"Companies bringing art and commerce together portrayed themselves as involved in cultivating taste and developing 'beautiful customs' (bishū) among the consumer populace" – Gennifer Weisenfeld

In 1920s Japan, companies competed to strengthen their brand with increasing attention to art and design, often with heavy American, French, English, Russian, and German influences. Avant-garde artists, like Mavo members Oura Shūzō and Toda Tatsuo, were hired to create ads, displays, product labels, and more. "This transformation of the urban environment – what was referred to by many critics at the time as the 'artification' of the streets – was sustained by a vibrant modern Japanese design movement," notes Gennifer Weisenfeld, "consciously and aggressively forged by designers and design theorists who sough aesthetic and social legitimacy for the profession."<br /><br />Hamada was "one of the most vocal design theorists of this period, [who] had a major impact on the development of the modern Japanese design movement during its critical formative stage" (Weisenfeld). Key to his role was this publication, which surveyed innovations and Western influences, provided hundreds of illustrations of examples, and otherwise sought to elevate and celebrate the art of commercial design during this lavishly creative artistic period. The series sold about 1500-2000 copies per issue via direct subscription, with each issue dedicated to a specific subject (lighting, shop architecture, typography, photography, bookbinding, etc.). Because so many of these productions were ephemeral by nature, the Gendai Shōgyō Bijutsu Zenshū is a key record in the aesthetic development of Japanese commercial design.

Read more: Weisenfeld, MAVO: Japanese Artists and the Avant-Garde, 1905-1931, 208; Weisenfeld, "Japanese Modernism and Consumerism: Forging the New Artistic Field of 'Shōgyō Bijutsu' (Commercial Art)" in Being Modern in Japan: Culture and Society from the 1910s to the 1930s, 75-79.