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Paper short abstract:

I will explore the influence of Japanese matchbox labels on the work by artists who were essential to the collaborative spirit of the 1960s. Akasegawa Genpei, who stressed the idea of collectivity, and Yokoo Tadanori, who praised the anonymity of the craftsmen in opposition to modernist authorship.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I will outline the influence of Japanese matchbox labels on popular culture from the end of the 19th Century to the 1970s. I will demonstrate how this apparently insignificant object changed the concept of design in Japan from the mid-1960s, contributing to the appearance of a Japanese style "pop design" perfectly recognizable even today. Reacting against modernism and abstraction, several artists of that period turned to the exploration of a "traditional popular culture" and directed their attention towards Meiji period matchbox labels, that were mostly and anonymously made by craftsmen who had to adjust their skills to the newly emerging sectors after the industrialization of Japan.

After considering some socio-economic issues related to the matchbox industry, I will focus on the work by artists of the 1960s such as Akasegawa Genpei and Yokoo Tadanori, whose poster designs were inspired by matchbox labels, not only visually but also conceptually. Yokoo Tadanori praised the anonymity of the craftsmen in opposition to modernist authorship and Akasegawa Genpei created the Alliance of Revolutionary Match Activists, thus stressing the idea of collectivity. Both artists, whose art became a turning point in the aesthetics of Japanese design, were also active in the underground theatre movement, and they became essential figures to understand the collaborative spirit of the 1960s and 1970s.

Between these collaborations, I will focus on the posters that Yokoo Tadanori designed for the theatre troupe Tenjo Sajiki, founded by Terayama Shuji, whose works of poetry, cinema, and theatre also use elements such as matches and matchboxes. Finally, I will analyze the link between matchboxes and art under the light of critic Ishiko Junzo, who stressed the importance of matchbox labels in the formation of a kitsch spirit that is essential to understand Japanese popular culture.