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Description: Wearing Propaganda: Textiles on the Home Front in Japan, Britain, and the United...
Foreword
Author
PublisherBard Graduate Center
PublisherYale University Press
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Foreword, Acknowledgments, and A Brief Reader’s Guide
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Description: Handkerchief, Be Cautious, Be Careful
Handkerchief, “Be Cautious, Be Careful.” Britain, 1940s. Printed cotton; 10¾ × 11 in. Collection Imperial War Museum, London (acc. no. EPH3987)

Slogans were popular design components for propaganda designs in Britain and the United States. Designers often used texts from government propaganda campaigns or created variations on the concept, as in this example, which reflects the Careless Talk Costs Lives campaign.
I first saw the Japanese textiles that inspired this exhibition when I was in Japan doing research on quilting as an object lesson in cultural exchange. From time to time, as I visited flea markets and antique-textile shops, I would come across textiles and kimono with military motifs that seemed to me rather extraordinary, unlike any that I had seen before in Japan or elsewhere. I discovered that most of these textiles dated from the 1930s and early 1940s and that they were Home Front propaganda relics of the Asia-Pacific War, which ran from 1931 to 1945. I also discovered that they were virtually unknown in the West (and not much better known in Japan, except among a few textile aficionados), yet they seemed to me to offer a unique window into the culture of war on the Home Front.
My initial studies focused only on the Japanese textiles, but two concerns prompted me to broaden my research to other countries. First, it soon became clear that the Japanese textiles were not isolated phenomena but had substantial counterparts elsewhere in the wartime years. I decided at that point to expand my research to those countries most closely involved through military or political action in the Asia-Pacific conflict, and the United States and Britain met these criteria. Germany and Italy were allies of Japan, but these countries played a subsidiary rather than a major role in the Asia-Pacific War. China could be considered a logical candidate for inclusion, but as Japan occupied significant sections of eastern China from 1937 to 1945, it was highly unlikely that textiles reflecting sentiments against the occupier would have been produced in this period. Additionally, China was, at the time, fighting not one war but two, one internal (Nationalists vs. the Communists) and one external (Japan), leaving few resources for the production of propaganda.
A second concern involved the issue of stereotyping. With any study involving propaganda—and particularly wartime propaganda—it is all too easy to focus on one issue or one country to the exclusion of others and thus demonize the idea or country involved. My goal here was not to single out one country—Japan—for its wartime actions but rather to further understanding of the broad-based civilian support of the cultural values of nations at war and what promoted and sustained that support. Thus, a study of how textiles were used as propaganda in several countries would not only provide a broad-based cultural comparison but would also help to defuse the issue of demonization of any one participant.
During the five years I have been studying these textiles, I have examined nearly one thousand pieces, either firsthand or through photographs sent to me by people who had heard of and taken some interest in the topic. Of these, nearly two-thirds are Japanese, with the reminder split almost equally between British and American examples. Given the lack of formal documentation and records on these textiles in all three countries, I have not been able to determine an absolute number of propaganda designs created, much less the quantities actually produced. However, the numbers of textiles I have documented indicate that they were produced in a wide range of designs and that the overall yardage manufactured was likely to have been substantial.1An article in Women’s Wear Daily (6 July 1941) indicates that Jacqmar had taken orders for some 45,000 yards of textiles after a summer showing. The order included a number of different types of fabrics, but one of the featured items was a propaganda design (“London Wall”). Other similar news items indicate that substantial amounts of these textiles were being sold overseas. Ongoing communications with collectors, dealers, textile researchers, and museum personnel have made it clear that what I have documented to date is far from encompassing the entire universe of propaganda textiles for this period. It is, in fact, more like the tip of an iceberg, and both time and interest will eventually bring far more of these textiles into view.2Even as I was writing this piece, for example, I received a note from a dealer and collector in Japan who told me she had located some forty more examples of propaganda textiles with designs that I had not seen. Although this does not necessarily bring us closer to establishing absolute numbers of designs or quantities produced, it does serve to underscore their existence as a legitimate genre and not simply an erratic bump in the textile landscape.
