Just ahead of Comic-Con, the Brooklyn Museum is welcoming its newest exhibition, “Art of Manga,” this weekend.
Curated by Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, “Art of Manga” highlights over 600 works by prominent manga artists, showcasing the vital roles that manga artists play not just in Japan’s culture, but art as a whole. The exhibition is laid out so you follow the exhibits from right to left, just like how manga is meant to be read.
“Why wouldn’t we put manga on display? I think manga is a fabulous contemporary artwork that’s reaching out across the globe. It’s become a global phenomenon, and the artwork itself, the original drawings, are very rarely seen,” Rousmaniere told amNewYork. “It’s almost impossible to see the works that the artists use with the printers to publish their works, but when you see the actual drawings, you see so much more. You see what the artist intends, their line quality, the editor’s comments, it just takes you into a whole another aspect of manga, and they deserve to be seen.”
The addition of “Art of Manga” follows a successful run at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, also curated by Rousmaniere.
“The Brooklyn Museum has a long history of finding strong visual art connections to other elements of culture. We’ve done shows about David Bowie, and we’ve done shows about Spike Lee, a lot of fashion shows. So it made sense to look at print media like this, to find the visual arts element in it, and honestly, this show really focuses on the art of manga, so it’s a perfect link for us,” said Joan Cummins, Curatorial Chair and Selz Senior Curator, Asian Art at the Brooklyn Museum.
The artists featured in the exhibition include Chiba Tetsuya (“Ashita no Joe Notari Matsutarō”), Akatsuka Fujio (“Tensai Bakabon”), Araki Hirohiko (“Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure”), Oda Eiichiro (“One Piece”), Takahashi Rumiko (“Katte na Yatsura,” “Inuyasha”), Tagame Gengoroh (“The Toyed Man”), Taniguchi Jirō (“The Times of Botchan,” “Garōden”), Yamazaki Mari (“Thermae Romae”), Yamashita Kazumi (“The Life of Genius Professor Yanagizawa”), and Yoshinaga Fumi (“Tamaki & Amane”). Each section includes a selection of hand-drawn works (with some digital drawings mixed in) highlighting the process in which manga is published, as well as never-before-seen works that haven’t been published or displayed before.
An installation view of “Art of Manga.”Photo by Paula Abreu Pita 
An installation view of “Art of Manga.”Photo by Paula Abreu Pita
The exhibition also features drawings by Itō Junji, Agi Tadashi and Okimoto Shū, and Tori Miki, in collaboration with Yamazaki Mari. The center of the exhibition includes a selection of physical manga books by the featured artists, sponsored by the bookstore Kinokuniya, allowing museum-goers can experience manga in their hands.
Both Rousmaniere and Cummins have seen over the years that some people write off manga as comics for kids, and want to show what a deep impact manga actually has, not just on media, but on those who read it.
“I think that people say it’s just comics, and then that gets not to denigrate comics, but manga is much more. These are immersive storytellings that have real meaning for the people that are reading them,” said Rousmaniere. “Oftentimes they are long-running series; ‘One Piece’ has been going on for almost 30 years, Araki’s ‘Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure,’ almost 40. People have stuck through that and it becomes part of their life. It’s not just the story, it’s the characters. The characters take on a life of themselves and they become important. Manga isn’t just an illustration — it’s a way of visually communicating through image and text that really reaches into the readers themselves.”
“I think people think of [manga] as sort of mass-produced. It’s certainly circulated to a wide circulation, but behind every manga is a hand drawing made by an artist. I think people also think that it’s maybe for kids or at least for teenagers, but the manga readership has grown and grown up, and when I talked about this exhibition, the people that I met who were the most excited about it were a couple of 55-year-old guys,” said Cummins. “There is a manga for everyone and a really, really diverse range of subject matter and styles.”
That said, Rousmaniere and Cummins agree that they hope that those who come to check out “Art of Manga” will find a newfound appreciation for the art form as a whole and see how it comes to life.
An installation view of “Art of Manga.”Photo by Paula Abreu Pita 
An installation view of “Art of Manga.”Photo by Paula Abreu Pita
“This is a rare opportunity to see the original artwork for manga, and I really hope that people will look at manga, whether they’re habitual readers or newbies, that they’ll look at it and notice the incredible artistry that goes into not just the draftsmanship but the planning of the compositions of the page and how they manage to bring out motion and sound and energy in still black-and-white drawings,” said Cummins.
“What we have to understand is there are different ways of receiving content, and this is immersive; it’s a very rich form, and we have to suspend disbelief, come in not with preconceived ideas, and let your eyes teach you how to read, and then at the end, I think you’ll find you’re fluent,” said Rousmaniere.
“Art of Manga” will open to the public on Saturday, Oct. 3, and will run through Jan. 31, 2027. Timed-entry tickets for “Art of Manga” are available starting at $30 at brooklynmuseum.org.
The museum is also offering a Manga Pass ticket option for $75, which allows you to enter the exhibit at any time during museum hours with unlimited access for you and a guest. The pass also comes with general admission to the museum, invitations to Member Previews and select Member Evenings related to the “Art of Manga;” exclusive presale access to “Art of Manga” public programs; a 10% discount at the museum’s cafe and gift shop; and a collectible badge.
Brooklyn Museum is located at 200 Eastern Parkway. For more information, visit brooklynmuseum.org.