Hisui Sugiura

was a Japanese graphic designer who was a pioneer of modern Japanese graphic design.

Early life and education Sugiura was born in Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture in 1876. He graduated from the Japanese-style painting department of Tokyo School of Art, which is the present Tokyo University of the Arts, in 1901.

At first, Sugiura was aiming to become a Japanese-style painter and he studied under Matsuura Ganki, a Japanese style painter of the Shijō school. He went to Tokyo in 1897. Afterward, he studied under Kawabata Gyokusho. He entered the Japanese-style painting department of Tokyo School of Art. He learned the western-style painting and the European-style design from Kuroda Seiki while he was attending the Tokyo School of Art. He became the store's design chief in 1910 and so he left the newspaper company. The magazine Mitsukoshi began to be published in 1911. An exhibition of his works opened in 1912, at the Hibiya Park library. He became the lecturer of the design department of Nihon Bijutsu Gakko (Japan School of Art) and became the adviser to Calpis Co., a beverage manufacturer, in 1921.

Sugiura went to Europe to study modern graphic design from 1922 to 1924, and took inspiration from posters by Alphonse Mucha and Eugène Grasset, among others. He designed the poster of the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line opening to traffic in 1927. It can be said that his works during this period led the early stages of Japanese commercial design.

Works Mitsukoshi Poster (angel design) (1915) Album of 100 Flowers (1920, also known as Picture Study of Japanese Flowering Plants) Tokyo Underground Railway (present Tokyo Metro Ginza Line Ueno-Asakusa section) opening advertisement poster (1927) the 3rd Exhibition of "Hichininsha" poster (1928) Hisui Sōsaku Zuan (1930) Package design of cigarette 'Hibiki' (1932) Package design of cigarette 'Hikari' (1936)

Awards

Japan Art Academy Imperial Award (1955) Medals of Honor (Japan) with Purple Ribbon (1958)