UCSB Library is pleased to present this exhibition of handscrolls and comics from its Art & Architecture Collection. Both forms of art are consumed and enjoyed by individual users, panel by panel, and both are used in teaching and research at UCSB.
Painted horizontally on narrow sheets of paper or silk, handscroll paintings are a unique type of East Asian painting. Handscrolls are typically 0.7-1.2 feet in width, but their length varies from just a few feet to dozens of feet. Viewed frame by frame, handscroll paintings present art that progresses temporally and spatially. Handscrolls are considered the prototype of modern comics, a medium which similarly expresses ideas with images. The Japanese handscroll Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga 鳥獣人物戯画 (literally Animal-person Caricatures), for example, is considered the oldest Japanese comic, or manga.
Exhibition curated by librarians Chizu Morihara and Yao Chen.