When I started this research, I did not expect it to have the resonance it now has. I had approached the subject of propaganda textiles as a fascinating intellectual exercise in using material culture as a way of gaining insight into another time and another culture—the culture of war as reflected in three countries that were primary players in the life-shaping events of the time. Today, however, in a post-9/11 world, it has taken on a greater significance, and the window that has been opened offers a further opportunity to place current events against the past and to compare the artifacts of yesterday’s material culture to those now being developed.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This exhibition and book would never have come to pass without the enthusiasm, encouragement, and contributions of many individuals along the way, and it is difficult to know where to start with my thanks. Not least do I owe a great debt of gratitude to Susan Weber Soros for her ability to see the exciting possibilities in this little-known group of textiles and for her willingness to take a chance on an even lesser-known quantity, the guest curator, when she agreed to have the Bard Graduate Center sponsor the exhibition. She has been impressively supportive all along the way, and I hope that this final product will fulfill her expectations.
I am especially grateful to the authors of the essays in this book, many of whom, knowing little or nothing about me when I first approached them, were so excited about the project that they were willing to take me on faith and agreed to become part of it immediately. I remember calling on John Dower, a professor at MIT and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose writing I admired greatly, with some degree of trepidation, but his enthusiastic reception of this project erased all the intimidation I had initially felt. He has since served as a mentor through the various stages of this project, and his sound guidance and suggestions have contributed much to its development.
It has also been a delight to work with Beverly Gordon, Kashiwagi Hiroshi, Pat Kirkham, Marianne Lamonaca, Antonia Lant, Paul Rennie, and Wakakuwa Midori, and they have definitely helped me to expand my knowledge base in the process. The additional dimensions they have given to this volume greatly exceeded even my high hopes, and I will be forever grateful for their perceptive comments and help in making this volume a reality. Miyuki Otaka, with whom I coauthored a chapter in this volume, deserves a special note of appreciation, not only for her scholarly efforts but also for her work with me in the early stages of the project. She made contacts then that have proved invaluable and was instrumental in locating several textiles that now appear in this exhibition. She also has done much of the work involved on an ongoing study of proposals lodged with the Japanese Patent Office for objects with propaganda imagery in the 1930s and early 1940s, and I am immensely grateful for her contributions. Yumiko Yamamori, another good friend and colleague, not only provided skill and expertise in development of the timeline, but she also worked with me on translating much of the text on the Japanese textiles. I have much appreciated—and relied on—her excellent research and organizational skills, as well as her cogent insights and suggestions for this work.
The exhibition would not have been possible without the cooperation of many private lenders who were willing to allow their textile treasures to be included, and so to tell their stories to us. These include, in Japan, Hirai Sachiko, Nagata Ranko (Lunco), and Tanaka Yoku in Tokyo; Ichida Hiromi, Kawasaki Eichiro (Shiorian), and Morikawa Jun-ichi (Kogire-kai Auction House) in Kyoto; Okunishi Michiko and Makoto in Osaka; Sasagawa Taroh and his delightful family in Niigata; Kanadomi Chizuko (Mahoroba) in Kyushu; Kozuka Kazuko in Saitama; and Minoru, Akemi, and Atsushi Narita in Yokohama. Private lenders in the United States include Teresa Barkley, New Jersey; Nancy Lee Chong, Washington; Don Cohn, New York and Hong Kong; and John Weber, New York. Those in Britain include Paul and Karen Rennie, Diana Harrison, Roger Smither and Renée Schnierer, Alan Marcuson and Diane Hall, all in London. Geoff Rayner and Richard Chamberlain of Target Gallery, also in London, lent several wonderful pieces for the exhibition and catalogue and also located the producer of the dramatic Basuto blanket made for the British colonial market. Tim Lever, son of Jacqmar chief designer Arnold Lever, shared with me not only his father’s archival documents and textile designs but also his home during the period I was engrossed in reviewing the wealth of material his father had left. He and his charming wife, Elaine, cosseted my husband and me so well that they were very lucky we had other obligations to meet, else I would surely have succumbed to temptation and found a reason to review the material several times over in order to prolong our stay!
