hanaru and Nakajō Hanatsubaki 1968-2008.
"Hana Tsubaki" series of works, Nakajo Justice
"Flower Tsubaki" series of works, psD "Drinking & Vomiting Nakajo Justice Design Exhibition" scene, 2018.
In addition to providing art and design guidance for Hanaru for decades of his design career, Nakajo was also responsible for the corporate identity planning of Matsuya Ginza, Wacoal Spiral, the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, and the Hosomi Art Museum. In addition, he designed the commentary board for the program "Playing from Japanese" on NHK Television's educational channel and the cover illustration for "Life Handbook" magazine. Masayoshi Nakajo is active in the graphic design industry in Japan and has won numerous awards and honors, including the ADC Highest Award for Membership, the Gold Award for TDC Members, the JAGDA Kameikura Yusatsu Award, the Hiraichi Design Award, the Japan Publicity Award Yamana Award, the Purple Ribbon Medal, and the Rising Sun Ribbon. He is also a member of the Tokyo ADC, a member of JAGDA, an associate director of the Tokyo TDC, a member of TIS, and a visiting professor at the Japan Women's University of Fine Arts.
Nakajo Justice, psD "Drink & Vomit Nakajo Justice Design Exhibition" Opening Scene, 2018
In 2018, Masayoshi Nakajo's solo exhibition was held at the Design Center of the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, and the exhibition title "Drink & Vomit, IN&OUT" used the harmonic sounds of Chinese and English, behind the seemingly strange, it is a portrayal of his creation and life: constantly absorbing, constantly overthrowing, and constantly creating. He once said, "In order to keep this seemingly long process from falling into meaningless repetition, I keep absorbing knowledge and becoming smarter." I love the job. In order to prevent the formation of conventions, every year to three years, I would overturn everything and make a completely new change. The exhibition features the "Mother & Others" series created by 83-year-old Masayoshi Nakajo in 2016. As for the name of this group of works, "Old Naughty Boy" Nakajo explained at the time that removing "M" from "MOTHER" became "OTHER". Nakajo's mind is wide open, and in this group of works, he shows the elusive things between the "matrix" and the "other" and their relationships, and ambiguity and chaos are also a state he has been pursuing in his creation.
A cactus with red lips and its "child", Image source: Ginza Graphic Gallery
The role of "Mother" becomes "Banana", image source: Ginza Graphic Gallery
Nakajo Justice, Drink & Vomit: Mother and Others, 2016, Poster, 1280x900mm, Image Credit: Ginza Graphic Gallery
Nakajō often calls himself "Boy N". In an interview in his later years, he confessed that although he liked to go on vacation to a warm place like Okinawa, the kind of comfortable and hedonistic life would make him unbearable and unable to work in that environment in less than a week. He has always firmly believed: "Design is the spirit of hard work and the heart of youth." It is also this credo that prompts him to always maintain a design concept of constant self-renewal and a creative passion that dares to challenge the unknown.
"It is said that the deeper the 'karmic obstacles' of a monk, the higher their achievements. The higher the self-knowledge of sins, or the more evil one accumulates, the more human the person will eventually become a 'man', but not a god or a Buddha. Such is the case with the wicked man in "Sighing Copy". Our line is also, compared to the brilliant flowers of talent, we may be wrapped in vulgarity, ugliness, and stupidity to cause more resonance. Perhaps, when the unenlightened, immature struggle is transformed into potential, it is the light of human nature that appears. I am over sixty years old, but maybe I will live to be a hundred years old to be a 'little student', and I will not be able to become a decent person. In Shonen N, Nakajō Masayoshi wrote.
(This article is compiled from the "Chimney PSA" WeChat public account and previous reports of the surging news)
Editor-in-Charge: Weihua Gu