Abstract
Among Makoto Saito’s masterpieces, the ‘Pelvis’ and ‘Femur’ posters designed for the Hasegawa Company have been widely acclaimed. Yet, there is inadequate research exploring Saito’s design aesthetic, how these posters were originally conceptualized and what their intellectual and aesthetic influences are. This article addresses these issues, paying special attention to the development of disturbing images with reference to how human bones have featured in Japan throughout its history. It examines how the meaning of human bones has been constructed and evolved since the introduction of the Buddhist painting genre kusôzu in the Kamakura Period (1185–1333). To find out how Saito developed his aesthetic of intense elegance and encoded meanings in these two works, the author conducted an interview with Saito in his Tokyo design office on 18 October 2008.
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