Japanese Exceptional Typographic Design

Shochikuza News (松竹座ニュース)

Osaka, 5. June, 1930

8 pages including the cover.

21 x 15 cm. Cover with a typographic design in red and black.

EUR 240

The ‘Shochikuza News’ magazine (松竹座ニュース) was a pioneering Japanese cinema programme magazine, published weekly from 1923 onwards by the cinema chain belonging to the Shochiku entertainment group. The magazine’s visual design, particularly its cover art, is now regarded as an outstanding testament to Japanese commercial modernism (the Taishō and early Shōwa periods.For the covers, which changed weekly, the magazine commissioned young, up-and-coming and often as yet unknown Japanese artists. They used these commissions to experiment radically with Western art and design movements. The front covers blended influences from Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Dadaism, Expressionism and Russian Constructivism.

There was absolutely no consistency or corporate identity in *Shochikuza News*. Logos, lettering (typography) and layouts changed completely from issue to issue. Whilst this may seem inconceivable from a modern marketing perspective, it offered the artists enormous creative freedom.

Lit.: Michael Ilk, Global Avantgarde Typography 1915-1950, Ludwigshafen 2023, page 230-243.

In his book, Michael Ilk presents a total of 49 outstanding examples of Japanese books and brochures with exceptional typographic design, including seven examples from this series alone.

A copy in exceptionally fine condition, almost as good as new.