“KIYOSHI AWAZU – 女たち 九女八一座の人々 / SHIBUYA TŌYOKO THEATRE / BUNGAKUZA,” Japanese Theatre Poster, Original Offset 1977, Rare, B2 Size (c. 51.5 × 72.8 cm) Q20

An original 1977 theatre poster by Kiyoshi Awazu (1929–2009) for Bungakuza’s production of 女たち 九女八一座の人々. The poster is catalogued by the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa as 「女たち 九女八一座の人々／渋谷東横劇場／文学座」, while Kariya City Art Museum records the same work as offset on paper at 72.8 × 51.7 cm, confirming the work as a B2-format Awazu theatre poster from 1977.

The design advertises the 1–13 July 1977 run at Tōyoko Theatre and credits 大西信行 as playwright and 戌井市郎 as director, matching the text visible on the poster. Waseda’s theatre materials database also records the production as a Bungakuza 40th-anniversary commemorative work.

Awazu was self-taught and is described by the Kanazawa museum as a leader in post-war Japanese graphic design. In English-language museum scholarship, LACMA notes that his late-1960s and 1970s posters promoted theatrical productions, literature, films, and exhibitions through expressive, hand-drawn, tradition-inflected imagery, while MoMA holds his 1973 Bungakuza theatre poster Poster for a theatrical production of “Osai-Gonza”, underscoring the institutional importance of his stage-poster work.

This example is especially striking for its monumental female figure, acid-red ground, emerald coiffure, and ukiyo-e-inflected inset vignettes, all brought together by Awazu’s bold brush lettering and theatrical sense of scale. It reads both as an advertisement for a specific performance and as a stand-alone work of 1970s Japanese graphic design.

Condition: Very good / Excellent original condition overall, with strong color, a blank reverse, and visible old vertical and horizontal storage folds. Please review the imagery provided as this is the exact poster for sale.