Institutional lenders include, in the United States, the Allentown Art Museum in Allentown, Pennsylvania; the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and the New-York Historical Society, all in New York City; and in Britain, the Imperial War Museum, the Museum of London, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, all in London.
A tremendous amount of work needs to be done in putting any exhibition together, and many people are involved in seeing that everything comes together in the right way and at the right time. I am enormously grateful for the encouragement and patience of Nina Stritzler-Levine, BGC Exhibitions Director, as she guided me through the curatorial process, and for the calm presence and dedication of Olga Valle Tetkowski, BGC Exhibitions Curator, as we worked through the many issues that arose in preparing the exhibition and the catalogue. Cathy Maguire and Ian Sullivan were crucial to the creation of an exhibition design that was both exciting and coherent, and I much appreciate their ability to solve design problems with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of good nature. Those abilities were equally characteristic of all the BGC exhibitions staff, and I want to extend my appreciation to Manal Abu-Shaheen, Cindy Kang, and Han Vu for their help with this project. I also much appreciated the help of work-study students Alexis Mucha and Laura Stern. Linda Stubbs, Registrar, was another crucial player, one who managed to remain cool, collected, and organized through the many revisions of the exhibition checklist and who dealt with grace with all lenders. Barbara Burn proved the best of editors, and I am indebted to her for her perceptive suggestions that helped to make this a far better book and for her endless patience in solving sticky editorial problems. The staff of the Development Department, Susan Wall and Brian Keliher, are also to be congratulated for their work in finding a group of generous donors for the exhibition. My thanks, too, to Bonnie Poon for her role in developing a series of public programs that will beautifully complement the exhibition. The research for this exhibition also served as the basis for my doctoral dissertation, and my appreciation also goes to my BGC mentors, Pat Kirkham and Ken Ames, for their guidance and encouragement along the way. I am also indebted to the Bard Research Travel Fund for its support as I worked my way through the many international contacts that needed to be made.
Several people have been especially important to the success of this project, and chief among these is Akemi Narita, both friend and colleague, whom I have dubbed “my secret weapon in Japan.” She is a natural communicator and I have seen no one who can resist her. Not only has she given generously of her time and skill as an interpreter and translator, but she has also managed to accomplish every task I set before her, whether it was locating a collector when all I had was a name to start with, gaining access to information in numerous textile companies, finding obscure bits of information that helped to give depth and character to my study, or organizing the transport of some forty boxes of textiles from various collectors around Japan to one location for a photo shoot. I cannot give her enough recognition and thanks for the work she has done on this project. I also want to thank her husband, Minoru, and son, Atsushi, for their good nature for the many times they did not get homecooked meals because Akemi was too busy with projects for me.
Sumiko Iwao, sponsor and mentor for my work in Japan on a Fulbright research grant in 1995–96, has also been of immense help and has my ongoing thanks. She generously provided a home away from home in Tokyo, and her many contacts in government and academia were also very helpful in locating information from the wartime years.
Developing this project has truly been a multicultural, international endeavor, and I cannot begin to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to all who gave so generously of their time, ideas, and encouragement along the way. In the United States, my thanks to Aaron Herald Skabelund, for sharing with me his research for his Ph.D. dissertation on dogs in Japan, and to Louise Young, for elucidating further points in her provocative work Japan’s Total Empire and providing me with some valuable sources for information about children in wartime Japan. Ted and Haruko Cook were also generous in sharing their time and information from oral histories they had conducted in Japan. Ted especially was able to provide elucidation about army issues that were quite useful in informing my ideas. My thanks to my brother-in law, Sidney Atkins, for applying his significant language skills to the translation of the catalogue essays submitted in Japanese and his computer abilities to developing the maps included in this volume (and in my dissertation). His extensive knowledge of Japan and Japanese history also proved invaluable when I needed obscure sources identified. Thanks also to Kendall Brown, California State University at Long Beach; Ellen Conant, New York; Susan Faeder, Quilters’ Express, New York; Carol Gluck, Columbia University, New York; Rabbit Goody, Thistle Hill Weavers, Cherry Valley, N.Y.; Marilyn Henrion, New York; Mary Hunt Kalhenberg, TAI Gallery, Santa Fe; Marilynn Karp, New York University; Desirée Koslin, F.I.T., New York; Julia Meech, New York; Pat Mulhoon, Oneonta; Richard and Virginia Petree, Bronxville, N.Y.; Henry Smith, Columbia University, New York; and Leila Wice, St. Louis.
