DATE: 12/14/2012 | BY CORY REYNOLDS

The Brittle Decade: Visualizing Japan in the 1930s

"Soon after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, journalists noted the emergence of a new type of woman in Japan’s major cities, whom they labeled the Modern Girl (modan garu, or moga). At first the Modern Girl was seen as a woman who could think on her own and act freely, but almost immediately she came to be viewed as threatening. Contemporary commentators, although they found her a fascinating embodiment of cosmopolitanism, lamented her rejection of the “good wife, wise mother” role and decried her as the symbol of a breakdown of the social order. Artists especially found in her a source of new imagery..." Featured image, "Interior" (1934) by Kikuchi Takashi, is reproduced from Anne Nnishimura Morse's chapter in The Brittle Decade, the MFA Boston's wonderful 2012 survey of Japanese art in the 1930s. For more sophisticated gift suggestions, see our Holiday Gift Guide.