Poster Life — In Memory of Kazumasa Nagai: Works Created for the Museum of Modern Art, Toyama and the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design

Kazumasa Nagai, a driving force behind the development of graphic design in postwar Japan and the expansion of opportunities for designers, passed away on February 23, 2026, at the age of 96.
From the opening of the Museum of Modern Art, Toyama in 1981 until its closure for relocation and reconstruction, Nagai was responsible for the graphic design of posters, exhibition catalog covers, and other materials for nearly all of the museum’s exhibitions. He also created the museum’s mascot, Miruzo.
In addition, Nagai was involved from the conceptualization stage of the International Poster Triennial in Toyama (IPT), the international poster competition held every three years by the museum. He served as both executive committee member and judge from the first exhibition in 1985 through the eleventh in 2015. In later years, he participated as a graphic designer himself, being selected and receiving awards for his submitted works.
For the opening of the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design in 2017, Nagai designed the museum’s logo mark—an emblematic symbol of the institution—and supervised the museum’s signage system and wayfinding plan.
This exhibition looks back on the career of Nagai, whose ties to the museum were especially deep, through a selection of works centered on posters he created for the museum, along with representative commercial advertisements and pieces from his life’s work, the LIFE series.