CASSANDRE / Cassandre

It's strange, older Japanese books on the subject often have a more rustic feel, but this one, dealing with Cassandre, a master of poster art, is beautifully done. The strength of this book is that you can really delve into it in Japanese, and through him, I was able to learn about the aesthetics and philosophy of popular art. What's amazing about him is that he came from a wealthy family and was free to pursue art, yet he still won poster competitions. A friend said, "Your current paintings aren't quite there yet, but they'll work in the world of posters." I can only think that his high level of self-awareness worked perfectly in poster art, where the job is to communicate to everyone. But the book is overflowing with thoughts on how he pursued "how to make it art" after that, and you can understand the intention behind each expression. This will be a very valuable reading experience for both the viewer and the creator.