The Enduring Art of Manga Gets the Spotlight in a New San Francisco Show

One of Japan’s—and the world’s—most beloved art forms is getting a rightful tribute at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.

Opening in September, “Art of Manga” will array more than 700 drawings by Japan’s most influential manga artists, in a showcase of the artistry and impact of the country’s leading comic books and graphic novels. Manga, after all, hasn’t just gripped readers for decades with its deft storytelling, but has radically shaped Japan’s pop culture and publishing industry.

“Captivating millions around the world with dynamic graphic narratives,” said Thomas P. Campbell, director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, in a statement, “manga is one of the most significant visual mediums of our time.”

The show is in good hands. Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, research director of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures in the U.K., is curating the exhibition, following her work on “The Citi Exhibition: Manga,” the British Museum’s blockbuster manga outing in 2019. She’s passionate about her subject.

“Manga,” she told me over a video call, “is an innate language that you understand. You immediately pick it up because it’s a visual language that has a grammar. It’s not just pictures—it’s pictures that are in a narrative.”

The form is rooted a long legacy of Japanese artistry: its predecessors include 12th-century emakimono, horizontal scrolls that offered viewers an unfolding narrative; the woodblocks of ukiyo-e artists such as Hokusai; and kibyōshi, 18th-century picture books, among others.

Manga flourished in Japan’s postwar period, with the emergence of popular titles (and their subsequent on-screen adaptations) such as Astro Boy, Dragon Ball, The Rose of Versailles, and Slam Dunk. Besides venturing stylistic innovations and techniques, these series would come to dominate Japan’s publishing landscape.

Today, Japan’s manga market rakes in billions, not counting its footprint in other territories from France to the U.S. Manga artists, too, are gaining the recognition that has long eluded them, Rousmaniere said, as the form is increasingly being embraced in its home country.

“Manga artists are now going to art school,” she said, noting the marked difference from the previous generations’ practice of apprenticeship. “They’re learning techniques and that’s shifting the industry. The rapidity and the drawing are just breathtaking to look at. When you look at their originals, you see this amazing line quality. It changes the way you look at the printed example.”

“Art of Manga” delves into the medium’s past and present through the work of 10 artists. Drawings by early-generation masters Chiba Tetsuya, of Ashita no Joe fame, and Akatsuka Fujio, who created Tensai Bakabon, will provide historical grounding and insights into how manga is created and consumed.

The following sections survey the craft of eight leading manga artists.

Among them are Oda Eiichiro, creator of the world-dominating One Piece; Yoshinaga Fumi, known for her sprawling epic Ōoku: The Inner Chambers; Tagame Gengoroh, whose  helped define gay manga; Araki Hirohiko, maker of the supernatural hit series JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure; Yamashita Kazumi, whose otherworldly Land earned her a Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2021; and Yamazaki Mari, who created the award-winning Thermae Romae.

Also featured are manga giants, namely the late Taniguchi Jiro, best known for The Summit of the Gods and Kodoku no Gourmet; and Takahashi Rumiko, the widely celebrated author of Urusei Yatsura, Ranma ½, and the ongoing series Mao.

These works, sourced directly from publishers and artists’ foundations, boast a sweep of styles that surface “the skill and art of creating manga” as well as each artist’s “range, breadth, and thought processes,” Rousmaniere noted. The medium’s ongoing appeal is further demonstrated in a new collaboration between Akatsuka Fujio and Pop artist Tanaami Keiichi, which will show up at the exhibition.

As well, the exhibition will delve into how manga has entered the digital age by exploring publishing company Kodansha’s digital platform K MANGA and Shueisha Manga-Art Heritage, an initiative that explores new approaches to collecting manga via limited-run prints and NFTs. These new efforts, however, open up challenges for contemporary manga in terms of rights and piracy. The show will confront both these issues—the former impacting artists’ estates and the latter a billion-dollar concern.

“The numbers of people reading or purchasing a manga have a direct effect on not just the artist’s income, but on the artist’s viability,” Rousmaniere explained. “If they were being pirated, that has a direct effect. First of all, the publishers won’t do an English version [if legitimate sale numbers are not high enough]. Will they [continue] their series? Fans need to understand that when they’re reading the pirated version, they are hurting the artists.”

While manga, a global phenomenon, needs little introduction, Rousmaniere hopes the show might shed new light on its creators and visual vocabulary—both keys to manga’s ongoing appeal. She aims to have viewers fluent in manga by the end of their visit.

“I’m trying to have every artist displayed in a slightly different way, so that you would have different insights. By the end of the exhibition, you would have an understanding of this incredible range and the skill of learning manga through looking at sequential images,” she said. “This grammar is intuitively understood if you allow it. What we’re going to do in the exhibition is show you how to allow it in.”

“Art of Manga” is on view at the de Young Museum, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco, California, September 27, 2025–January 25, 2026.

Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com