Japanese Culture of the Postwar Years 1945-1995
Tadanori Yokoo
Japanese, born 1936
1996
A silkscreen poster by Tadanori Yokoo that mixes pop, psychedelic, and propaganda imagery to stage a provocative reflection on Japanese culture from 1945 to 1995.
At first glance it reads like a loud collage-shrine: a red‑dominant palette and rising‑sun rays frame fluttering Japanese flags above a grotesque, red‑eyed stone figure and—below it—a cropped black‑and‑white torso with cartoonish teardrop eyes and bright lips, while an oversized central eye, city silhouettes, and scattered kitsch objects jostle for attention.
By fusing traditional motifs, commercial graphics, and surreal montage, Yokoo’s poster helped redefine the poster as a medium for negotiating postwar Japanese identity, memory, and the tensions between popular culture and politics.
Medium
Silkscreen
Dimensions
40 9/16 x 28 3/4" (103.1 x 72.8 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the designer
Accession
279.1998
Palette
Exhibitions
