Edited with translation and text by Ryan Holmberg. Text by Seiichi Hayashi.
Seiichi Hayashi was a leading figure in the hotbed of avant-garde artistic production of 1960s and early 70s Tokyo. He is best known for his lyrical and experimental manga for Garo, the famous alternative comics magazine. This volume collects a selection of Hayashi’s most important manga from this period, including Red Dragonfly (1968), Yamauba’s Lullaby (1968) and Gold Pollen (1971). Published here in their original full color, these stories mix traditional Japanese aesthetics with Pop art sensibilities, and range in topic from the legacies of Japanese rightwing nationalism and World War II, to the pervasive influence of America over 1960s Japanese youth culture. This first color reprinting of Hayashi’s work captures the vivid experimentation of Japanese art at this time. In addition, Hayashi’s youth and beginnings as an artist are illuminated by an autobiographical essay from 1972, translated here for the first time into English. Art historian Ryan Holmberg discusses Hayashi’s place in postwar Japanese art and manga, as well as his wider contributions to the Tokyo avant-garde as a designer and experimental animator. This lavishly illustrated book is likely to have widespread crossover appeal for design and fashion aficionados, as well as for students of the manga genre.
Seiichi Hayashi (born 1945) is best known for his lyrical and experimental manga for Garo, the famous alternative comics magazine. His animated films have been screened at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, among other institutions. Since the 1970s Hayashi has been a nationally revered illustrator, famous for his classically informed depictions of contemporary women and an important influence on acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki, among others. Hayashi lives and works just outside of Tokyo.
Featured image is reproduced from Seiichi Hayashi: Gold Pollen and Other Stories.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Publisher's Weekly
Hayashi, a celebrated avant-garde Japanese cartoonist of the 1960s and '70s, is given an introduction to English readers with this collection of some of his most notable work.
STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely.
FROM THE BOOK
"Hayashi, a celebrated avant-garde Japanese cartoonist of the 1960s and ’70s, is given an introduction to English readers with this collection of some of his most notable work. Hayashi’s art is vivid and striking, colorful and bright, with a strong line that veers easily from the serious to the whimsical. His work is filled with fragments of adventure stories, myths, and personal memoir. Strange battles featuring robots, demons, and a masked man on horseback are spread across intricate pages, and also feature the occasional poetic aside, along with boatloads of erotic imagery. To a Western reader, these stories can be at times near incomprehensible, but thanks to editor Holmberg’s thorough and thoughtful analysis, the true scope of Hayashi’s work is revealed. His comics are full of references to Japanese folklore (including a giant skeleton), pop culture, and Japanese fascists like the infamous Ikka Kita. Mothers, especially Hayashi’s own mother, Momoko, are frequently mentioned, both in fascinated and frustrated terms. Holmberg also delves into Hayashi’s personal background, noting that Hayashi’s father and sister died in Manchuria in the waning days of World War II, giving readers a beautiful and fascinating window into another world of comics and culture." - Publishers Weekly
FORMAT: Hbk, 7.25 x 10.25 in. / 176 pgs / 170 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $27.50 LIST PRICE: CANADA $37.5 GBP £24.00 ISBN: 9781939799074 PUBLISHER: PictureBox AVAILABLE: 11/30/2013 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA EUR ASIA AU/NZ AFR ME
Published by PictureBox. Edited with translation and text by Ryan Holmberg. Text by Seiichi Hayashi.
Seiichi Hayashi was a leading figure in the hotbed of avant-garde artistic production of 1960s and early 70s Tokyo. He is best known for his lyrical and experimental manga for Garo, the famous alternative comics magazine. This volume collects a selection of Hayashi’s most important manga from this period, including Red Dragonfly (1968), Yamauba’s Lullaby (1968) and Gold Pollen (1971). Published here in their original full color, these stories mix traditional Japanese aesthetics with Pop art sensibilities, and range in topic from the legacies of Japanese rightwing nationalism and World War II, to the pervasive influence of America over 1960s Japanese youth culture. This first color reprinting of Hayashi’s work captures the vivid experimentation of Japanese art at this time. In addition, Hayashi’s youth and beginnings as an artist are illuminated by an autobiographical essay from 1972, translated here for the first time into English. Art historian Ryan Holmberg discusses Hayashi’s place in postwar Japanese art and manga, as well as his wider contributions to the Tokyo avant-garde as a designer and experimental animator. This lavishly illustrated book is likely to have widespread crossover appeal for design and fashion aficionados, as well as for students of the manga genre.
Seiichi Hayashi (born 1945) is best known for his lyrical and experimental manga for Garo, the famous alternative comics magazine. His animated films have been screened at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, among other institutions. Since the 1970s Hayashi has been a nationally revered illustrator, famous for his classically informed depictions of contemporary women and an important influence on acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki, among others. Hayashi lives and works just outside of Tokyo.
