Skip to content

COUNTER-TARIFF SALE: 20% OFF — Ends 30 Sept, 23:59 GMT. No code needed.

Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
  • New

“KIYOSHI AWAZU – フォスター大佐の服罪 ANTIWAR,” Japanese Contemporary Art / Theatre Poster, Original Offset 1970, Ultra Rare, B2 Size (c. 51.3 × 73.0 cm) O177

Sale price $2,500.00

A powerful anti‑war graphic from the crest of Japan’s late‑1960s/early‑1970s protest culture—rare in any format, and exceptional in this condition.

Original Japanese offset lithograph (B2) designed by Kiyoshi Awazu (粟津潔) for Gekidan Mingei’s production of “フォスター大佐の服罪” (Colonel Foster Pleads Guilty) by Roger Vailland. Venue and dates are printed at right: 砂防会館ホール(平河町) / May 19–June 10; admission ¥1,200 (students ¥900).

About Kiyoshi Awazu (1929–2009)
A self‑taught polymath and a pillar of post‑war Japanese graphic design, Awazu moved fluidly across posters, books, film/theatre graphics, environmental “supergraphics,” and architecture. His work of the late‑1960s–70s—posters for films and stage—distils folklore, pop iconography, and activist messaging into vivid, radical compositions. Major institutions continue to collect and exhibit his output: LACMA’s installation Awazu Kiyoshi Graphic Design: Summoning the Outdated highlights his 60s–70s posters and books, underscoring his museum‑level significance. 
Early recognition included the Japan Advertising Artists Club (JAAC) Award (1955) for his protest poster “Umi o Kaese / Give Our Sea Back,” a touchstone of socially engaged Japanese design.

Museum, market & provenance
This exact poster—“フォスター大佐の服罪” (1970), B2 73.0 × 51.3 cm—is preserved in the collection of the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art (cat. no. G‑H20‑73), confirming the work’s institutional importance and correct specifications. 

Why this poster matters

  • Signature Awazu: an explosive fusion of pop psychedelia, agit‑prop typography, and allegory—his hallmark late‑60s/early‑70s language.

  • Anti‑war iconography matched to a contemporary stage text (Vailland), rooting the sheet in global protest culture.

  • Cross‑collectible: contemporary art, Japanese design history, theatre ephemera, and anti‑war material culture.

  • Ultra rare B2 offset from 1970; scarce on the market, prized by Awazu and post‑war graphics collectors.

Artwork highlights

  • A monumental grey dome bisected by a jagged lightning bolt while flag motifs (stars/stripes) curl around the perimeter—storm over empire.

  • A field of psychedelic “mushrooms” in saturated magenta, cyan, yellow, and violet—mushroom‑cloud / counterculture double image.

  • Vertical title bars: bold yellow 3‑D logotype at top; Gekidan Mingei credit column (left) set against inky black; detailed dates/venue/prices (right).

  • The lower band spells out “ANTI WAR” in flamboyant, multi‑color letterforms; a raised yellow hand bears the designer’s name “Kiyoshi AWAZU.”

  • Photomontage of demonstrators anchors the foreground—street to stage in a single frame.

Printing & notes

  • Technique: Offset lithograph, multi‑color inks.

  • Format: B2 (approx. 51.3 × 73.0 cm / 20.2 × 28.7 in).

  • Credits on sheet: 劇団民藝公演 / 作 ロジェ・ヴァイヤン / 演出 早川昭二 / 装置 一条竜夫 / 砂防会館ホール(平河町)ほか。

Condition
Excellent for the era, unrestored & not linen‑backed: rich, saturated colour; clean margins; only minor handling at the extreme edges and a faint, short surface crease within the upper grey field visible under raking light—no paper loss. Frames up brilliantly. Please review all photographs (front & details); they show the exact poster offered.

It is over 50 years old.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.

Awazu’s blast‑cloud “dome,” split sun, and star/stripe flag cues collapse Korea‑to‑Vietnam Cold War theatres into a single anti‑war image—psychedelic mushrooms doubling as mushroom clouds—an archetypal Awazu indictment of militarism

Back to top