Japanese Manga Exhibited at Paris Museum

Paris, Nov. 18 (Jiji Press)–A special exhibition on Japanese manga was unveiled to the press at the Guimet Museum in Paris on Tuesday, with the venue packed with reporters and photographers engrossed in the exhibited works. The exhibition, titled “Manga. An Art of Its Own!,” highlights how Japanese manga emerged under the influence of Western caricatures and transformed alongside social changes into a diverse art form. In France, comics are referred to as the “ninth art,” following paintings, music, literature and movies, and Japanese manga and anime are especially popular. Featured works at the exhibition include masterpieces by legendary manga artists Osamu Tezuka, Shigeru Mizuki and Sanpei Shirato, as well as contemporary hits, such as “One Piece” and “Attack on Titan.” Estelle Bauer, curator of the museum, emphasized that traditional Japanese arts such as picture scrolls and ukiyo-e woodblock prints laid the foundation for Japan’s thriving manga culture. She said that Japanese manga works have been created for many years, allowing readers to live with the characters by projecting themselves onto them, which is the key to their global success. The exhibition will open to the public on Wednesday and will run until March 9 next year. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]