This paper examines the reproducibility of acceptance of photography during 19th-century Japan in terms of handling techniques for photographs, storage modes and photographic techniques.
In the West, the reproducibility of photography was achieved through the invention of the calotype, an early negative-positive photographic process. This method gained popularity with the use of glass negatives produced through the wet collodion process and high-quality photographic paper. Although the ambrotype was also invented in the mid-19th century, it was soon abandoned as a common photographic technique within a decade due to the fact that the negative itself was viewed as a positive and could not produce copies of photographs. Interestingly, the ambrotype survived several decades in Japan during the late 19th century, even after the technique of photographic print was imported to Japan. Therefore, from this viewpoint, we can assume that there was a different perception of the reproducibility of photography that developed in 19thcentury Japan compared to the West. In particular, the popularity of the ambrotype in 19th-century Japan might reflect the recognition that each photograph served as a unique record of the subject. An ambrotype photograph captured a sharp image of the sitter. In Japan, capturing a living image was considered valuable in itself. Therefore, the reproducibility through photographic paper was not as important for the Japanese people at that time. On the other hand, only the calotype negative has remained in Japan, even though the calotype can produce paper-printed copies. This also indicates that the reproducibility of photography was valued for capturing important living images of people or scenery in 19th-century Japan.

The purpose of this research is to explore new research possibilities in graphic culture studies by focusing on the relationship between graphic culture as it appears in urban spaces and the regional characteristics and their transformations of urban spaces. The “text” that abounds in urban spaces (advertisements, shop signs, information boards, posters, and other linguistic landscapes) tends to be recognized only as linguistic or visual information, but in metropolis it takes on a greater significance than that. The main study areas are Daikanyama in Tokyo (Japan) and the tourist streets, Kastanienallee (former Mitte-Pankow district, East Berlin) and Weserstraße (former Neukölln district, West Berlin) in Berlin (Germany), that were found to be multilingual-oriented landscapes and the language signs tended to be generally well-designed. Surveys were conducted both in the field (Daikanyama) and online (Berlin and other cities). The results showed that in both Daikanyama and Berlin, when the language landscape of the commercial environment becomes globalized and multilingualized, it reflects the regionalities and socio-economic structure of the area, with cafés, restaurants and apparel shops as examples. In Daikanyama, the linguistic landscape of residential names, which changes less slowly than the commercial environment, reflects the historical nature of the area from the past to the present, while in Berlin, the tourist destination encourages linguistic globalization and gentrification encourages linguistic localization.

This study compared the perspective view of Minhwa (Korean folk art) Chaekgeori drawn in ordinary society with Royal Court Chaekgeori and explored the differences in the formative design principles of the two. The materials used for comparison are three books produced by researchers known as the second generation who have been active since 1980, Chaesaekhwa Polychrome Painting of Korea #3, Chaesaekhwa Polychrome Painting of Korea #6, and Chaekgeori. In the composition analysis of Minhwa Chaekgeori folk paintings, only the frontal images of the drawn books were extracted for each folding screen based on the frontal images of the drawn books, and a composite image was produced through image processing. As a result, it was found that in many cases, the front faces of the books drawn on the folding screens were often placed in almost the same position. Furthermore, it was found that there was a similar composition of paintings on different folding screens.
Reverse perspective method is a technique that is remarkably revealed in Minhwa Chaekgeori paintings, and although it has already been attempted to interpret reverse perspective method as a prior study, little has been discussed that Royal Court Chaekgeori paintings originated in studiolo in the West and were produced close to linear perspective method through China. Through the comparison of the two types of Chaekgeori, this study presented three independent interpretations: the satire depicted in folk paintings, the possibilities derived from the unique physical form of folk paintings’ screens, and the relationship between the interior and exterior of Joseon’s architectural space.

