BABA Noboru Exhibit “The Eleven Cats” Come to the Museum Nyago! Nyago! Nyago!

BABA Noboru (1927-2001) was a manga artist as well as a picture book artist, whose works continued to be loved by many to this day.

Born in Sannohe Town of Aomori Prefecture, BABA moved to Tokyo after becoming friends with SHIRAKI Shigeru, a writer of children’s literature from the same hometown, and started his career as a manga artist. After producing the popular children’s manga works such as “Posto-kun” and “Būtan”, BABA expanded his field of work to include newspapers and weekly magazines, gaining support from multiple generations. BABA also was active in the world of picture books, in particular, his work, “Jūippiki no Neko” (Eleven Hungry Cats) was made into a 6 volume series, which has been a record breaking long-running bestseller, selling over 3 million copies.

This exhibit introduces the work of BABA Noboru in its entirety, and is also the first retrospective exhibit of BABA Noboru. Coming and going between the two genres of manga and picture books, BABA spent his life illustrating works filled with humor and warmth. This exhibit introduces his work, beginning with the “Jūippiki no Neko” (Eleven Cats) series, and includes never before seen precious materials from his early career such as manga originals, rough sketches, and the notes of the artist.

Aomori Museum of Art