Designer’s Name + Biography:
Eiko Ishioka (1938–2012) was a Japanese art director and designer known internationally for her work in graphic design, film, theater, and costume design. Born in Tokyo, she began her career at Shiseido and later worked independently, creating iconic posters for PARCO and films like Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (for which she won an Academy Award). For this poster, she collaborated with illustrator Haruo Takino, who was known for his hyperrealist style and skillful airbrush techniques. Together, they created one of the most striking film posters of the 1970s.
Date Published:
1979
Medium/Format:
Offset lithograph poster
Client:
Nippon Herald Films / Toho-Towa Co., Ltd. (Japanese distributor of Apocalypse Now)
Size:
B1 (approx. 103 × 73 cm)
Cultural/Artistic Context:
This poster was created for the Japanese release of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. The central image—a hyperrealistic portrait of Marlon Brando’s character Colonel Kurtz against a backdrop of fire and destruction—captures the film’s psychological tension and moral collapse.
Unlike the American version, which used photographic montage, Ishioka and Takino’s poster transforms the movie’s theme into a visual metaphor for human madness and divine judgment. The combination of traditional calligraphic typography and Western cinematic realism reflects Ishioka’s signature approach—merging Japanese aesthetics with international modernism.
The poster is also a landmark of Japan’s 1970s movie advertising, when designers began creating art posters that were more than mere marketing—they became collectible cultural icons.
Associated Info:
The poster was featured in international design magazines and exhibitions, including retrospectives of Eiko Ishioka at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (2012) and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. It is regarded as one of the most powerful examples of cross-cultural film promotion.
Image Credit:
Eiko Ishioka Design Archive / Haruo Takino Illustration
