Art of Manga spotlights—and celebrates—the Japanese comics and graphic novels that are sought after and beloved by millions of readers around the globe. Manga, which refers to comics and cartooning originating in Japan, utilizes a style first developed in the late nineteenth century that draws from Western comics and satire as well as from Japanese printing and art historical precedents. With its dexterous line drawings, dynamic compositions, intriguing characters, and compelling storytelling, manga is an incredibly accessible and highly enjoyable form of art.

Published to coincide with a groundbreaking exhibition organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Art of Manga highlights ten key manga artists with rich sections devoted to their work and texts about their aesthetic themes and working methods. This prismatic volume also features essays and interviews on manga history, creation, and culture by artists, scholars, and industry professionals; timelines of manga’s Japanese foundations and its relationship to the United States; and more than two hundred full-color illustrations to give readers a deeper understanding of manga’s cultural development and social impact—and a greater appreciation for its creative and mesmeric power.

Author

Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere is the founding director of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures and professor of Japanese arts and cultures at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom. She wrote Vessels of Influence: China and the Birth of Porcelain in Medieval and Early Modern Japan (Bloomsbury Academic, 2012) and translated Tsuji Nobuo’s History of Art in Japan (Columbia University Press, 2019). She was the lead curator for the exhibition Crafting Beauty in Modern Japan in 2007 and The Citi Exhibition: Manga in 2019, both held at the British Museum, London, where she was a curator from 2008 to 2019.