NEW YORK - The Brooklyn Museum in New York on Wednesday gave a media preview of an exhibition focusing on manga as an art form, featuring more than 600 original drawings by popular manga artists.
Conceived by the de Young Museum in San Francisco as a traveling exhibition, Art of Manga will open to the public from Saturday through Jan. 31. The Brooklyn Museum says it is rare for so many original manga drawings to be displayed together.
Art of Manga features booths dedicated to 10 manga artists, including Tetsuya Chiba and the late Fujio Akatsuka, described on the museum's website as "foundational manga artists," as well as Eiichiro Oda, creator of the hit series "One Piece," Rumiko Takahashi of the "Urusei Yatsura" series and Mari Yamazaki of "Thermae Romae."
Each booth highlights the featured artist's distinctive style, creative process and use of manga as a means of expression.
One of the exhibition's themes is to "showcase manga's immersive power and social impact," with support from Japanese publishers.
The exhibition was curated by Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, emeritus professor at the University of East Anglia and deputy director general of the MOA Museum of Art in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture.
Calling manga an art, Rousmaniere said that seeing the manga artists' original drawings first-hand allows one to see the details of their techniques, enhancing the experience.
