Running from April 14, 2010 - June 26, 2010, this will be a must see for any manga fans that can make it out there. From their site:
"Garo Manga, 1964-1973" will be an exhibition focused around the renowned manga (Japanese comics) journal Garo during the period of its greatest aesthetic experimentation and political commitment. Garo is well-known amongst comic enthusiasts and historians of postwar Japanese culture both for its challenging of formal and thematic conventions within the field of comics as well as for its engagement with the main political issues of the day, from rightwing incursions into national education policy to Japanese involvement in the Vietnam War.
This exhibition presents the work and development of Garo during this seminal period. The core of the exhibition will be each and every issue of Garo, from its first issue in September 1964 to its 120th issue in December 1973. Most of the issues will either be shelved serially on a book shelf roughly 8 feet from the floor or, alternately and perhaps preferably, each issue mounted serially upon the wall with their covers facing outward. Exhibition cases will be used to display a number of individual Garo volumes open, showing representative moments in the history of the magazine and the work of important artists. In other exhibition cases, supplementary materials will be exhibited, including direct precursors to Garo, a selection of important Garo issues from later periods, other journals inspired by Garo (including Tezuka Osamu’s COM), and issues of Manga-shugi (Manga-ism), a small but important magazine of manga criticism, much of which focused on the work of Garo.
Unfortunately, the exhibit will be opening the week after this year's MoCCA Festival (bad timing, folks!). But this would be a great excuse to stay a few days in New York...
UPDATE!: Ryan Holmberg, curator of this Garo exhibit, stopped by and left further details in the comments. Turns out there will be a pamphlet from the show and in-person discussion with Ax mangaka Akino Kondoh! Details from Ryan:
Thanks for posting news of the Garo exhibition. I am happy to see that it is getting some publicity. There will be a small scholarly catalog accompanying the exhibition: a portable version for those unable to visit. Also, on April 21st, there will be a public event, a conversation between myself and Akino Kondoh, an artist associated with Ax (her work appears on the cover of the forthcoming Ax volume from Top Shelf), whose early comics were inspired by early Garo artists like Tsuge Yoshiharu and Hayashi Seiichi. Please attend if you are able. It should be interesting.
The show builds on my dissertation, which was on Garo, focusing on the work of Shirato Sanpei, Tsuge Yoshiharu, Sasaki Maki, and Hayashi Seiichi. I have recently begun expanding the dissertation for a book-length manuscript on early Garo, spanning the magazine’s inception to its transformation into a subcultural magazine in the mid-70s, and treating all the main artists of that period. It will be a couple years before I finish.
As for obtaining old Garo issues: it's super easy and cheap if you are in Japan. Go to Mandarake, the used-manga megastore -- which by the way was founded by Furukawa Masuzo, a central Garo artist in the 70s. If you are not in Japan, still go to Mandarake on the web. They have English-capable personnel. However, you will have to tell them exactly what issue you want. Single issues -- excluding special issues and early issues -- cost between 300 to 800 yen, typically -- that's about 4 to 10 USD. Shipping, on the other hand, will be high.
Thanks again. I hope you are able to make the show. If you make either the opening or the Kondoh event, please say hello.
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