Japan Moderne: Design Gems from the 1920s and ’30s

Fans of The Complete Commercial Artist will fawn over this postcard set featuring some of the journal’s most appealing designs.

This set of 40 postcards features 20 favorite designs from a spectacular sourcebook of Deco-era Japanese design. Launched in the late 1920s, The Complete Commercial Artist (Gendai shogyo bijutsu zenshu) showcased work by Japan’s early design visionaries in 24 volumes discussing posters, window displays, lighted signs and more. The colorful selections featured in this stationery set include a dashing dalmatian and handsome hat rack, as well as designs for radios and pens, adorable cat-shaped arches, geometric character designs and modernist illustrations with jazz performers and bob-haired women prepping for a night on the town. With artwork by Sugiura Hisui, Murayama Tomoyoshi, Hamada Masuji and other leading graphic artists of the era, these retro postcards deliver a pop of mailable moderne in a keepsake box