Best 100 Japanese Posters, 1945–89 [Design by Ikko Tanaka]

Best 100 Japanese Posters, 1945–89, 1990. Edited by a Selection Committee made up of: Yusaku Kamekura, Ikko Tanaka, Kazumasa Nagai, Shigeo Fukuda and Makoto Nakamura. Supervised by Matasaga Owaga and Toppan Printing Co, Tokyo, Japan. 10 x 10, pp. 274 with Japanese and English text. Design by Ikko Tanaka and Hideyuki Fukuda. Expertly produced and printed in Japan in an unknown quantity; presumably for exhibition attendees and promotional use only. The Copyright Page states: “This catalog is not for sale.”

This compendium of posters celebrates the 90th anniversary of Toppan Printing Co., Ltd; featuring works selected which best represent the artistic milestones of post World War II Japanese poster design while also showcasing the exceptional printing capabilities of the Toppan Printing Company. 

Excellent content including: Preface by Yusaku Kamekura; A Selected View of History by Richard S. Thorton; New Images for New Japan by Alain Weill; and The History of Japanese Posters by Masataka Ogawa. Biographies with Artists Portraits and a Japanese text Chronology by Shoji Katagishi towards the back.

Full-color poster plates are featured in chronological order by year and displayed large on a single page with bibliographic details and descriptive captions for each. Poster designers include but not limited to: Yoshio Hayakawa, Takashi Kono, Kenji Itoh, Ryuichi Yamashiro, Yusaku Kamekura, Ikko Tanaka, Kohei Sugiura, Hiromu Hara, Gan Hosoya, Makoto Wada, Mitsuo Katsui, Tadanori Yokoo, Shigeo Fukuda, Shin Matsunaga, Eiko Ishioka, Noriaki Yokosuka, Kazumasa Nagai, Koichi Sato, Takenobu Igarashi, Sachiko Kuru and many more.

A nearly fine red hardcover cloth with wavy endpapers and lightly toned margins to interior pages. In a very good or better lightly handled and illustrated dust jacket. An excellent resource on post World War II Japanese graphic and poster design.