Lineages | Korean Art at The Met
By Eleanor Soo-ah Hyun. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Summer 2023
LINEAGES Korean Art at The Met The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin Summer 2023
LINEAGES Korean Art at The Met Eleanor Soo-ah Hyun The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Director’s Note In celebrating the twenty- 昀椀昀琀h anniversary of the Arts of Republic of Korea’s national museums and private Korea Gallery, this issue of the Bulletin invites us to re昀氀ect institutions have shared their collections as short- and on the past while embracing the future. The accom- long- term loans, greatly enriching The Met’s exhibits. panying exhibition marks an important milestone in The The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, The Republic Metropolitan Museum of Art’s history—the establish- of Korea (MSCT), has sponsored a gallery refurbishment, ment of the Arts of Korea Gallery in 1998. Designed by programming, and special exhibitions. We are grateful Korean- born architect Kyu Sung Woo and his 昀椀rm based for its support of the exhibition Lineages: Korean Art in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the gallery beautifully at The Met and this Bulletin, and deeply appreciate the realizes The Met’s commitment to the display and study generosity of all the lenders, in particular the Leeum of Korean art and culture—recognizing their importance Museum of Art, Seoul, and the National Museum of within the multiplicity of cultures represented here. Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. The Lila Acheson Since its opening, the gallery has served as a platform Wallace Fund for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, for The Met’s nearly seven hundred Korean objects that established by the cofounder of Reader’s Digest, makes date from the Bronze Age to the present with particular possible, in part, The Met’s quarterly Bulletin program. strengths in lacquer, Buddhist paintings, and ceramics. Lineages: Korean Art at The Met reminds us of the It has inspired pioneering exhibitions, introducing topics crucial role art plays in enabling individuals and societies such as munbangdo (scholar accoutrement paintings) to narrate the past and imagine the future. Pairing The and buncheong ceramic ware to a global audience. It has Met’s historical collection with important international been a space of active re昀氀ection, with talks, class visits, loans of Korean modern and contemporary art, this and videos about art making, ritual practices, and tradi- Bulletin and exhibition illustrate both the continuities tional music all helping to share the richness of Korean and ruptures of style, form, and medium that have culture in ways that were impossible before its inception. de昀椀ned the dynamic terrain of Korean art. The works The Met was one of the 昀椀rst museums in the United tell multiple stories about tradition, history, and socio- States to open a gallery dedicated to Korean art. This cultural change and evolution. By embracing the duality was made possible by the vision of former and present of looking backward and looking forward, the artists Met colleagues and Korean advisors, who collectively laid featured here honor their past, acknowledge their the foundation for ongoing initiatives and collaborations present, consider their future, and, in turn, inspire us to showcase Korean art at The Met. The Korea Foundation to do the same. was instrumental in the establishment of the Arts of Korea Gallery, and the Kun- Hee Lee Fund for Korean Art, Max Hollein created by the Samsung Foundation of Culture, has Marina Kellen French Director and CEO supported the gallery’s dynamic programming. The The Metropolitan Museum of Art 3
Fig. 1. Suh Se Ok (서세옥 徐世鈺, 1929–2020). People (사람들), 1988. Ink on danji (mulberry paper), 735/8 × 735/8 in. (187 × 187 cm). National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea 4
e昀琀, right, le昀琀, right—it is easy to imagine Suh Se Ok only now gaining attention in the broader global context moving his brush across the paper to create the of modernism.� Suh’s mesmerizing image encapsulates Ldiagonal marks in his 1988 painting People (昀椀g. 1).� all four of our themes; indeed, many other works could Suh builds a complex image by way of a seemingly be sorted into more than one category, a fact we know- straightforward repetitive pattern. Yet the title forces ingly embrace. By emphasizing each object and its us to look more closely at the pointed units and to formal and material characteristics, Lineages introduces notice that the individual strokes form the character for uncharted narratives in order to shi昀琀 the story of Korean “human” (人, in). In the center, the ordered rows dissolve art beyond the simple terms of “traditional” and into intersecting lines—a landscape of many people in “modern,” inviting us to consider the manner in which which it is progressively more di昀케cult to identify discrete stylistic lineages are continued, challenged, or reshaped. elements. In calling the work “people” and not person or Seeing these pieces alongside one another rather than man, Suh compels us to consider both the part and the in a strict chronological framework allows us to appreci- whole, the individual and the collective. ate ideas that have resonated across time and bound People is the opening image of Lineages: Korean artists together. Art at The Met The 昀椀rst works of Korean art to enter The Met , an exhibition that celebrates the twenty- 昀椀昀琀h year of the Arts of Korea Gallery at The Metropolitan collection were eight musical instruments that arrived as Museum of Art, New York. Through some thirty paint- part of the monumental gi昀琀 of the Crosby Brown ings and ceramics dating from the twel昀琀h century to the Collection, in 1889.� Four years later, in 1893, a mid- present day, it o昀昀ers an exploration of the history of 昀椀昀琀eenth- century inscribed buncheong dish decorated Korean art in four intertwined themes—things, places, with stamp- impressed chrysanthemums and dots in people, and lines.� These themes place objects drawn white slip was acquired by the Museum through a gi昀琀 of from The Met collection in active dialogue with loans by 245 Asian ceramics from the Hudson River School painter twentieth- century Korean artists, many of whom are Samuel Colman and his wife, Ann Lawrence Colman (née Fig. 2. Dish with inscription, chrysanthemums, and rows of dots, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), mid- 15th century. Buncheong ware with stamped design, Diam. 71/4 in. (18.4 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gi昀琀 of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Colman, 1893 (93.1.216) 5
