Drawing Everyday Life

Western audiences are familiar with the exaggerated faces and action tales of Asian anime, but its roots are in much simpler cartoons that illustrated everyday life in China and Japan.

“Manhua + Manga,” an art exhibit exploring the early development of comics and cartoons in China and Japan during the turbulent 1930s and ’40s, is on display through April 29 in the Parren J. Mitchell Art-Sociology Building gallery.

It features a collection of pieces deeply rooted in cultural and political expression from two countries that share a long and complex history of artistic exchange, even during wartime.

Artists on both sides of the East China Sea drew inspiration from Western art to develop distinct traditions for illustrating their world— from poor villagers and corrupt officials to cosmopolitan cities bustling with foreign settlers.

Censorship played a major role in both China’s manhua and Japan’s manga (commonly translated as “comic” and “cartoon,” respectively). In Tokyo, where exhibit curator Madeline Gent says the government’s grip was strongest, officials restricted how they were depicted in newspapers and cartoons.

“What most people don’t realize is that artists were fighting a battle of their own during World War II,” the Maryland doctoral student says.

The Ohio State University, University of Michigan and Colgate University lent pieces to curate the exhibit, though much of the collection is from UMD’s Gordon W. Prange Collection in Hornbake Library.

“We’re so blessed to be able to hop on the Metro and ride down to the Smithsonian,” Gent says, “but what most of us have yet to discover are the treasures that lie right here on our own campus.”