I am especially grateful to Mary Schoeser, an independent researcher who divides her time between Britain and the United States and was instrumental in helping me make some crucial British contacts, and to Dr. Phillip Sykas, Textiles and Fashion Department, Manchester Metropolitan University, for sharing with me his prodigious knowledge of textiles. The time I spent discussing propaganda textiles with him was stimulating and enlightening, and he was an invaluable resource for some of the more obscure imagery in the Western textiles, as well as for textile examples and literature references I might never have found on my own. I also want to extend my sincere appreciation to the Pasold Research Fund for awarding me a grant that helped make possible the important first phase of my research in Britain.
In Japan, Emiko Toda Loeb, an incredibly talented fiber artist who splits her time between New York and Kyoto, was invaluable in providing me with contact information that led to important collectors and lenders to the exhibition. I am also indebted to her and her mother, Toda Miyoko, in Kyoto for arranging one of the focus groups that provided so much useful background information on wartime life in Japan. I also owe Yumiko Yamamori and her charming mother, Yamamori Tokiko, an equal debt for arranging a similar focus group in Yokohama. The women that participated in both groups-Kitazawa Kikuko, Unosawa Teiko, and Watanabe Sayoko in Yokohama, and Miyamoto Tami, Suita Setsuko, Isoda Yoshie, and Enoki Hisae in Kyoto–provided a personal dimension to the project that it otherwise would not have had. Others in Japan whose help I much appreciated include Fujisawa Mitsuko, Tokyo; Ann Herring, Tokyo; Higuchi Seiji and Shizuko (Isezaki meisen); Igaki Yoshiko, Tokyo; Imamura Eiko, Tokyo; Inui Yoshiko, Hokkaido; Ito Noriyuki, Tokyo; Iwakura Reiho, Kanazawa: Katsura Shoten, Kyoto; Kawashima Hiromi, Nagano; H. Kiraku, Kanezawa; Kitada Masahiro, Tokyo; Minei Sumiko, Tokyo; Miura Izumi Antique Lomono-ta Miura, Tokyo; Morita Norimichi, Fukuoka; Morita Tadashi, Morita Antiques, Tokyo; Nagamoto Tsukasa, Antiques Etalage, Tokyo; Nohara Chuck, Pencil Points, Ltd., Tokyo; Ohta Atsuko, Tokyo, whose patience with my many requests for help and assistance as an interpreter and translator was especially appreciated; Ono Tsutomu, Kanagawa; Barbarine Rich, Tokyo; Usui Naruo (Ise momen); Marianne Yamaguchi, Tokyo; and Yoshida Sachiko, Tokyo. I would also like to give special thanks to Seto Tabanobu, President of Nihon Vogue and the Japan Handicraft Instructors Association, for his ongoing support of and interest in my work.
