Biography Hisui, Sugiura (1876 - 1965)

When he was 25 years old, in 1901, Sugiura Hisui graduated from the painting department of the Tokyo School of Art. There he learned western-style painting and Europese-style design from Kuroda Seiki.
In 1908 he became a designer at the Misukoshi department store, becoming its chief designer in 1910. He started the magazine Mitsukoshi in 1911, and later became lecturer at the design department of Nihon Bijutsu Gakko (Japan School of Art).
He went to Europe to study modern graphic design from 1922 to 1924. Having returned to Japan, he formed "Hichininsha," a group to study posters, in 1925. He designed the poster of the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line opening to traffic in 1927. It can be said that his works during this period led the early stages of Japanese commercial design.
He became design department chief of Imperial School of Fine Arts (present Musashino Art University) in 1929. He is one of the founders of the Tama Teikoku Bijutsu Gakko (present Tama Art University) in 1935.



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