Christie's opens online auction of anime and manga

Christie's in New York has announced the launch of a novel online auction that brings together traditional Japanese art and manga/anime subculture in a unique visual dialogue. In the auction Anime Starts Here: Japanese Subculture Reimagines Tradition, anime cels by Hayao Miyazaki and manga drawings by Osamu Tezuka are juxtaposed with classical works by such renowned painters as Katsushika Hokusai and Yoshitomo Nara. This curated online auction, which is being held concurrently with Asian Art Week in New York, rides the wave of surging demand in art markets for contemporary Japanese art.

The auctioning of anime and manga had for long been confined to Asian markets, where dedicated collectors avidly traded their favorite pieces. The shift of focus from Asia to New York signals a broader generational trend, where younger international buyers who grew up with manga and anime are increasingly investing in the cultural phenomena that shaped their childhood. The online auction is exhibiting 40 lots of anime cels, manga drawings, traditional ukiyo-e and contemporary art.

This sale of film memorabilia and animation cels carries with it deeper implications, as it further consolidates film as a blue chip art form that has a significant position in the market. With the shift of buying power to newer generations who were raised on moving images, the potential of film to add diversification and cultural relevance to both public and private collections has been exponentially increasing.

The inclusion of manga and anime highlights the greater global visibility that both genres have gained beyond Asia in recent decades, with many anime titles now available on international streaming platforms. The expansion of these genres into global markets opens up new vistas that were not envisaged by their creators. Recent decades have witnessed multiple museums and galleries organizing exhibitions dedicated to these genres, which is a testament to the shift in perception by contemporary audiences from anime and manga being considered mass entertainment towards a new elevated status as serious art forms.

By juxtaposing anime and manga with traditional and contemporary Japanese art, Christie's is establishing a narrative continuity between the two. Where previously Japanese subculture was framed within contemporary cultural contexts at auctions, Christie's curatorial approach presents this subcultural phenomenon not as a break with tradition, but as the direct descendant of storytelling techniques, visual innovations and craftsmanship that have their precursors in the grand history of Japanese visual art.

Online bidding for the auction opens on March 18, 2026 and lasts until the end of the month. For an overview of the lots available for purchase, visit Christie's website here.