Sugimura Atsushi's locus: from manga to illustration
We are organizing an exhibition introducing the works of Sugimura Atsushi, who started out as a manga artist in the 1960s, and then went on to draw illustrations for novels and magazine covers in the 1970s. He gained recognition with his fine pen strokes and use of bold colors.
Illustrations do not just impress with their beauty and visual impact, they have the ability to express a whole world and an entire story in one image, and in this respect have something in common with cartoons. In Japan illustrations are used as magazine covers and illustrations in novels, and appear primarily in the publishing business, playing an important role in the design of publications; they are in harmony with the fonts used on magazine and book covers and are required to add color to text. They have a unique nature that is different from average paintings, and also quite different from images in manga.
When Sugimura first presented his illustrations and began to attract attention with them, in Japan the word "illustration" was barely known. Sugimura, like Yokoo Tadanori and Uno Akira, was one of the pioneers mastering the arts of painting, manga, and design, and of introducing the new world of "illustration" to Japan. In this exhibition we will introduce the diverse work of Sugimura, and show how his manga made the transition to illustrations. We hope you'll be able to savor the rich possibilities of illustrations.
| Period |
October 23 - December 12, 2010 |
| Venue | Kyoto International Manga Museum, 2nd Floor, Gallery 6 |
| Admission |
Free *However, General Admission Tickets to the Museum are still required. |
Organizer: Kyoto International Manga Museum
Exhibition Details
A total of over 50 works, including his manga, his book illustrations, his magazine covers, and his other illustrations.
In addition, we will screen Ootaka Nayuko's animation called Ibunshi (Heretic).
Sugimura Atsushi: Profile
He was born in Kochi Prefecture. After publishing manga works in magazines aimed at young boys and young men, under the pennames Sugimura Atsuyoshi and Kon Tarou in the 1960s, he started working as an illustrator. In 1966 he won the Silver Prize in a 'Don Quixote' themed illustration competition organized by the Argentine government and the Spanish government. In the 1970s, he was in charge of the noted cover illustrations of the paperback versions of serial novels by Tsutsui Yasutaka. In the latter half of the 1970s, he was in charge of the cover illustrations of the unique magazine Half serious, of which the popular novelists Yoshiyuki Junnosuke, Kaikou Takeshi, and Tsutsui Yasutaka were editors in chief. Currently Sugimura is working as a contemporary artist. In May of 2010 his " Atsushi Sugimura Cartoon Book HERETIC" (self-published in 1966), will be published as a reprint.
