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Ishioka (Eiko) papers
LSC.2288
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Eiko Ishioka papers
Creator:
Ishioka, Eiko
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2288
Physical Description:
859.75 linear feet
(275 document boxes, 63 record cartons, 116 flat boxes, 66 oversize flat boxes, 11 shoe boxes, 37 telescope boxes, 129 oversized
folders, 39 film and video canisters)
Physical Description:
173 Gigabytes
(digital files from 289 discs)
Physical Description:
3 born-digital carriers
(1 unprocessed DVD, 2 unprocessed 5.25 inch floppy disks)
Date (inclusive): 1955-2012
Abstract: Material in this collection relates to the career of the multi-faceted designer Eiko Ishioka, encompassing her work in the
performing arts, especially on various stage productions; for exhibitions, fashion shows, and athletic teams; in advertising;
and in book, periodical, record cover, and product and packaging design. Items include costume drawings and sketches, set
design drawings, performance production records and photographs, and fabric samples.
The collection also contains numerous posters, photographs, slides, transparencies, negatives, and production material pertaining
to design projects and advertising campaigns, as well as audiovisual and born-digital material. Additionally some items relate
to Ishioka's student work in Tokyo, including artwork, design projects and photographs.
Physical Location: Portions of the collection stored off-site. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. All requests to access
special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Boxes 285-320 (oversize posters), 720, 737-755, and digital materials are stored on-site.
Language of Material: Materials are in English and Japanese.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Conditions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained
by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue
the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
CONTAINS DIGITAL, AUDIO, AND AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: This collection contains both processed and unprocessed digital and audiovisual
materials. Digital, audio, and audiovisual materials are not currently available for access, unless otherwise noted in a Physical
Characteristics and Technical Requirements note at the series and file levels. All requests to access processed digital, audio,
and audiovisual materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Nico Soultanakis, 2014-2015.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9977558583606533
[Identification of item], Eiko Ishioka papers (Collection 2288). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Processed by Melissa Haley with assistance from Neil Hodge, Brian Block, Yuri Shimoda, Joanna Smith, and Carolina Meneses,
2016-2019. Further processing assistance provided by Kuhelika Ghosh and Gaku Uchino. Rehousing and poster processing assistance
from Octavio Olvera, 2016-2017. Born-digital material processed by Brian Block, Joanna Smith, as CFPRT Digital Scholars, and
Carolina Meneses as Digital Archives Program Intern, 2018-2020.
Most slides, transparencies, negatives, and photographs originally housed in binders and slide file boxes were not rehoused
due to the large number of items.
Translations for posters and some other titles originally in Japanese were acquired from a variety of sources, including
Eiko by Eiko.
Final processing completed by Kelly Besser and Paola Salazar, 2023.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating
existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit
feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form
located on our website:
Report Problematic Content and Description in UCLA's library collections and archives.
Eiko Ishioka was born on July 12, 1938 in Tokyo, Japan and attended the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music,
studying in the Design Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts. She graduated in 1961, and started her career designing advertising
campaigns for the Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido. In 1970, Ishioka founded her own design firm and soon diversified her
work by adding books and journals (including those published by Kadokawa Books), magazine articles, record album covers, and
product packaging to her repertoire, as well as serving as stage director of several Issey Miyake fashion shows. Her firm
also created numerous advertising campaigns for major clients such as the department store chain Parco throughout the 1970s.
Ishioka soon branched out into the performing arts, and she spent the last several decades of her career mainly designing
costumes and/or sets for theater, film, opera, and individual performers. Some of her major stage credits include the Broadway
productions
M. Butterfly (1988) and
David Copperfield's Dreams & Nightmares (1996); the Nederlander Opera's
The Ring of Nibelung (1997-1998); Cirque du Soleil's
Varekai (2002); and singer Grace Jones'
Hurricane tour (2009). Film credits include production work for Paul Schrader's
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) and costumes designed for a number of Tarsem (Tarsem Singh) films, as well as for Francis Ford Coppola's
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), which garnered her an Oscar. In addition, Ishioka curated exhibitions, including the photography exhibitions
Nuba (1980) and
Life (1992) regarding the work of German filmmaker and photographer Leni Riefenstahl, and she contributed to the multi-media art
installation
Tokyo: Form & Spirit (1986). She also designed sports uniforms for the NBA and Olympic athletes. Along with these various endeavors, Ishioka continued
with advertising work, and with book and record cover design, including the Grammy-winning cover of Miles Davis'
Tutu (1986). She compiled and designed two books that focused on her career:
Eiko by Eiko (1983) and
Eiko on Stage (2000).
