The Japan Foundation's international travelling exhibition Manga Hokusai Manga: Approaching the Master’s Compendium from the Perspective of Contemporary Comics is currently showing at the Trinity Long Room Hub, at Trinity College Dublin.
Listen: Culture File on Manga Hokusai Manga:
This fascinating exhibtion introduces similarities and differences between modern Japanese manga comics and the Hokusai Manga, a collection of 15 volumes of sketches by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), perhaps best known for his woodblock print, The Great Wave. The first volume was published over 200 years ago, and the 'Hokusai Manga' are regarded by many as the origin of today’s manga comics.
Manga Hokusai Manga consists of manga panels by Hokusai and contemporary artists displayed on folding screens, books, videos, and a group of new works by seven contemporary manga artists based on the theme of Hokusai and his manga.
The outward appearance of these two types of manga do not immediately suggest a continuous tradition. Do present-day graphic narratives and Hokusai’s drawings share anything other than a name? Viewers are invited to compare the two kinds of manga style and explore where they actually meet.
