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[DESIGN] Sugiura HISUI, designer : MITSUKOSHI, MITSUKOSHI TIMES, & O^SAKA MITSUKOSHI, 44 ISSUES

[DESIGN] Sugiura HISUI, designer. MITSUKOSHI; MITSUKOSHI TIMES; O^SAKA MITSUKOSHI To^kyo^ & O^saka, 1908-1923. Western-style magazines, 24.9 x 18.4 cm, decorated wrappers. Lovely covers, most by Sugiura Hisui [1876- 1965] or designed under his supervision. Hisui is the most important figure in the development of Japanese commercial art in the 20th century, the progenitor of "Taisho^ Chic" and a force to be reckoned with as a practical designer at Mitsukoshi and an educator at the Japan School of Art, the Imperial School of Fine Art and the Tama Imperial School of Art which he co-founded. He even spent two years in Europe in the early 20s, researching design. He created many portfolios of design examples for professionals, wrote treatises on the principles of design and was a tireless creator of posters and magazine covers. He began work at Mitsukoshi in 1908 as a design consultant in charge of cover art for the house organ, MITSUKOSHI TIMES. When MITSUKOSHI magazine began in 1912, he had already been promoted to head of design for the company a year earlier and stayed in that position for decades. His artwork graced the covers of many magazines over the years, but it was his work for MITSUKOSHI and MITSUKOSHI TIMES and O^SAKA MITSUKOSHI that began his design career. We are offering here a group of issues of those magazines, most with his brilliant cover art. The magazines, as a form of trade catalog and guide to fashion for the well-heeled clientele of Mitsukoshi department store, were intrinsically ephemeral. They are hefty magazines, a vade mecum for the bon ton, with pictures of summer frocks, kimono fabrics, morning coats, shoes - with instructions on how they should be cleaned, stored, worn. With pictures and prices and order sheets. Useful and used, then thrown away, they are seldom found today. A gathering of this size is quite unusual, especially as it begins with issues of MITSUKOSHI TIMES from 1908 - the year that Hisui took over design reponsibilities for the house organ. The issues: MITSUKOSHI TIMES 11 issues from 1908-13 (Oct & Nov, Meiji 41 {1908}; V.8, #s 4 & 6; V.10, #s 9 & 11; V.11, #s 4, 7, 11 & 14 V.12, #3). MITSUKOSHI 31 issues from 1912-1923 (V.2, #4; V.4 #s 5, 6, 7 & 8; V.5 #s 4, 5, 7 & 8; V.6 #s 2 & 11; V.7 #s 6, 7 & 8; V.8, #s 2, 3, 4, 5 & 7; V.9 #s 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 & 12; V.10 #s 4, 6 & 12; V.11 #11`; V.12 #3; V.13 #6). O^SAKA MITSUKOSHI 2 issues, V.4, Fine

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