Eiko Ishioka was married to Nico Soultanakis. She died on January 21, 2012, in Tokyo, Japan.
Material in the Eiko Ishioka papers relates to nearly every aspect of the designer's multi-faceted career. Her work in the
performing arts is documented through costume drawings and sketches, set design drawings, research material, production records
and photographs, fabric samples, and audiovisual material for numerous stage projects, including the Broadway productions
M. Butterfly (1988) and
David Copperfield: Dreams & Nightmares (1996), the operas
Chushingura (1997) and
The Ring of the Nibelung (1997-1998), and Cirque du Soleil's
Varekai (2002). Although this collection holds little material relating to her work in film, it does contain original costume design
drawings and sketches for
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), as well as several posters designed by Ishioka for the Japanese releases of that film,
Apocalypse Now, and others. In addition, the collection documents other varied projects including the curation of exhibitions dedicated
to the life and work of Leni Riefenstahl,
Nuba (1980) and
Life (1992); posters designed for inclusion in or as advertising for numerous exhibitions; and several collaborations with fashion
designer Issey Miyake in the 1970s.
This collection also documents Ishioka's design of books, particularly
Eiko by Eiko (1983); journals, including
Wild Times, and magazine articles; record album covers, especially Miles Davis'
Tutu; and products and packaging, through production material such as photographs, drawings, layouts, and proofs, as well as final
products. A small amount of material pertains to her work designing athletic uniforms, including for the Houston Rockets NBA
team, the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and costumes for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Ishioka's decades-long career in advertising is well-represented in this collection through numerous posters, photographs,
slides, transparencies, digital, and audiovisual items, primarily for campaigns designed for the Japanese companies Shiseido,
Parco, Kadokawa Books, Diana shoes, Kissa, Tokyu, Sanyo Fashion House, and others from the 1960s-1980s.
The collection contains numerous items created while Ishioka was a student at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and
Music, including artwork (drawings, sketches, paintings) and production material pertaining to design projects, as well as
snapshots of various excursions and activities during this time period. In addition, material documenting her overall career
through photographs, portfolios, awards, publicity, and art supplies, is also present. Finally, the collection contains Ishioka's
voluminous library of art, design, and other books.
This collection has been arranged in the following series:
Series 1: Early work
Series 2: Stage projects
Series 3: Moving image projects
Series 4: Exhibitions and events
Series 5: Fashion and uniforms
Series 6: Book Design
Series 7: Periodical design
Series 8: Record cover design
Series 9: Advertising
Series 10: Products and packaging
Series 11: Audiovisual and born-digital material
Series 12: Career
Series 13: Personal
Series 14: Works by others
Series 15: Books from the library of Eiko Ishioka
Series 16: Preservation posters
The David Copperfield: Dreams & Nightmares set model was separated and transferred to The Magic of David Copperfield in Las
Vegas, 2023. The Varekai costumes were separated and transferred to UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, 2023.
Eiko Ishioka papers, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills.
Item-level inventories for posters and audiovisual material are available.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Costume design
Theaters -- Stage setting and scenery
Advertising -- Japan.
Set designers. -- Archives.
Costume designers. -- Archives.
Art direction.
- Collection Overview
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Collection Details
- Conditions on Access
- Conditions on Use and Reproduction
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
- Provenance/Source of Acquisition
- UCLA Catalog Record ID
- Preferred Citation
- Processing Information
- Biography/History
- Scope and Content
- Arrangement
- Separated Material
- Related Material
- Other Finding Aids