Above: a 1959 West German poster for Rashomon (1950) by Hans Hillmann and a 1960 Polish poster for Drunken Angel (1948) by Wladyslaw Janiszewski.
If you are lucky enough to be in Tokyo this summer you have a treat in store at the newly renamed National Film Archive of Japan (formerly the National Film Center at the National Museum of Modern Art). Kurosawa Travels around the World: The Masterworks in Posters from the Collection of Toshifumi Makita is an exhibition of 84 posters from 30 different countries for 25 different films and is a glorious testament to the global appeal of the films of Akira Kurosawa.
As the exhibition foreward says, “Kurosawa often said that ‘film is a kind of international plaza,’ where people from every country—beyond Europe and North America—can come together. We hope you enjoy these dynamic and audacious interpretations of his films by designers and painters from each country focusing on the power of Kurosawa’s works as a ‘global language’.”
Below is a small selection of posters from the exhibition, which also features lobby cards, press materials and other internationally produced Kurosawa ephemera.
Above: 1961 US poster for Yojimbo (1961) by Everett Aison.
Above: 1968 Polish poster for Sanjuro (1962) by Andrzej Krajewski.
Above: UK quad poster for Seven Samurai (1954) by Peter Strausfeld.
Above: 1959 Czech poster for Throne of Blood (1957) by Jan Kubícek.
Above: 1960 Polish poster for Seven Samurai (1954) by Marian Stachurski.
Above: Argentinian poster for Ikiru (1952).
Above: 1959 Finnish poster for Seven Samurai (1954) by Raimo Raimela.
Kurosawa Travels around the World runs until September 23 at the National Film Archive of Japan. You can see the exhibition flyer below.
Many thanks to Mr. Hidenori Okada.