Kyoto: Hakota (printed by Maria Gabo Hatsetsu), 1931. Folio (37.5 × 29 cm). Original typographically illustrated cardboard folder; [4] pp. (title page and table of contents), 10 color woodcuts prints with stencil colored details (24.7 × 12.7 cm), mounted on cardboard with printed silk paper. Folder soiled and rubbed as well as with contemporary stamp and adhesive label; silk paper somewhat creased; cardboard leaves sporadically slightly stained and occasionally with small crease marks; the woodcut prints in strong, bright colors; else good.

Rare, complete portfolio of elaborate Japanese woodblock prints with which the textile artists' group Gaitō ha (Art for the street) presented examples of their work. The young, avant-garde designers joined together in 1930 in Kyoto, the capital of Japanese arts and crafts. The members' self-conception was not dissimilar in some respects to that of the Russian Productivists, who were concerned with transforming art into product design. Unlike the Russian avant-gardists, however, the "Gaitō ha" was not concerned with the end of art, but rather with establishing textile design as an art form in its own right as well. Nonetheless, it was not about arts and crafts elitism, but conversely about popularizing artistic design. With their designs, the group pursued the goal of overcoming traditional dyeing and weaving patterns and developing them into a "pure art" that would be "more connected to the masses." The group existed until 1935, consisting of textile artists Eijirō Umehara, Gyokusen Kimura, Kyōzō Yamada, Jun Hisatomi, and Gyokujo Yoshida. (See: https://jyunku.hatenablog.com/entry/2019/05/17/200555, accessed 12/06/2022.)

As of December 2022, not in KVK, OCLC.

Book ID: 52466

Price: $4,500.00