Abstract
This article introduces a survey of printing techniques employed for posters in the Ikko Tanaka Archives conducted by the DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion over a period of two years starting in 2013, to serve as a basic study for future research. Ikko Tanaka (1930-2002), one of Japan's most renowned graphic designers, created more than 2,700 posters in his lifetime. The second half of the twentieth century, when he produced a huge number of posters, was a period when the poster culture in Japan, which started at the end of the nineteenth century, reached full maturity. However, hitherto, research on Japanese postwar posters has not been conducted on a scale similar to that of the present survey. In this survey, we examined the printing techniques, printing company, and paper adopted by Tanaka for each of his posters. The poster occupies a unique position in the realm of graphic design because it fits between design and fine art or craft, if defined as a functional art for use in public relations. We believe that a comprehensive study of this unique printing art is significant for future research and for its understanding.
