This exhibition showcases the activities and work of the creative couple Japanese artist Shizuko Yoshikawa (1934 – 2019) and Swiss design pioneer Josef Müller-Brockmann (1914 – 1996).
It is the first large-scale institutional retrospective to feature either Yoshikawa or Müller-Brockmann in Japan.


Yoshikawa and Müller-Brockmann were Zurich-based art and design educators. They first met at the 1960 World Design Conference in Tokyo, where Yoshikawa, an English graduate from Tsuda University, participated as an interpreter. Inspired by this international event, she moved to Ulm, becoming the first and only female Japanese student at the Ulm School of Design. Later, she worked at Müller-Brockmann's design office in Zurich. Their professional collaboration grew into a lifelong partnership, with each breaking new ground in their fields.
This exhibition highlights Yoshikawa’s art alongside Müller-Brockmann’s structural designs, shedding light on their unique personal and professional transnational relationship.
The exhibition is supported by the Swiss Embassy in celebration of the 160th anniversary of Japanese–Swiss diplomatic relations.

in Zurich, c. 1965
Copyright and courtesy of the Shizuko Yoshikawa and Josef Müller-Brockmann Foundation

Shizuko YOSHIKAWA（1934 – 2019）
A Japanese artist who lived most of her life in Switzerland as a well-educated and self-determined woman. After studying at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm and being introduced to the Swiss concrete art scene, she married Müller-Brockmann and based her artistic career in Zurich. Emphasizing the atmospheric and ephemeral, she steadily moved away from the concrete traditions supported by modern orthodoxies. Early “color-shadow”-reliefs, drawings dealing with the sun and, in her later years, the series "Silk Road" exemplify this shift. For the first time, a comprehensive selection of her paintings, sculptures, and prints made in Switzerland will be presented in a retrospective at a Japanese museum.

Josef Müller-BROCKMANN（1914 – 1996）
The Swiss design pioneer had been to Japan several times from the 1960s to the 1980s. While deepening his friendships with Japanese designers such as Yusaku Kamekura, he also contributed to Japanese design education by teaching at design schools and art universities. The “grid system” which he named summarizing the methodology for typesetting and composition on paper, continues to have a great influence to this day as a monumental theory in the history of design. He was known as an excellent educator and poster designer, at the same time, his warm personality towards all kind of people has been passed down to this day.