This study focuses on the role of Masaru Katzumie, a design critic who was a leading figure in the field of design in postwar Japan, in the international exchange of design ideas, with a particular emphasis on his remarkable international outlook. Since his death in 1983, most of the studies and exhibitions on Katzumie have focused on his role as an educator or as an advocate of design at the Tokyo Olympics and the Expo’70 within Japan. In view of this, this study was carried out with the following two areas of focus in mind: (1) Katzumie’s dissemination of Japanese design overseas and his introduction of overseas design trends to Japan, and (2) his promotion of pictograms.
Graphic Design, for which Katzumie served as editor-in-chef, was a bilingual magazine published in both English and Japanese based on his policy, and it actively published translations of reports on overseas design trends and international design organizations. The magazine also served as a source of information on Japanese design through its use as a reference material for overseas parties. The Masaru Katzumie Archives as well as the ICOGRADA Archive and the V&A Archive in the United Kingdom house a large number of letters and reports exchanged between Katzumie and overseas design professionals. Among other things, this study examines the process through which Katzumie came to be recognized as an important international figure, especially with regard to pictograms and signs and symbols, based on his correspondence with ICOGRADA officials in the 1960s and 1970s.

In this research project, applicant investigated to trace the activities of Albe Steiner, one of the leading figures, especially from the 1950s to the 1970s, in Italian graphic design. The first important element of Steiner’s creative context is Milan, the place where he made his debut in the 1930s. In addition to cutting-edge design magazines such as Campo Grafico, there were artistic hubs like Boggeri Studio and the Milione Gallery as platforms for accepting innovation of international graphic design. Another important context, often overlooked in conventional design history, is Steiner’s political attitude. The fascist regime that lasted for more than two decades from 1922 urged him to join the Italian Communist Party (PCI), which determined his participation in the partisan struggle during World War II and his cultural activities afterward.The applicant highlighted the heterogeneity that he had within the PCI, even though he supported it, by discussing his role in editing Il Politecnico, a leading cultural journal in the immediate postwar period. In addition, Steiner’s engagement as an advertising staff for the Rinascente department store groop in the 1950s reveals the differing perspectives between Steiner as a PCI activist and other graphic designers of his generation. Steiner is an important subject for further research on the issue of “art and politics” in 20th-century Italy.

The exquisite botanical paintings by Dr. Tomitaro Makino, a botanical taxonomist, are a rare example of visual expression that combines the transmission of academic information and the graphic beauty of form. This study examines the factors that influenced Makino’s botanical paintings and the commonalities in their formative elements through a systematic survey of his collection of botanical illustrations from the Edo Period (1603–1868). Mainly, botanical paintings by Untei Sekine and Sessai Hattori, both highly regarded natural history painters at the time, were compared and observed with Makino’s original drawings. The characteristics of each expression technique, such as brush strokes, woodblock printing, and copperplate printing, and the correlation between the figures were organized, focusing on line quality and drawing techniques using ultrafine brush strokes. As a result, we positioned Makino’s drawing method as “an eclectic drawing technique that combines Japanese brushstroke outlines with shading etching technique of Western copperplate printing.” It was pointed out that the movement of the brushstrokes in the natural history painters’ works gives a dynamic or static impression, depending on the artist, and that the artist adjusts the expression of the painting through the balance of the constant brushstrokes. Observation of the original drawings for the lithographs revealed traces of obsessive revision of the composition, indicating that the artist was a botanist who single-handedly engaged in a comprehensive graphic design process and that it was only through this approach that the expressive Makino style botanical drawings were established.

