2019 DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion Research Grants for Academic Studies Relating to Graphic Design and Graphic Art: Selected Research Topics

Screening Process and Results

 In 2019, the DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion research grants program attracted a total of 95 applications, including 79 from within Japan and 16 from overseas. This unprecedentedly large response demonstrates that research scholars today have become well aware of this program' s existence.
 Starting this year, the previous Category B, which had called for research relating to graphic designer Ikko Tanaka, was revised to invite research concerning archives pertaining to graphic design and graphic art. In its new incarnation, Category B this year attracted 24 applications from scholars worldwide. This high level of interest vividly indicates the importance attached globally to archives as a fundamental base of research.
 As in previous years, the grant winners for 2019 were decided in a two-part screening process: the first part consisting of evaluation of the application documents, and the second part a final evaluation session attended by the complete judging panel. After lengthy discussions of the merits of the finalists, ultimately the judges selected a total of 11 research topics to receive new grant awards: 9 in Category A, encompassing a broad array of research topics relating to graphic design or graphic art, and 2 in the redefined Category B concerning archives. In addition, 10 of the grant winners of 2018 had requested continuation of support for a second year, and after a review of these grantees' interim reports the judges approved ongoing assistance for all 10.
 In evaluating the submitted applications, the judges carefully considered their respective merits from a variety of perspectives including novelty, originality, social or scholastic significance, and appropriateness as a research project. This year, in choosing the grant recipients relatively greater weight was placed on each topic' s appropriateness as a research project in terms of its intended timetable and planned usage of the grant funds. As a result, I think the applications selected this year tended to be those that involve solid, well-planned projects to be executed using sound research methods.
 We wish the newly selected grant winners the greatest success in carrying out their research, and we look forward to learning of their significant results.

Hiroshi Kashiwagi
Screening Committee Chairman
DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion

Application Overview

Application Period: May 1 through July 17, 2019

Number of Applications

  Subtotal Breakdown
Domestic Overseas
Category A 71 62 9
Category B 24 17 7
Total 95 79 16

2019 Selected Research Topics

Category Research Topic Applicant
Affiliated Institution
Grant Amount
A
Large-scale questionnaire survey for the creation and utilization of effective medical illustrations in providing cancer information to citizens
HARAGI Makiko
Associate Professor, School of Health and Social Services, Department of Health Sciences, Saitama Prefectural University,
500,000 JPY
A
A study of the social position of illustrators and the arbitrary illustration discourse of the 1980s
TSUKADA Yutaka
Teaching Associate, Department of Painting (Oil Painting), Tama Art University
350,000 JPY
A
Graphic Culture in Urban Space: Research on Linguistic Landscapes in Scene Districts
IKEDA Mariko
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Art and Design, University of Tsukuba
500,000 JPY
A
Research on the Works of Kamei Brothers (Shiichi/Takejiro) for the Advanced Studies of the Lithography in Modern Japan
NAKAYAMA Eri
Curator, Koriyama City Museum of Art
500,000 JPY
A
Paper Gallery: Japan-U.S. Exchanges through Publication-Based Art
HIRO, Rika
Dornsife Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, Department of Art history, University of Southern California
500,000 JPY
A
Study related to Sugiura Hisui's Wartime Evacuation in Kawagoe
ORII Takae
Group Manager, Kawagoe City Art Museum
500,000 JPY
A
Study on the Understanding of Duplication in the Practice of Calotype and Ambrotype in the Dawn of Japanese Photography
ANDO Chihoko
Doctoral Student, Kyoto Institute of Technology
500,000 JPY
A
An economic historical study of script reform movements in early twentieth-century Japan and Germany
KAWASHIMA Toshiki
Ph.D. candidate, University of Pennsylvania
500,000 JPY
A
Graphic designer and society in Italy after the Second World War: a study on Albe Steiner
OHTA Taketo
Part-time Lecturer, Chiba University
500,000 JPY
B
Designing Policies and Guidelines to Enable Photographs in Private Archives to be Used by the Public: A Case Study of Photographers who Took Pictures of Women and Children
AKUTSU Miki
Assistant Professor, Department of Childhood Education and Welfare, Mejiro University
500,000 JPY
B
Copyright process and procedures of the poster images open to the public in AWAZU Kiyoshi Archive
ISHIGURO Reiko
Archivist, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
500,000 JPY

2019 Continuation Grants (2018 Selected Research Topics)

Category Research Topic Applicant
Affiliated Institution
Grant Amount
2018 Grant Amount
A
Image, typography and ideology: constructivism in Korea in colonial era (1920-30s)
Suna JEONG
Doctoral Course, Seoul National University
250,000 JPY
400,000 JPY
A
Study on Connections between Visual Culture Studies and Biology or Biomedia: Through Analysis of Graphics Created by Microorganisms
HASEGAWA Shiho
Part-time Researcher of Industry-Government-Academia Collaboration, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Saitama University
500,000 JPY
500,000 JPY
A
A Study on the Ancient Mediterranean Graphic Art as a Mediator of Planar and Spatial Expressions: A Focus on the Ancient Egyptian Design Method
YASUOKA Yoshifumi
Superlative Postdoctoral Fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, The University of Tokyo
500,000 JPY
500,000 JPY
A
The protection of design including a graphic image: consideration of the necessity for enhanced protection by Design Act
ASO Tsukasa
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Design, Kyushu University
500,000 JPY
500,000 JPY
A
Grasp of custom color name recognition by experimental psychology method and evaluation of adaptation to color systems
YOSHIZAWA Yosuke
Associate Professor, National Institute of Technology, Kisarazu College
350,000 JPY
500,000 JPY
A
Phototypesetting and Optics-based Design: A Study on the History and Development of Japanese Typesetting and Book Design from the Late 1950s to the Early 1990s
ABE Takuya
Associate Professor, Faculty of Creation and Representation, Aichi Shukutoku University
300,000 JPY
500,000 JPY
A
Function and Decoration of Books: A Study on the Legal Manuscripts of the Early Middle Ages
ANDO Sayaka
Research Assistant, Department of Aesthetics and Art History, Tokyo University of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts
500,000 JPY
250,000 JPY
A
Transition of Media from Magazines to Original photographs in Modern Japanese Photography: Through Archiving the letters to Gallerist Etsuro Ishihara
AOTA Yumi
Etsuro Ishihara and ZEIT-FOTO SALON Archives
500,000 JPY
500,000 JPY
A
Japonisme in the German-Speaking World: Focusing on the Color Woodcut by Walther Klemm and Carl Thiemann
AOKI Kanae
Curator, The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama
500,000 JPY
500,000 JPY
A
A Study of the Expression Technique Present in Ladakh's Buddhism Wall Paintings from a Graphic Viewpoint, Based on the Archives of Takao Inoue's Photographic Materials
YAMASHITA Kohei
Adjunct Lecturer, Kyoto City University of Arts
500,000 JPY
500,000 JPY