WEISENFELD, Gennifer
The Complete Commercial Artist: Making Modern Design in Japan, 1928–1930

In the boom years of the 1920s, Japanese designers developed a radical new vision for their profession. Engaging modernist and avant-garde trends from abroad, refashioning local graphic and calligraphic forms, and using the latest tools and techniques, they poured fresh colors and expressive forms into all facets of consumer life, from streetscapes to the printed page. The Complete Commercial Artist, a twenty-four–volume compendium released between 1928 and 1930, is the most important—and most visually dazzling—document of this still underappreciated moment in global design history.

The book also features biographies of the publication’s renowned contributors, including Hamada Masuji, Murayama Tomoyoshi, Murota Kurazō, Nakada Sadanosuke, Okamoto Ippei, Onchi Kōshirō, Saitō Kazō, Sugiura Hisui, Takehisa Yumeji, Takei Takeo, Yajima Shūichi, and more.

[publisher's note]

Published by Letterform Archive, 2024
Art History / Comics & Illustrations / Graphic Design / Typography