Mitsukoshi Department Store 1914

Step through the doors of Mitsukoshi and into the confident optimism of a modernizing Japan. Hisui Sugiura's design for the celebrated Tokyo department store, a house with roots stretching back centuries and reborn as a Western-style emporium in 1895, presents shopping itself as an occasion, the store a destination and a proud symbol of a nation eagerly embracing a new century. To promote such a place was to promote Tokyo, its energy and its glamour, and this poster does exactly that with quiet, deliberate elegance.

Sugiura is often called the father of modern Japanese graphic design, and this poster from around 1914 shows the graceful fusion he pioneered, traditional Japanese motifs meeting European poster technique on a single sheet. The flattened forms, refined line and decorative poise sit close to the Art Nouveau and early Art Deco currents that were shaping travel and advertising art around the world at the time, which makes this as much a piece of destination imagery as a store advertisement, an invitation to the sophistication of downtown Tokyo and the wider allure of Japan.

This fine-art reproduction is printed for us on museum-grade 189gsm archival matte paper with pigment inks. The soft matte surface suits the poster's subtle palette and fine linework, rendering its colors evenly and without glare so the design keeps every bit of its quiet sophistication when viewed up close or across a room. It is available in five sizes, 8x12, 12x18, 16x24, 20x30 and 24x36 inches, to fit anything from a slim wall to a broad statement space, and every print ships rolled in a protective tube, ready to frame.

As vintage travel and poster wall art it brings a note of refined, cosmopolitan style to a room. It looks striking above a console in an entryway, over a sofa in a living room, or in a study where its craftsmanship rewards a closer look and a second glance. Hang it in an office for understated, worldly elegance, work it into a gallery wall of vintage posters and Japanese design, or give it to a lover of Japan, of design history or of simply graceful things. It pairs beautifully with minimalist frames in black, natural wood or warm brass, and its restrained palette settles gracefully into both traditional and contemporary interiors. Hung alone it makes a poised, deliberate statement; grouped with other early-modern travel and advertising posters, it adds a note of East-meets-West sophistication to a curated gallery wall. It is the kind of print that quietly draws comment from anyone with an eye for design.

This is a newly produced archival print, not an original antique poster. It arrives ready to frame and carry a touch of old Tokyo's elegance onto your wall, a distinctive piece of vintage poster art with a story of a country stepping proudly into the modern world.