Page 198 - Swann Galleries - Modernist Posters - Sale 2314 - May 13, 2013

TADANORI YOKOO (1936- )
250 ● HAVING REACHED A CLIMAX AT THE AGE OF 29, I WAS DEAD. 1965.
393/4x28 1/2 inches, 101x72 1/2 cm.
Condition A: minor creasing at edges. Silkscreen. Paper. Signed and numbered 9 out of 50 by the artist in
green pen. Framed.
Yokoo can be credited as the artist who introduced Pop Art to Japan. He was part of a group of rebel
artists who shook the well-balanced traditional-minded Japanese artistic scene. Through his art he
created a totally new, anti-conformist world. His original east-meets-west style utilizing collage,
photomontage and cartoon-style graphics mixes Western and traditional Japanese iconography in
daring and improbable layouts to create extravagant fantasies. His earliest work was done in silk-
screen, resulting in brighter colors. Yokoo designed this poster for an exhibition entitled “Persona” at
Tokyo’s Matsuya department store in November, 1965. The image, commenting as it was on the
stifling nature of Japanese society on artists, was shocking, sensational and became an instant classic.
It is extremely rare to find posters from Tadanori Yokoo’s early career during which his printing runs
were short and few were kept. We cannot find another copy up for sale since 1997. Tadanori Yokoo
p. 69, Musee de l’Affiche / Yokoo p.1, Modern Poster 275, Avant Garde p. 184, Plakat Kunst p. 168,
Enyclopedie de l’Affiche p. 273, MOMA 696.1966. [6,000/9,000]