Hisui Sugiura (1875 –1965) was a pioneer graphic designer pivotal in establishing graphic design in pre-war Japan. Hisui’s wife, the poet and novelist Suiko Sugiura, was from the Iwasaki family, one of the long-established merchant families in Kawagoe (in Saitama Prefecture). In 2018, it came to light that some of Hisui’s graphic works and other goods were stored in Kawagoe for safekeeping during World War II (hereafter “evacuation objects”). This research catalogued the entirety of Hisui’s evacuation objects and analyzed them in parallel to the documentary evidence and the catalogue completed at Museum of Art, Ehime in 2012 to grasp a better picture of Hisui’s oeuvre.
Hisui and his wife evacuated to their second home in Karuizawa (in Nagano Prefecture) in 1944, so we can speculate that the evacuation objects (including luxury household items) were placed in Suiko’s family estate in Kawagoe around that time. Our exhaustive survey revealed that the number of objects evacuated there reached about 1,200 items. Among the items found in Kawagoe were 71 original sketches from his book 100 Flowers of Hisui (1920–22), providing insight into that unique artistic direction of his. Also, it became evident that the Kawagoe evacuation works contained only Hisui’s original designs and items from the family collection. Works related to Hisui’s first one-man show were also found.
Most likely, after the war Hisui gradually took most of the items he had stored in Kawagoe back to Tokyo. Thus, many of Hisui’s works now housed in the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo and The Museum of Art, Ehime were likely also evacuation objects stored in Kawagoe during the war.

In the early 20th century, people in many parts of the world campaigned for script reform in order to replace traditional writing systems with new ones, aiming to improve efficiency of the economy and society. One such movement occurred in Japan, known as the Kanamoji Association, which advocated for the ban on kanji and the exclusive use of katakana for writing the Japanese language. By analyzing the intellectual historical background behind the Kanamoji Association’s typographic choices, this article demonstrates how the cultural aspects of script reflected changing social and intellectual trends in interwar and wartime Japan. Firstly, in the early phase of the Kanamoji Association in the 1910s and the 1920s, their katakana typography was strongly influenced by European conventions and theories against a backdrop of Darwinism. Secondly, in the early 1930s, one of the Kanamoji Association activists recommended the typographic design inspired by the artistic movement that emphasized the beauty of machinery. Lastly, in the late 1930s, typographic design began to emphasize the role of the “Oriental spirit” and the traditions of Asian calligraphy, reflecting Japan’s military expansion in Asia at the time. The case study sheds light on the history of typographic design, not only as a subfield of art history, but also as a tool for examining social and intellectual history from a broader perspective.

In France in the 1950s, there was a growing interest in artistic replication. French artist Jean Fautrier developed his own printing technique and worked on ‘Les Originaux Multiples,’ allowing the multiple works to be produced per item. André Malraux, who published Le musée imaginaire in 1947, advocated a new way of appreciating works of art from all over the world, which was to compare them through photographic illustrations. Furthermore, UNESCO listed color reproductions, which led to the publication of a catalogue and a world touring exhibition of replicated the paintings.
This study aims not only to understand such attempts to popularise and universalise art in the context of the globalisation of art, but also to read into them the hitherto overlooked characteristics of French modernist art. Fautrier, Malraux and UNESCO were closely linked, and previous studies have read into Malraux’s and UNESCO’s attempts an ideological strategy for France’s cultural revival and interpreted it critically.
However, in this study revealed the process of French art becoming one of many other art genres through the UNESCO’s color reproduction project. It also finds commonalities between Malraux’s and Fautrier’s ideas on artistic reproduction and presents them as characteristic of French modernist art. This will reveal that in postwar France, artistic replication was an important point of intersection between modernist and postmodernist art.

The purpose of this research is to investigate Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) graphic culture’s marginalized representation in the American mainstream narrative and to provide supplementary documentation for this essential lesser-known graphic history. In particular, they are people of the diaspora, displaced from their homelands, transcending nostalgia for their lost culture, surviving on their own within the uniqueness of their individual culture, which has distilled within their bodies due to its loss, and the values of other cultures, constantly reincarnating (rebirth) many times amidst harsh conditions to bring forth new forms of expression into the world. The emphasis of this research on “corporeality” suggests the elucidation of “the embodied forms” of each artist and the positing of a movement as a countercultural group that does not belong to any one art faction. As a lead for this research, a series of interviews were carried out with notable BIPOC members to analyze various facets of BIPOC through its graphic arts, publications, media distribution, publicity, and the human rights movement and music movement concepts fostered as part of these activities. Regarding the research on indigenous communities, which corresponds to the “I” in BIPOC, only the preliminary research could be conducted. Field research has not been undertaken at this stage, thereby leaving this assignment to be completed for the next phase. Referrals from university professors in California and Louisiana, BIPOC design lecturers, and museum curators facilitated this invaluable fieldwork.

