I went to the free day at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco to check out the Tezuka: Marvel of Manga show and was not disappointed.
I was at the museum at opening. The photo below is about 15 before hand, by the time the doors opened there were 50 people in line.
Here is the queue for the show at opening. The colors are bright and exciting.
You can not take pictures inside, but the show was really fascinating. Tezuka pretty much created what we think of as Manga and Anime and produced many original characters like Astro Boy and Kimba the white lion. A warning for folks with kids, there is some Adult content in some of the work including sex (both heterosexual and homosexual) and violence. But his work has a timeless style that seems universal and should be enjoyable to those who do not know much about Japanese cartooning.
When you go to the exhibit there is an excellent subtitled documentary on Tezuka’s animated productions. The influence of the Disney studio is very strong in all his work, but he was able to make it into his own. I hope they release more of his work here in the US.
There is also a Manga Lounge sponsored by Viz Comics which has a mock up of a fan boy/girl’s bedroom in Japan, as well as a drawing table with hot to draw books, books to read and trailers from films playing. And Yes the room is really red.
Now we have to say good buy to Astro Boy, may he delight many this summer.
BUT WAIT… while your there you also have to check out – Yoshitoshi’s Strange Tales: Woodblock Prints from Edo to Meiji. Some really amazing work and it’s fascinating to see how the artist work went from more traditional to more western in style. Great stuff.
tags: tezuka|
