Otanoshimi wa Korekara da (Part I),  お楽しみはこれからだ

Artist: Wada Makoto
Medium: Ink and marker on paper (poster design)
Dimensions: Approx. 36 × 25 cm (estimated)
Type of Work: Illustration / Poster Design
Curatorial Note: Added by Curator on October 6, 2024
Related Items: Film Poster Series, Japanese Modern Graphic Design, Cinema & Illustration

This work, Otanoshimi wa Korekara da (Part I) (“The Fun Is Yet to Come”), was created by Wada Makoto in 1975 as part of a reflective series on cinema and visual culture. It features a stylized line drawing of Gloria Swanson, the legendary actress from Sunset Boulevard (1950), accompanied by her iconic line:

“We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces.”

Rendered in Wada’s signature minimalist manner, the illustration captures the expressive theatricality of Swanson’s persona through sharp, almost caricatural lines and sparse use of color. The artist’s choice of hand-lettered typography, flat plane composition, and comic-style visual rhythm evoke both the naïve art sensibility and mid-century Japanese poster design.

The Japanese vertical title text, 「お楽しみはこれからだ」(Otanoshimi wa korekara da), literally meaning “The best is yet to come,” reinforces the artist’s playful optimism and his fascination with the expressive power of film icons.

This piece also reflects Wada’s early engagement with Western film culture, a passion sparked during his middle and high school years when he encountered American cinema and the World Poster Exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo (1953). Those experiences directly influenced his later poster works, blending modernist design principles with hand-drawn intimacy.

In this work, Wada reinterprets the cinematic aura of classic Hollywood through a distinctly Japanese graphic lens, bridging film appreciation, pop culture, and fine art illustration.