Kirei - Posters from Japan 1978-1993

Beschrijving boek

What is the Japanese poster? A spectacle, a temptation, a frisson, a shock? Eye-opening, provocative, it immediately sets itself apart from anything we are used to seeing in this medium. These supreme examples of modern Japanese poster design - brought together in a unique Anglo-Japanese co-publication - show us a vibrant modern tradition that has developed its own independent spirit. Here old and new, East and West, meet in creative fusion. The classical aesthetic of Japanese culture is evident in every instance. It is encapsulated in the word kirei, which embraces simplicity, beauty, purity and ambience, and demands a high level of technical and formal skill combined with a particular subtlety of expression. At the same time, these posters inspire new ways of seeing. The boldness of their coded forms frees them from the banality of everyday advertising. The products themselves need not appear at all. The designs evolve their own strange, fascinating messages, delightful conundrums of discovery and deconstruction. Created by a culture famed for its devotion to the fleeting instant, the Japanese poster crystallizes evocative, enduring images with a single glimpse.

Catherine Bürer, art historian, is head of the Plakatsammlung des Museums für Gestaltung Zürich. Her main field of interest is Japanese poster and comic art.