Century of Korean 'manhwa' to go on display

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SEOUL, June 2 (Yonhap) -- Commemorating the centennial of Korean comic books, or
manhwa, South Korea's national art museum will host a massive exhibition
featuring some 1,500 pieces by 250 artists beginning this week, the museum said
Tuesday.

The exhibition, "100 Years of Korean Comics," is the largest event to portray
Korean manhwa, displaying rare copies of comic books published in the 1930s and
1940s as well as dozens of manhwa-inspired artworks by contemporary artists, the
National Museum of Contemporary Art said in a press release.
Although manhwa -- dubbed "graphic novels" in the West to distinguish from
shorter comics -- has never been considered highbrow or educational, it has
evolved here into a unique literary genre of its own defined by an unusual flair
and narrative.
While comic book sales have shrunk several fold in past decades due to the
expansion of the Internet, manhwa maintained its cultural staying power through
dozens of film and TV adaptations. Korean manhwa has also been exported overseas
to countries including France, Japan, Germany and China.
In the exhibition, running from Wednesday through Aug. 23 at the national art
museum located in Gwacheon, adjacent to Seoul, the history of manhwa will be
presented in three sections.
The first will showcase the history of Korean manhwa, beginning with the first
satirical cartoon published in June 1909 in one of Korea's first newspapers.
More recent cartoons, uploaded on the Internet by younger artists, will present
the future of the genre. As one of the world's most wired countries, South Korea
was the first to create "Webtoons," a term for comics posted and viewed online.
The second section will display manhwa in different genres, while the third will
feature manhwa-inspired artwork.
To mark the 100th anniversary, the Korean culture ministry set up a
140-billion-won (about US$100 million) plan, aiming to expand and connect manhwa
with various cultural and IT sectors, including film, animation, TV dramas, games
and more.
Promotional events are also being held overseas in France, Italy, Britain, the
United States and Germany through October this year.
The Paris exhibition, which opened Feb. 2, has been drawing a large number of
visitors with works of seven veteran Korean cartoonists spanning Korea's colonial
period (1910-1945), the Korean War (1950-53), the politically turbulent 1980s and
90s, and the emergence of Web-based work in the 21st century, the Korea Culture
and Content Agency said.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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