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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, according to Yonhap News Agency.
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 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 $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.
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