“ANIME! High Art – Pop Culture,” a multimedia exhibition spotlighting the art of Japanese animation featuring nearly 400 cels, clips and character models from such popular anime movies and series as “Akira,” “Dragon Ball-Z,” “Ghost in the Shell,” “Pokemon: The First Movie,” “Princess Mononoke,” “Sailor Moon” and “Yu-Gi-Oh!,” will make its U.S. premiere at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences when it opens to the public on Friday, May 15, in the Grand Lobby and Fourth Floor galleries in Beverly Hills. Admission is free.
“ANIME!” will be organized by distinct themes: boys’ anime (Shonen), girls’ anime (Shojo), early anime, Studio Ghibli, science fiction and fantasy. It also will include an adults-only area spotlighting erotic anime. The exhibition will explore anime’s history, aesthetics and production from its beginnings in early 20th century films through its current television and video game manifestations.
The exhibition will also highlight manga (comics) and its relationship to anime, providing a historical overview of the development of this comic book art form from 19th century Japanese woodcuts and book illustrations to the mass-produced manga of the present.
Japanese comics and animation have had a strong influence on modern art and popular culture throughout Asia, Europe and the United States. Anime’s worldwide popularity has grown through the release of numerous feature films such as the futuristic thrillers “Akira” (1988), “Ghost in the Shell” (1995) and “Metropolis” (2001), and the psychological thriller “Perfect Blue” (1998). Most widely known in the U.S. are the works of Hayao Miyazaki, including “Princess Mononoke” (1997), “Spirited Away” (2001), which won the Academy Award® for Animated Feature Film in 2002, and the Oscar®-nominated feature “Howl’s Moving Castle” (2004).
The Deutsches Filmmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, is presenting the exhibition in partnership with the Academy. Support has been provided by the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles.
“ANIME! High Art – Pop Culture” will be on display through August 23. The Academy’s galleries are located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills and are open Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends, noon to 6 p.m. The galleries will be closed for the Memorial Day and Independence Day holiday weekends, May 23 through 25 and July 3 through 6, respectively.
For more information call (310) 247-3600 or visit www.oscars.org.
