MUNETSUGU SATOMI (1900-1995) JAPAN. 1937.

39x25 inches. Seihan Printing Co., Osaka.
Condition A-: repaired tears in margins; minor creases in image.
In the years following the First World War, Paris was still considered the center of the art world, and artists from all over the globe came to settle there. From as far away as Japan came the painters Foujita and Ogiss as well as the graphic designer Satomi. He arrived in 1922, and was quickly recognized as an exceptional talent. He was lucky enough to work for a little while with Cassandre in his studio, and the master's influence on the young Japanese artist is clear. He went on to a successful career, fielding commissions both in France and Japan. In this poster for the Japanese Tourist Board, Satomi is free from any artistic influences (with the exception, perhaps, of futurism) and he creates a strong, personal impression of a speeding train--impressively fast, yet still enormously beautiful. Satomi's image manages to compliment both Japanese technical prowess and the glory of the countryside at the same time. From the window of a speeding train (not seen but implied by the silver rail and brown tracks), all of the landscape begins to blur; visible are a blue lake, green hills, brown telegraph poles, a Japanese flag and the pink blur of a cherry tree in full blossom. Voyage p. 51, Reclame 83, Art Deco 85.