In this paper, I focus on the expression of blur phenomena called kasure found in Yumeji’s woodcut print of Minatoya Ezoshiten shop by investigating a sabi-carving technique, which makes that effect. Founded in 1914, Minatoya Ezoshiten was a vendor of daily necessities (such as chiyogami patterned-paper or designed envelopes) and artworks created with woodcarver’s techniques based on the original illustrations by Yumeji Takehisa (1884–1934), a painter/designer of the Taisho romanticism movement. Those prints, which I consider, contain elements that can be seen as kasure spots made by a Japanese dry painting brush, which I interpret as sabi created by traditional carvers. Invented and used in the Meiji Era, sabi-carving is to imitate the dry brush touches of calligraphic characters. Wood sculptors retain the block, showing effects resembling blurry calligraphic characters when viewed from a distance. Unfortunately, this method has become almost obsolete nowadays. Hence firstly, I begin by clarifying the complete form and characteristics of sabi-carving through an interview with Motoharu Asaka (1951–), one of the traditional carvers. Based on this research, the following part of the paper is dedicated to verifying the presence of sabi in Yumeji’s woodcut prints. Lastly, I compare and analyze both the facsimile version produced by Asaka and the original print to examine how artisans reproduce Yumeji’s art by woodcut techniques. At the same time, I compare Yanagiya’s prints that were created from the same block as Minatoya’s prints. Based on my analysis, I identify the features of sabi-carving that were developed through the combination of traditional woodcut techniques and the artistic influences of Yumeji, who enormously admired Western pictorial art.

This research focuses on illustration in the 1980s, specifically examining its cultural background and discourse during that time period.
The study begins by discussing Parco, a commercial establishment known for its cultural management strategy. Unlike traditional department stores that primarily focused on selling goods, Parco positioned itself as a space that emphasized the creation of a unique ambiance. Of particular interest are the Nippon Graphics Exhibitions organized by Parco from 1980 to 1991, which allowed public submissions and played a significant role in connecting the contemporary society with the field of illustration. By exploring these exhibitions, this research aims to shed light on the history of contemporary art in Japan, while also comparing it to other genres beyond art to provide a comprehensive perspective.
Based on this premise, the study examines the awareness and perceptions that influenced the activities of notable artists such as Katsuhiko Hibino and Tadanori Yokoo within the societal context of the 1980s. Additionally, the research investigates the opinions of other illustrators regarding the expressionistic trend prevalent in illustration during that era. Overall, this dissertation aims to demonstrate the dynamic relationship between illustration, culture, and capital in the 1980s

The Kamei brothers learned Western painting from the photographer and painter Matsusaburo Yokoyama, and were active at the print studio Gengendo. Through the publication and research of Tsutenro Nikki (Tsutenro Diary), a record of Tsutenro art school/photo studio, it was revealed that the two were involved not only in Western painting but also in photographing and developing photographs, and that Shiichi learned lithography production techniques. In addition, the publication of the diary of Noritane Ninagawa, who had connections to Yokoyama, Gengendo, and the Kamei brothers, made it clear that Ninagawa was particularly supportive to Takejiro’s oil painting production. From these peripheral records, it was possible to reflect many achievements in the chronology of the brothers.
As the dawn of modern Japanese art, boundaries between photography, oil painting, and lithography were not clear, and there were many artists who learned new techniques and skills with a strong interest and passion.
Based on the results of the exhibition “The Eyes Recorded a Time of Wealth: People Around the Meiji Era Painters, Brothers Shiichi and Takejiro Kamei” planned as the presentation of this research result, I will present the appeal of their photographs, oil paintings, and lithographs, and attempt to clarify the position of the Kamei brothers within these artistic mediums.

