[Yearbook for the Hiroshima Imperial Army Preparatory Technical School].Unpaginated.Contents include 36 leaves printed on one side with photomontage or photographs, each with a protective interleaf sheet and one leaf of text.Folio,310x 330 mm, bound in publisher’s grey pebbled cloth with an embossed vignette of a locomotive wheel on the front cover and gilt stamped 2597.[Hiroshima City: Produced by the Fuji Photo Studio, Hirai Shinmkian Printing House, March 1937].
An idealize portrayal of student life at the Imperial Military Academy Technical School in Hiroshima on the precipice of the Second Sino Japanese War and ultimately the Second World War.Often similar yearbooks are composed of stodgy posed photos with little in the way of visual creativity.This unusual example demonstrates a capable and playful deployment of photomontage, with the best examples on the pages dedicated to the orchestra, baseball and basketball team.Other influences from the European avant-garde can be found like photos depicted on a strip of film as well as visual flourishes in the margins.
Some general wear to the cover, internally fine, save for even toning on a few plates on account of varying paper stock.