Many, many others—curators, researchers, collectors, dealers, textile historians, archivists, and more—contributed to this project at every step of the way, and all showed a level of support, encouragement, and enthusiasm that was extraordinary and exceptionally gratifying. I offer my heartfelt thanks to the following for their part in helping to give this project a depth and dimension that otherwise would have been lacking: In Japan: Bunka Gakuen Library, Tokyo: Sato Toshiko. Chiso, Kyoto: Nishimura Sohzaemon. Edo-Tokyo Museum, Tokyo: Kobayashi Junichi. Fukushima Museum, Fukushima: Saji Yukari. Himeji City Museum of Art, Himeji: Hirase Reita. International Christian University Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Museum, Tokyo: Hara Reiko. Staff of the Inai Kimono Shop, Osaka. Kata-Yūzen Exhibition Hall, Kanazawa: Ichizuka Tamotsu. Kawashima, Kyoto: Kiyonobu Sandou. Kodansha Archives, Tokyo: Honma Zenei. Kokusai Art, Tokyo: Higuchi Toshiyuki. Kyoto Textile Research Institute, Kyoto: Fujii Kenzō. Matsuzakaya Archives, Nagoya: Kikuchi Mitsuo. Mitsukoshi Archives, Tokyo: Chigusa Hideaki. National Museum of Japanese History, Sakura: Maruyama Nobuhiko. National Museum of Western Art: Terashima Yoko. NHK: Takahashi Minako. Nihon Seni Shinbun, Tokyo: Furuhashi Haruo. Staff at Ochanomizu Library, Tokyo. Otsuma Women’s University Library, Tokyo: Ms. Ishikawa. Seitoku Memorial Gallery, Tokyo. Staff at the Shufu no Tomo Archives, Tokyo. Tatsumura, Kyoto: Shirai Susumu. Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum: Okatsuka Akiko. The Ueda Kimono Company, Tokyo: Ueda Mie and her staff. In Britain: The Archive of Art and Design, London: Eva White. Imperial War Museum, London: Annemarie Bruseker, Birgit Dohrendorf, Alan Jeffreys, David Penn, Fergus Read, Jenny Wood. Liberty of London Archive, London: Anna Buruma. Manchester Archives & Local Studies, Manchester: Katharine Taylor. The Macclesfield Museums Trust, Macclesfield: Louanne Collins, Kate Reeder. Museum of London, London: Antonia Charlton, Julie Cochrane, Oriole Cullen, Edwina Ehrman, Jenny Lister, Sarah Williams. The staff at Platt House, Manchester. Royal College of Art, London: Jeremy Aynsley. Victoria and Albert Museum, London: Frances Benton, Anna Jackson, Mirella Lord, David Packer, Linda Parry, Roxanne Peters, Charlotte Samuels, Sonnet Stanfill, Rebecca Wallace, Jennifer Wearden, Verity Wilson, David Wright. In the United States: Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, Pa.: Sofia Bakis, former curators Michelle Boardman and Ruta Saliklis, David Brigham, Christine Oaklander, Carl Shafer. American Textile History Museum, Lowell, Mass.: Diane Fagan Affleck, Michael Smith. The Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of American Design of the Smithsonian Institution, New York: Barbara Bloemink, Jill Bloomer, Lucy Commoner, Barbara Duggan, Steven Langehough, Matilda McQuaid, Paul Thompson. The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Amy Beil, Shannon Bell Price, Harold Koda, Alex Kowalski. Cotsen Collection: Miriam Katz. Fashion Institute of Technology, New York: Lynn Felsher, Desirée Koslin. Honolulu Academy of Art: Reiko Brandon. Staff at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Tatiana Chetnik, Deanna Cross, Nestor Montilla. The Museum of the City of New York: Phyllis Magidson. Staff at the National Archives, College Park, Md. Museum of Fine Art, Boston: Anne Nishimura Morse, Tomoko Okamura. The National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.: Doris Bowman. Newark Museum, Newark, N.J.: Valrae Reynolds. New-York Historical Society: David Burnhauser, Jennifer Jensen, Marybeth Kavanagh, Jill Reichenbach, Denni Stone, Nicole Wells. Philadelphia Museum of Art: Dilys Blum. Mitchell Wolfson Collection: Mary Kramer. The Wolfsonian-Florida International University, Miami: Kim Bergen, Nick Blaga, Marianne Lamonaca, Cathy Maguire, Claudia Mendoza, Silvia Ros, Sarah Schleuning. The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick: Philip Cate, Wendy White.