The engraving series Seven Petitions of Oratio Dominica with Seven Sacraments and Seven Virtues is now preserved at the Ibaraki Municipal Museum of Cultural Assets. Six plates had been discovered in around 1920 in certain regions of the city of Ibaraki, Osaka. It is known that the original series comprised eight plates that were created in Lyon in 1598 by Matthäus Grouter, an engraver from Straßburg. Utilizing the Manneristic method for moral visualization, he depicted the personification of each sacrament in a sizable figure that stands out prominently against a landscape. The figure and the inscriptions on both sides of it seem to express the ideas of the Catholic reformers. This series probably once functioned as an instructional guide for the practice of the rituals of the sacraments, and the Ibaraki version was altered for use by missionaries in Asia. It is unique in its depiction of the sacrament of Marriage, no equivalent of which has so far been found among any versions preserved in European institutes. The original ordering of the series by a specific religious group remains unknown, but it might have been the Jesuits who brought it to Japan, specifically to the area around Osaka Castle. At that time the ban on Christianity that had been imposed by the Tokugawa Shogunate was growing ever stricter, but numerous Catholics were still active inside the castle. The series presents the image of a woman who seems to be directing the ritual, and although this just reflects the grammatical-gender system of European languages, it might have helped ensure that the series was received in a friendly way by high-ranking women.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of Medical Illustrations (MI) on comprehending the information and maintaining knowledge of medical content with the goal of providing accurate cancer information for laypersons. Medical information, including cancer and other diseases, has become increasingly complex due to the rapid progress of medicine and technology these days. Under such background, some misinterpretations have arisen, leading to crucial problems, as seen during the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, what is required to convey correct information authentically. Then, MIs are getting attention as a tool for conveying information quickly and accurately. MIs have already been used wildly in Western countries, but there are still some technical issues to address for example, what kind of representation details contribute to boosting a layperson’s comprehension (e.g., whether it should be drawn realistically or schematically). We made the hypothesis that appropriate MIs for medical information would contribute to improving health literacy which is the ability to select, understand, and act on accurate medical information. Therefore, the purpose of this study that to solve technical problems in the depiction method of MIs that contributes to comprehension and knowledge retention focusing on information on cancer, which affects one out of every two Japanese people in life their lifetime.
The survey results have already been published in an international academic journal. This bulletin aims to delve into the MIs issues that were not covered in the original paper, fostering further discussions.

This study investigates the artist Kikuo Mori (1944 –2015) and the magazines published by Mori’s Form, an art space that Mori operated in Osaka and Los Angeles in the early 1970s. Among the four types of magazines published by Mori’s Form, this study focuses on the art-centered monthly magazine Jam & Butter (1971–73 and 1975). The paper discusses why printed matters were chosen in the first place, its role as a “paper gallery,” and Japan-U.S. exchanges, particularly interactions between art and artists from the U.S.’s West Coast and Japan’s Kansai region. Sections 1 and 2 introduces the nearly forgotten Mori and Mori’s Form. Section 3 lays out an overview of Mori’s Form as a small press and the impetus behind this move, while introducing its publications including Jam & Butter. Section 4 examines Jam & Butter’s key articles to elucidate the magazine’s unique format and significance. The following Section 5 attempts to historicize Jam & Butter by locating it within the crossroads of Los Angeles’s experimental prints and artists’ books, Asian American activists’ newsletters that emerged due to the Vietnam War, and the journal of the Gutai Art Association, some of its members mentored Mori. The final section considers Jam & Butter.While maintaining the function of a paper gallery, the magazine itself was a work of art, an artistic experiment, and an alternative space away from physical limitations to form a discursive site specific art.

