Details
The image
A figure in flight across a flat green ground, drawn with the clean contours of animation: large eyes, a simplified body, hair suggested by a few points. The composition is diagonal and open and the lettering sits small at the base rather than competing with the character.
Where it comes from
The character is Astro Boy, created by Osamu Tezuka in the early 1950s and carried through manga, television and film until he became one of the most recognisable figures in Japanese visual culture. This Kyoto edition places him against a green field that recalls the city rather than the future, a deliberate pairing, since the character was designed as a machine built to look like a boy and the tension between tradition and technology is the whole point of him.
On the wall
It suits a child’s room, a studio or a hallway, where a single figure in movement gives a wall energy. Because the palette is limited and the drawing is clean, it holds a small wall as well as a large one. In a group it should be the piece that introduces colour.
In company
The Japanese collection is where the same argument is made again and again.Avoid hanging it beside a second animated character, two figures in flight compete rather than converse.
