The Japan Society Gallery will be hosting an exhibit from July 9 to August 16 that showcases intricate tin-toy vehicles manufactured in Japan post-WWII.
"Replicating the automotive styling of Detroit's 'golden age' down to the tiniest fin, these pint-sized vehicles helped repurpose Japan's manufacturing sector from munitions to peacetime production. They also salved a pent-up thirst for glamour and beauty in the then impoverished country, as well as in the newly affluent United States," says Joe Earle, director of the Japan Society Gallery.
Some of the pint-sized aluminum vehicles are from the previously unknown collection of the Tokyo-based businessman Yoku Tanaka, who began collecting the toy models in 1961.
The 70 models include cars, airplanes, buses, spaceships, speedboats and helicopters that provide an overview of the Japanese tin-toy industry and the country's postwar rebirth. Some of the specific models featured at the exhibit are a 1959 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner, 1962 Chrysler Imperial, 1955 Oldsmobile, 1955 Ford Lincoln Futura (the model used as the Batmobile in the '60s Batman TV show) and a mid-1950s Greyhound bus.
General admission is $5, and the gallery's summer hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the weekend.
Check out detailed pics of the models after the jump.
jederino says:
10:38 PM, 07/ 7/09
If this ever came to Seattle, I'd be there!