Japan’s Manga Revolution: From Painted Scrolls to Comic Books

Thursday, October 30
1:00–3:00 p.m. PT
Speaker: Andreas Marks, Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese and Korean Art and Director of the Clark Center for Japanese Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art

Virtual Event

Storytelling has always played an important role in Japanese visual arts. Over a thousand years ago, painted handscrolls began to appear in Japan that enhanced text with pictures. This tradition of interplay between word and image continued in the form of illustrated books and remains active today in modern manga comics. Coinciding with the release of his new book, “Japan's Manga Revolution,” this talk by art curator Andreas Marks will provide an overview of Japanese illustrated books in premodern times covering subjects from poetry to celebrated beauties and famous kabuki actors to adventure tales. This survey ends with the birth of political cartoons in Japan in the early 20th century.

Speaker bio: Andreas Marks oversees the renowned collection of Japanese and Korean art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia). He came to Mia from the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture, in California, where he was the director and chief curator for five years starting in 2008. Andreas has a PhD from Leiden University in the Netherlands and a master’s degree in East Asian Art History from the University of Bonn, Germany. With more than 20 years of experience in the field of Japanese art, Marks has curated more than 60 exhibitions at 38 institutions in the world, including the Birmingham Museum of Art; Detroit Institute of Arts; the Honolulu Museum of Art; San Antonio Museum of Art; and the Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan, some of which have been reviewed in the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Marks has lectured at 43 institutions in the US, Europe, and Asia, and is an award-winning author of 24 books and countless essays about various aspects of Japanese art. In 2024, he was awarded the commendation of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs for his contributions to the promotion of Japanese culture.

Please note, this session will be conducted virtually via Zoom.

Save your spot. All participants will be sent the Zoom link via confirmation email with instructions once you secure your place.

Sponsored by the Asian Arts Council.

Featured at top right: Katsushika Hokusai, The guardian spirit kills Shinosuke, illustration from vol. 4 of A Rustic Tale of Two Heirs (Beibei kyōdan), 1815. Woodblock printed book (hanshibon); ink on paper. Edo-Tokyo Museum.