Cultural Transformations in Japan:Women, Art Deco, and Global Culture 1920-1940

Patrick WhelanSaint Stephen’s Episcopal School

Art Deco is a style of art that is:Modern SleekGeometricIndustrialSmoothFuturistic Clean

Diversity of Art Deco

Art Deco style of art influenced all types of different media all over the world.

FurnitureArchitectureGraphic Design PostersTextile PatternsAppliances Household Decorations

Art Deco through Architecture

Chrysler Building, New York Colony Hotel, Miami Beach

Art Deco in JapanHow many of the following aspects of art deco are in this poster?

Modern SleekGeometricIndustrialSmoothFuturistic Clean

Japanese Art DecoPoster for Japan Railways

What aspects of this poster reflect the spirit of the modern world?

What aspects of this poster reflect the national character of Japan?

Traditional DressTwo women and a man at a tea house

Describe how the women and man are dressed. Describe their hair styles.

Traditional Japanese Woman

Although this image is from the modern time period, the woman is dressed traditionally.

Describe what she is doing.Describe how she is dressed.How would you describe her surroundings?

Modern Japanese WomanThis portrait of a young Japanese woman reflects the westernization of the time. How does her dress, hair style, jewelry, makeup and furnishings reflect an American and/or European style?

Compare these two paintings of women.How are these women similar and different?

Japanese Imitating European StyleThe image on the left is based off of the original French image on the

right. How are they similar and different?

This woman looking at bright interesting fish in an aquarium may also be about the fish looking at her. Her handbag, dress and hairstyle are illustrating a modern woman’s look. The Tokyo Aquarium built during the 1920s also had a dance hall attached, where jazz was played and young people gathered.

Taxi Dancers at Florida Dance Hall

These women are pictured at a dance hall. Men would pay a small fee for each dance with these women, who like taxi drivers would have various clients throughout the night.

Describe their dress, their hairstyle and their surroundings.

How are these women represented in a modern style?

Images of Modern Japanese Women Smoking (1920s)

Woman’s Obi with Smoking Images

An obi is used for tying the women’s kimono at the waist. This has unusual images of smoking packets.

What type of message would a woman wearing this obi be sending?

Men’s Robe with Smoking Images

Smoking emerged as a major trend in Japan during the 1920s and 1930s. This robe would have been worn by a man for rather formal occasions. It has artwork on the back with several smoking related images positioned together artistically.

Japanese Anti-Smoking School

Poster 2011Today theJapanese legal age for both smoking and drinking is 20. This school poster is geared to prevent underage smoking.Translation: “Without imitating what adults do (like smoking) you can be an adult.”

Anti-Smoking School Poster 2012

Translation: “I won’t make reasons to hate myself.”

Do you think that these posters would be effective in discouraging teen smoking?

Sources• The anti-smoking images from the school posters are produced by the Tobacco

Institute of Japan. Website: http://www.tioj.or.jp/activity/prevention.html• The Japanese images from the 1920s and 1930s are found in Brown, Kendall H.,

ed. Deco Japan: Shaping Art & Culture 1920-1945. Alexandria, Virginia: Art Services International, 2012. Most of the images cannot be found on-line. The pieces by author and title: Satomi Munetsugu, Poster for Japan, Japanese Government Railways (1937); Nakamura Daizaburo, White Western Clothes (1935); Enomoto Chikatoshi, Aquarium (1939); Enomoto Chikatoshi, Florida (ca. 1935); Kobayakawa Kiyosh, Tipsy (1930); K Kotani, Songbook for “The Modern Song” (1930); artist unknown, Obi with Tobacco Packet Design (1920s); artist unknown, Jacket with Smoking Design (1920s). The French image is George LePape, Le Miroir Rouge (1919); the comparable Japanese image is Takeshisa Yumeji, Autumn in Makeup (1924).