Tokyo Underground Railway — Opening, 1927
Sugiura Hisui, 1927
No print size passed the check for this piece: at 8 x 10 in, Wrong shape: a 16% crop. We would rather show it than sell a soft print.
See pieces like it you can buySugiura Hisui’s poster for the 1927 opening of the Tokyo subway — the first underground railway line in East Asia. Sugiura was one of the era’s leading commercial designers, and this poster marks a genuine infrastructural first, not just another line extension. The train rendered nose-on, all speed and modern confidence, no ornament. The city, about to go underground for the first time.
- Maker
- Sugiura Hisui
- Date
- 1927
- Medium of the original
- Transit poster
- Original held by
- Wikimedia Commons
- Credit
- Wikimedia Commons · via Wikimedia Commons
- Rights
- Cleared for print
- Catalogue number
- PA-00875
Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 8 x 10 in | Wrong shape: a 16% crop |
| 8 x 12 in | 41 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 11 x 14 in | Wrong shape: a 14% crop |
| 12 x 16 in | Wrong shape: a 10% crop |
| 12 x 18 in | 27 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 16 x 20 in | Wrong shape: a 16% crop |
| 16 x 24 in | 20 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 18 x 24 in | Wrong shape: a 10% crop |
| 20 x 30 in | 16 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 24 x 30 in | Wrong shape: a 16% crop |
| 24 x 36 in | 13 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 30 x 40 in | Wrong shape: a 10% crop |
| 36 x 48 in | Wrong shape: a 10% crop |
| 40 x 60 in | 8 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 337 x 500 px, srgb
- Tone
- Darks 38, lights 221 of 255; 0.5% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 1.2% vivid
- Sharpness
- 78.06
The Poster Atlas
The national-parks series: the parks belonged to everyone, and so did the art.
All 46 pieces from The Poster Atlas
