Japanese Architecture Well Received (Poster commemorating the Japanese Exhibition House in the MoMA garden)

Unidentified Designer

c.1955

A mid-1950s lithograph poster celebrating the installation of a traditional Japanese house and related artworks in MoMA’s garden, intended to promote Japanese architecture and postwar cultural exchange.

Stark black-and-white photographs of a low wooden pavilion, sculptural figures, and a rectilinear courtyard are set against warm ochre panels and bold Japanese type, so the eye moves between quiet architectural perspective and sculptural silhouettes.

The poster is a document of postwar cultural diplomacy and museum practice, showing how exhibitions framed architecture and art as tools for international exchange and for rethinking Japan’s role in modern design.

Palette

Exhibitions

Japanese Exhibition House

1954

Recent Japanese Posters from the Collection

1989

Architecture in Government Housing

1936

New Japanese Photography

1974