Shōwa modan: kōkoku dezain, 1920-30s : posutā, chirashi, matchi nado, kamimono daishūgō! = Showa Modern : ad designs, 1920s-30s : vintage paper treasures, from posters and flyers to matchbooks and more

Abstract

"In 1920s and 1930s Japan, a new urban lifestyle culture blossomed as cafés, bars, and boutiques selling Western-inspired fashions crowded city streets and people eagerly embraced westernized modes of living. Tokyo was busy remaking itself after the ravages of the 1923 great earthquake, while in the west of the country Osaka entered a time of unprecedented prosperity, becoming known as 'Great Osaka' because it (if temporarily) eclipsed even the national capital. Cities and life within them were transformed in what would come to be called the age of Showa Modern, after the name of the era in the Japanese calendar. Amid these fast-moving times, advertisers scrambled to find new promotional strategies to attract consumers, inspiring the rise of commercial art--or what we today would call 'design'--to communicate and evoke new information and images. It's easy to imagine how people might have come across a poster or flyer on the street, feeling a flush of excitement as they paused or sometimes took one into their own hands for a closer look. Even today, the ads in this book are as vibrant and filled with wonder as they were in those years. They testify to the efforts of their designers."-- Provided by publisher.