The best of Japanese graphic poster design, from the 1964 Tokyo
Olympics to the Issey Miyake logo
This book brings together the best of Japanese graphic poster
design--from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics to the creation of the Issey Miyake
logo, and from the Osaka Expo to the official poster for the Pan-Pacific
Design Congress. Japanese contemporary posters are considered to have
started in the mid-'50s, after World War II and following a period of
depression, post-militarism and post-autarchy. This new expressive mode
was fueled by stimuli from abroad, but it was also a chance to
reinterpret traditional themes and colors, bringing them into modernity
in refreshing and fruitful ways. In the maze of expressive forms that
flourished in Japan during the postwar period, graphic design stands out
as a precious tool for following the thread of national creativity and
the intense permanence of traditional aesthetic sensibility through
these new forms.
Over half a century after the inception of graphics and with the coming
Olympic Games taking place in 2021, this volume takes a wide view of the
trends and aesthetic shifts that can be traced in the development of
graphic design in Japan. Contemporary Japanese Posters includes 85
graphic designers and 756 posters. It is the most complete volume on the
subject in any language.
