The gift was presented to the museum on Sunday, the last day of the exhibition Make the Future Better Than Today: Japanese Graphic Design.
Arranged by Hara himself, the display featured posters, books, magazines, advertising projects and visual identifications, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in the artist’s design world.
Museum spokeswoman Aleksandra Sobocińska described Hara’s gift as ”an extraordinarily generous, unprecedented gesture” by ”one of the world’s most renowned Japanese designers, an artist who treats design as a universal wisdom of societies, having at the same time a great respect for Japanese culture."
Hara’s donation comprises 44 posters, 22 books and four designer packages.
Sobocińska said that, thanks to the donation, the Poznań National Museum’s collection of Hara’s work has grown to 200 items, the overall idea being to "build the most comprehensive presentation of artists whose creative legacy goes beyond poster design and constitutes the highest level in artistic design."
Born in 1958 and residing in Tokyo, Hara has been associated with the Nippon Design Center for four decades now, running within its framework the Hara Design Institute.
(mk/gs)