Visuals were crucial for this project, and an exceptionally large amount of original photography was required, as many of the textiles had never before been shown or photographed. For their fine work in this area, I want to extend my special thanks to the photographer for most of the pieces in Japan, Nakagawa Tadaaki (Artec Studio), Yamashina, and his delightful and skillful assistants, Mino Izumi, Akashi Sae, and Soeda Mari; and to Bruce White, New Jersey, who photographed many of the British and American pieces (and also some Japanese ones) held privately in London, Beachampton, and New York. Additional thanks also to Watanabe Wataru, Kyoto; Minami Takamasa (S & T Photo), Tokyo; and Karen Bell, New York, for their photographic work on this project.
Not least do I want to thank my husband, Edward Atkins, for his many contributions to this project, from providing new ways of thinking about issues to carrying bags of textiles and research material over three continents. I would not have been able to accomplish half as much without his enthusiastic support and firm belief in this project. His patience and humor throughout the course of both my dissertation research and work on the catalogue and exhibition have been admirable, and his ability to move me along when I seemed to be stuck in place has been impressive. He has, as always, my devotion and my love.
Finally, I would like to dedicate this book to Herbert Passin, whose death in 2003 deprived me of mentor, dissertation advisor, and friend. He was one of the first with whom I discussed this project, and it was his support and commitment that encouraged me to pursue it. He is greatly missed.
Permission has been sought for the use of all copyrighted graphics and illustrations used in this volume. In several instances, in spite of extensive search efforts, it has not been possible to locate the original copyright holders. Copyright owners of these works should contact the Bard Graduate Center, 18 West 86th Street, New York, NY 10024.
Jacqueline M. Atkins
Guest Curator
A BRIEF READER’S GUIDE: In citing names of Japanese nationals throughout this volume I have followed the Japanese order of surname followed by given name. I have, however, used the Western convention of given name followed by surname in those cases where Japanese living outside of Japan have chosen to follow the Western order. I have also followed the general Japanese preference for referring to emperors by their reign names; hence, Hirohito is known as the Shōwa emperor, or the emperor Shōwa, and the era of his reign (1926–89) is known as Shōwa. Other reign names used here are that of the Meiji emperor (1868–1912) and the Taishō emperor (1912–26).
Although the pinyin system is more commonly used for the romanization of Chinese names today, I have used the older Wade-Giles system as that was the system in use during the years under discussion in this volume. Thus, Beijing and Nanjing (under the pinyin system), for example, are given here as Peking and Nanking. Likewise, I have used Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse-tung rather than the newer transliterations of Jiang Jieshi and Mao Zedong.
Most dates are given according to Western conventions, that is, as 1895, 1932, 1941, and so forth, but the Japanese dating system, which is based on reigns, is used occasionally to emphasize a point or to adhere to a quote. Thus, the reign of the Shōwa emperor (Hirohito) begins as Shōwa 1 in 1926, and 1937, for example, is known as Shōwa 12 under the Japanese system.
The dimensions of all objects included in the illustrations in the book are given as length times width, and all measurements are in inches.
Some of the material contained in the essays by Jacqueline M. Atkins appeared originally in “Wearing Propaganda: Textiles on the Home Front in Japan, America, and Great Britain during the Greater East Asian War 1931–1945”, Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture, Vol. 2, No. 1 (March 2004): 24–25.
 
1     An article in Women’s Wear Daily (6 July 1941) indicates that Jacqmar had taken orders for some 45,000 yards of textiles after a summer showing. The order included a number of different types of fabrics, but one of the featured items was a propaganda design (“London Wall”). Other similar news items indicate that substantial amounts of these textiles were being sold overseas. »
2     Even as I was writing this piece, for example, I received a note from a dealer and collector in Japan who told me she had located some forty more examples of propaganda textiles with designs that I had not seen. »
Foreword, Acknowledgments, and A Brief Reader’s Guide
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