Exhibition: Manga now three generations

Explore contemporary manga’s diverse appeal through works by three of the medium’s leading artists.

The graphic art form of manga developed in the early 20th century, and is based on traditional Japanese artistic and literary genres. It continues to reflect current concerns in Japanese society and can even be a catalyst for change or protest. 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. This display features newly commissioned and recent pieces by Chiba Tetsuya, Hoshino Yukinobu and Nakamura Hikaru.

The main image in this display will be an original colour drawing of a golfer on a green by prominent and influential manga artist Chiba Tetsuya. He is a specialist of 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.

Together, the rare display of these three original artworks trace how the medium has evolved over recent generations, showing the breadth and depth of manga in Japan today.