The Easel

28th May 2019

Manga at the British Museum review — much in common with Michelangelo

With manga, Japan elevated “the modern graphic art of storytelling”. Manga is now widely influential in Western culture. Pictures dominate text and “the range of pictorial invention on display … is staggering.” Not all the stories are about superheroes: “Manga has become ubiquitous in Japanese daily life precisely because daily life is so often its subject.” A beginners guide is here.

Luchita Hurtado: I Live I Die I Will Be Reborn @ the Serpentine Sackler Gallery

Hurtado is 98, an active artist, and having her first show at a public museum. Remarkable. Her art has traversed abstraction, surrealism and stylized figuration, frequently portraying her own body.  And, for good measure, a detour through text paintings. “Fabulous … utterly compelling and persuasive” says the reviewer. A conversation between artist and curator is here.