“Japanese Werkbund”

工作文化 : 近代工作文化特輯 [Kosaku Bunka : Kindai Kosaku Bunka Tokushu].

Tokyo, Sagamishobo 1941 (Showa 16).

76pp and numerous illustrations on 32 plates.

26 x1 8cm. Publisher’s printed wrapper, card slipcase.

EUR 380

“Nihon Kosaku Bunka might be translated as Japanese Craft Culture but Japanese Werkbund is a better translation; that was the model. This is no bunch of carvers and potters; elite modernist architects formed the Kosaku Bunka in 1936 out of the endless schisms that began with the first such group: Bunriha Kenchikukai formed in 1920. The founding 25 members include just about every hallowed name in Japanese modernsim, with Bunriha veteran Horiguchi Sutemi at the helm. The ‘Japanese’ part is important, the aim was “to impart a Japanese guiding spirit to Japanese architectural styles, arts and crafts, industrial products, and other areas by the time of the Olympics four years from now.” (a rough translation from the Asahi Shimbun). Of course the proletarians immediately accused them, not unfairly, of fascist tendencies.

This is a collection of six essays published the year after the end of its short lived journal, Gendai Kenchiku (Contemporary Architecture). It is billed as a special issue. No more appeared. The six articles cover prospects for new Japanese architecture; interwar architecture in France; in Germany; German urban planning; ending with some art and design.”  Quoted from Richard Neylon

Slipcase slightly damaged.