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Jojo's Araki Creates Manga for France's Louvre Museum (Updated)

Hirohiko Araki, the creator of the long-running JoJo's Bizarre Adventure action manga, is working on a new project for "Le Louvre invite la bande dessinée" ("Cartoons - The Louvre Invites Comic-Strip Art") exhibition at France's famed Louvre art museum. The exhibition began on Thursday and will run until April 13; Araki is planning to release his project, which is tentatively titled Rohan au Louvre (Rohan at the Louvre), next year.

Not only are the exhibition's works on display at the Louvre, but their stories are set at the museum as well. According to curator Fabrice Douar, the museum selected five different artists to showcase the diversity of the world of comics. He notes, "Comics are not just something lighthearted … there are also contemporary comics, which is more about the creation — there are graphic novels, detective stories, and manga." One of the exhibition's goals is breaking down stereotypes about comics, as well as about the kind of art pieces that may be put on display in a world-class museum.

This is at least the second time that Araki has brought his art outside his usual manga-reading audience. In 2007, a pair of Japanese scientists asked him to draw the cover for an issue of the biological journal Cell to accompany their article. The press conference for the world premiere of the 20th Century Boys film trilogy (based on Naoki Urasawa's manga) was held at the Louvre last August. The Ghibli Museum in Tokyo is exhibiting a miniature reproduction of the Louvre until this May.

Source: Associated Press

Image by Hirohiko Araki
Rohan au Louvre (tentative title)
Proposed cover
Ink and gouache
© Lucky Land Communications / Shueisha, Inc.

Update: The article's accompanying image should now display correctly.