A small display of the work by three of Japan’s leading contemporary manga artists is currently running at the British Museum.
The graphic art form of manga developed in the early 20th century, and is based on traditional Japanese artistic and literary genres.
Since then, Manga has grown to be a vital part of global popular culture, but this exported form does not always convey the range and content of Japanese manga. Certainly, if you are looking for tentacles and rape, then this family-friendly display is not for you.
This display features newly commissioned and recent pieces by Chiba Tetsuya, Hoshino Yukinobu and Nakamura Hikaru.
The main image in this display is an original colour drawing of a golfer on a green by prominent and influential manga artist Chiba Tetsuya. He is a specialist in sports manga that relate a young person’s struggle for recognition through dedication to sport.
The second generation of contemporary manga is represented by Hoshino Yukinobu, with a portrait of his new character Rainman. One of Japan’s best-known science fiction manga artists, Hoshino Yukinobu’s Professor Munakata’s British Museum Adventure featured in a Room 3 display in 2011.
Nakamura Hikaru represents the most recent generation of manga artists and is currently the seventh bestselling manga artist in Japan. Fusing everyday life with youth culture and cutting-edge production techniques, her work in this display imagines the comical existence of Jesus and Buddha as flatmates in Tokyo.
The display is open until 15th November in the small side room just to the right of the main entrance doors.
A cluster of manga books is also piled up for you to read.
