Archiving Activities
Outstanding works of graphic design and graphic art, along with related materials, are collected and preserved to pass down to future generations as a precious cultural legacy.
The Foundation's archives center on two collections: the Tyler Graphics Archive Collection of contemporary American prints and the DNP Graphic Design Archives, a comprehensive collection of contemporary Japanese graphic design. Both collections, together with related materials, are available for viewing or borrowing for educational or research purposes. Interested parties are requested to inquire to the DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion for details.
Tyler Graphics Archive Collection
The Tyler Graphics Archive Collection is a collection of works by a host of artists who collaborated with Tyler Graphics, a leading force behind the robust popularity of contemporary American prints during the second half of the 20th century. Tyler Graphics was founded in New York in 1974 by master printer Kenneth Tyler. The studio is renowned for having expanded the possibilities of the printed arts through technical mastery and innovative ideas unshackled by preconceptions. The Tyler Graphics Archive Collection encompasses some 1,000 works, and related materials, created by Tyler Graphics in collaboration with 40 artists between 1974 and 2000, when the studio ceased its activities. The collection includes numerous works by the giants in the American contemporary art world - artists such as Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Motherwell and Helen Frankenthaler - and serves as an invaluable trove offering an overview not only of the history of art prints but of American contemporary art as well.
DNP Graphic Design Archives
The DNP Graphic Design Archives were inaugurated in 2000 to pass down to future generations the important cultural legacy of Japan’s globally acclaimed achievements in contemporary graphic design. Operations include the collection, preservation and exhibition of notable graphic works, especially posters. As of 2024, approximately 20,000 works by more than 230 designers are included in the collection.
The Archives also contain works by three of Japan’s most important contributors to the legacy of Japanese graphic design: Ikko Tanaka, Shigeo Fukuda and Kazumasa Nagai. In addition to their posters, block copy, original drawings, and other relevant materials, the Archives also contain their private libraries. All three were graphic designers who were directly involved in transforming Japanese society in the postwar era. As such, they left prized bodies of works and materials significant not only for studying the development of graphic design in Japan but of great usefulness for many other fields as well.
Ikko Tanaka Archive
The DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion operates the Ikko Tanaka Archive in Kyoto to pass on to subsequent generations the precious cultural legacy left by Ikko Tanaka (1930-2002), one of Japan’s foremost graphic designers. The archive contains a vast trove of works and materials from Tanaka’s highly diversified activities during his long career. Included are his own design works, block copy, proof prints, manuscripts, original photographs, documents, letters, scrapbooks and private library, as well as Tanaka’s personal collections of artworks and posters by other artists. These many items were donated to the DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion by the Tanaka Family in 2008 to make them available for academic use and other activities to promote graphic culture. Among this enormous body of materials, approximately 55,000 items have already been catalogued, and research and further cataloguing operations continue today. Viewing and study of materials in the archive are in principle permitted only for research or other academic purposes. Access to the archive is by appointment only.