A wall chart is a large educational illustration displayed on a classroom blackboard or wall. At first, wall charts were produced by the Ministry of Education and the Tokyo Normal School. However, the Ministry of Education did not compile and publish them from 1887 to 1904, leaving this activity to private companies. Printing companies and publishers were to publish “private educational charts for schools” for each subject. This paper analyzes the natural history, science, and Japanese history wall charts among the “private educational wall charts for schools” and clarifies the characteristics of these wall charts. As a result, the wall charts Hakubutsu-zu published by the Ministry of Education in the early Meiji Era (1868 –1912) consisted of enumerated specimen drawings. In contrast, the wall charts Hakubutsu-Shuran-Seizu published by the Tokyo Zogakan included scientific names and depicted characteristic ecological features, adding a scientific perspective. Private companies have had difficulty obtaining original Japanese history wall charts. Therefore, Fukyu-sha employed a historical painter named Tomoto Kobori, who was also a scholar of ancient Japanese customs (Yu-soku-ko-jitsu). However, his brush strokes differed from the originals. The Historiographical Institute of the College of Letters of the Tokyo Imperial University published Rekishi-ka Kyoju-yo Sanko Kakezu with advanced printing technology. They are based on the original, with the presumed intention of unifying the iconographic representation of history. Some of the ""private educational wall charts for schools” were undeniably crudely printed. However, they have supplemented the wall charts published by the Ministry of Education.

The photographs contained in the archives are usually made available for public access and use as per the disclosure guidelines of the institutions that hold the materials, and the agreements made with donors and other parties, in accordance with laws such as the Copyright Act and the Act on the Protection of Personal Information. However, archives owned by individuals or private organizations are often provided without special consideration for portraiture or privacy rights. Among these photos, there is a certain number that they hesitate to publish, depending on the subject and the content of the photo.
This study examines the methodology for converting photographs into cultural resources with a view to their publication and utilization in archives and the nature of the consideration given to the subjects. We attempted to examine the resource and decisions regarding public access based on the content and background information of the photographs taken, as well as how they should be made available to the public, focusing on regional photographs, including those of traditional events and rituals in Japan and abroad taken between 1970 and the 1980s by photographer Yasuo Higa, who is known for his documentation of the Okinawan ritual world. In reviewing the decision to release the photos, we used the guidelines for portrait rights released in 2021 by the Japan Society for Digital Archive.

In this research, I investigated about 860 pastel paintings that Kyohei Sakaguchi (1978–) has been drawing every day since May 2020, and constructed an archive that will serve as basic materials for future research.
Considering Sakaguchi’s diverse range of activities, there already exists an archive created by the artist himself. As a starting point, this research aimed to get a glimpse of the whole creative days from pastel paintings. The items in the archive are foundational, and I tried to create an environment in which individual practices can be subject to more objective research. At the same time, I analyzed the meaning of basic items that arise when I focus on Sakaguchi’s pastel paintings. I identified pastel painting motifs and trends such as “landscape,” “still life,” “person,” “cat,” “family,” “self-portrait,” and “abstract” from May 2020 to the end of November 2022. In constructing and publishing the archive, my goal was to make it accessible to everyone from individuals to researchers. By constructing an archive, I raised a group of works that are difficult to follow in their entirety because many of them have been dispersed to private collections.

Hiroshi Komiyama, a typeface designer and researcher of type history, traced how the formation of Mincho style, the basic typeface of Japanese characters was established in Europe, and clarified the process of its spread to Japan, using historical material he collected during his research. In June 2019 the material he had collected was donated to the Yokohama History Museum, and the catalogue of the Hiroshi Komiyama Collection was made available to the public on the museum's website in April 2022. The collection consists of 2,649 items, which cover a wide range of areas, but the most distinctive feature lies in the collection of 312 books of type specimen of Japanese, Chinese, and Western languages. In order to make good use of the Komiyama Collection, we have decided to create a list of hiragana and katakana typeface based on these type specimen books.
Komiyama once worked on the List of Mincho Typeface: 1820–1946 (2 vols.), in 1999. But it was a list of typefaces for Chinese characters only. In contrast, the proposed list contains hiragana and katakana typefaces collected from 94 selected type specimen books. The list came out as a searchable digital database and was made accessible on the museum’s website in January 2023.