Postwar Japanese Poster vs Shōwa Modern

戦後日本のポスターデザイン / 昭和モダン

Postwar Japanese Poster comes from Regional Graphics and Shōwa Modern from Advertising Posters. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

Postwar Japanese Poster

Postwar Japanese Poster — 亀倉雄策 東京オリンピック公式ポスター第1号 1961（笹川スポーツ財団より引用）Postwar Japanese Poster — 亀倉雄策 東京オリンピック1964 ポスター（DNPニュースリリースより引用）Postwar Japanese Poster — 東京オリンピック1964 公式ポスター（展示風景） — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0

Photography, flat color, calligraphy and traditional motifs, recomposed differently by each designer.

Shōwa Modern

Shōwa Modern — 杉浦非水 東京地下鉄道ポスター 1927 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainShōwa Modern — 南満洲鉄道ポスター — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainShōwa Modern — JOAKポスター — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Prewar Japan's commercial modernism, typified by Sugiura Hisui's Mitsukoshi and subway posters: Deco crossed with nihonga, the modern girl's city and refined lettering drawing the dawn of consumer culture.

Postwar Japanese PosterShōwa Modern
Era1950s–1990s1920s–1930s
FamilyRegional GraphicsAdvertising Posters
KindStyleStyle
CuesBold flatness / Photography and calligraphy / Personal symbols / Precise constructionDeco crossed with nihonga / The modern girl's city / Stylized lettering / Department stores and transit
Best used forAnnouncing an exhibition or a cultural program with one image and little copy · Setting mixed Japanese and Latin text precisely so it reads as high gradeDepartment store and event bills selling a city mood, not merchandise · Rail and tourism advertising that must carry the lift of going out
TypeTighten Japanese text into a block and divide roles between calligraphy and typeKana stylized and thickened, set vertically without Latin mixed in
CompositionRun a central axis, fix the margins, then cut down to a few elementsA figure cropped to the torso, background ordered by geometric bands
MaterialFlat printed color, photographic tone, the white of the paper, few inks laid heavilyFlat color holding nihonga pigment murk, contours tightened by thin line
CautionPlacing traditional motifs is only borrowing. Do not flatten the work into one Japanese look, and check how construction differs by designer, decade and advertised subject.Setting Deco ornament beside a kimono without the newness that city once had produces a period costume rather than a modern poster.

Put these two together

Regional Graphics ／ Advertising Posters

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