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Object Timeline

-0001

1970

  • Work on this object began.

1990

  • Work on this object ended.

1995

  • We acquired this object.

2015

2024

  • You found it!

Book Cover, Japanese Tales

This is a Book cover. It is dated ca. 1980 and we acquired it in 1995. Its medium is offset color lithograph on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Louise Fili has created over 2,000 book covers to date. Much of her most well known work, including this book jacket for “Japanese Tales,” was created during her time at Pantheon Books where she worked as art director from 1978 to 1989 before founding her own firm, Louise Fili Ltd. Fili’s choice of an Art Nouveau typeface in this piece fits graphically with the traditional Japanese embroidery motif; in the late nineteenth century, the curvilinear style of Art Nouveau letterforms developed in Western Europe out of an admiration for and interest in Japanese design. Fili is inspired by vintage type and frequently incorporates restored letterforms into her work designing book covers, as well as packaging, restaurant identities, and other projects.

It is credited Gift of Louise Fili.

Its dimensions are

24 × 15.7 cm (9 7/16 × 6 3/16 in.)

It is inscribed

Printed on bookplate, verso: PLEASE RETURN TO / LOUISE / FILI / LTD / 71 FIFTH AVE. NYC 10003 / TEL: (212) 989 - 9153

Cite this object as

Book Cover, Japanese Tales; USA; offset color lithograph on paper; 24 × 15.7 cm (9 7/16 × 6 3/16 in.); Gift of Louise Fili; 1995-25-3

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18651017/ |title=Book Cover, Japanese Tales |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=24 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>