This exhibition showcases the activities and work of the husband-and-wife couple of Josef Müller-Brockmann (1914–1996), Switzerland’s best-known typographer, and his wife, Japanese artist Shizuko Yoshikawa (1934–2019). The exhibition commemorates the 160th anniversary (in 2024) of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Japan, and is the first large-scale exhibition to feature either Yoshikawa or Müller-Brockmann in Japan.

The couple were both Zurich-based artists and teachers. After Müller-Brockmann’s death, Yoshikawa remained in Zurich, where she worked as a painter until the end of her life. The two met at the 1960 World Design Assembly in Tokyo. Yoshikawa, who had studied English at Tsuda University, was taking part in the assembly as an interpreter. Inspired by this global event, she moved to Zurich to study, and met Müller-Brockmann again there. Having established a bond of trust between them, the couple married, and spent the rest of their lives together while each breaking new ground as artists.

The purpose of this exhibition is to display both Müller-Brockmann’s superb structural designs and Yoshikawa’s works of art, and expand awareness of this unparalleled example of fruitful international collaboration between Switzerland and Japan.

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 strong-willed woman. She married Josef Müller-Brockmann and based her artistic career in Zurich. After Müller-Brockmann’s death, she felt a great sense of loss and began creating paintings with the theme of the sun, and in her later years, she produced works with the theme of the Silk Road, further developing her art and deviating from concrete traditions backed by modern orthodoxies. The paintings, sculptures, and prints she created are located in Zurich.

Josef Müller-BROCKMANN（1914–1996）
He 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.