Fig. 3. Trefoil- shaped covered box with chrysanthemums, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), ca. 12th century. Lacquer inlaid with mother- of- pearl and tortoiseshell over pigment and brass wire, L. 4 in. (10.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Fletcher Fund, 1925 (25.215.41a, b) Fig. 4. Unidenti昀椀ed artist. Amitabha and Kshitigarba, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), 昀椀rst half of the 14th century. Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, 723/8 × 313/4 in. (183.8 × 80.6 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1913 (13.5) Fig. 5. Unidenti昀椀ed artist. Water- moon Avalokiteshvara, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), 昀椀rst half of the 14th century. Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, 793/8 × 301/8 in. (201.6 × 76.5 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Charles Stewart Smith Collection, Gi昀琀 of Mrs. Charles Stewart Smith, Charles Stewart Smith Jr., and Howard Caswell Smith, in memory of Charles Stewart Smith, 1914 (14.76.6) 6
Dunham) (昀椀g. 2). In the subsequent decades, the Korean international audience and to ask how new lineages have collection grew steadily with additions of rare objects been shaped by Korean artists not only responding to the from the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), such as a twel昀琀h- past and present but also looking toward the future. century inlaid lacquer box (昀椀g. 3) and 昀椀ve prized Buddhist paintings (昀椀gs. 4–8). Acquired between 1913 and 1930, THINGS these paintings were misattributed as either Japanese The majority of late nineteenth- and early twentieth- or Chinese until the 1970s.� century European and American collectors of Korean art It was not until 1998 that The Met signaled its commit- had limited knowledge about Korea or its culture and ment to the serious study of Korean art with the establish- had never visited the country. They usually had an interest ment of its 昀椀rst permanent gallery dedicated to the in East Asian art in general, which included Korea to a subject (昀椀g. 9).� Since then, diverse art forms and topics, lesser degree, and acquired works predominantly from such as buncheong, the Diamond Mountains, Joseon still Japanese dealers. Of all the Korean art forms, ceramics life painting, and the Silla dynasty (57 BCE–935 CE), have have received the greatest attention in the West and been examined through pioneering special exhibitions make up the bulk of most collections in European and and publications.� Additionally, The Met has adopted a American museums. The history of the Korean collection more strategic acquisition plan, 昀椀lling in gaps and expand- at The Met follows this trend.� ing the types and styles of objects that are collected. Celadon, the predominant ceramic ware produced in With Lineages, the aim is to consider The Met’s place in the Goryeo dynasty, was highly sought- a昀琀er by European shaping the perception of historical Korean art for an and American collectors.� Vacillating between green, Fig. 6. Unidenti昀椀ed artist. Water- moon Fig. 7. Unidenti昀椀ed artist. Kshitigarbha, Fig. 8. Unidenti昀椀ed artist. Amitabha Triad, Avalokiteshvara, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), 昀椀rst half Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), ca. 13th century. 14th century. Hanging scroll; ink, color, and of the 14th century. Hanging scroll; ink, Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk, gold on silk, 72 × 293/8 in. (182.9 × 74.6 cm). color, and gold on silk, 79 × 271/4 in. 831/4 × 34 in. (211.5 × 86.4 cm). The Metropolitan The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, (200.7 × 69.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1930 H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. Museum of Art, New York, H. O. (30.76.298) H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (29.100.461) Havemeyer Collection, Gi昀琀 of Horace Havemeyer, 1929 (29.160.32) 7
Fig. 9. View of the inaugural installation of the Arts of Korea Gallery, 1998 8
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blue, and gray, the color of celadon is its de昀椀ning feature, typically came from kilns in Chungcheong Province, so much so that it is called cheongja, or green ware, though a rare example from a kiln in South Jeolla Province in Korean. The English designation “celadon” is likely is now in The Met collection (昀椀g. 13). The only two other derived from the name of a character in a seventeenth- known examples of intact bottles with this design of a century French pastoral comedy who wore a green robe. 昀氀owering plant from that Jeolla kiln are in the collections Since the time of their production, these artworks have of the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, and the been coveted for their unique hue, surface decoration, Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul. An increase in the popular- and organic forms (昀椀gs. 10–12). ity of porcelain, along with the destructive invasions of In response to changes in patronage and political Joseon Korea by Momoyama Japan, in 1592 and 1598, led and socioeconomic conditions during the transition to to the extinction of buncheong ware. When the ceramic the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), a new type of ceramic industries were rebuilt in the seventeenth century, only adapting the techniques of celadon organically emerged porcelain was produced, and, until the twentieth century, in the 昀椀昀琀eenth and sixteenth centuries. Now referred buncheong all but disappeared from the Korean penin- to as buncheong, a term coined in the 1930s, these sula. Incidentally, a parallel history of buncheong took gray- hued ceramics have coarser bodies decorated shape in Japan, initially through Joseon exports and then with white slip and looser, more expressive motifs.�� through the descendants of Korean ceramists who had Unlike celadon and porcelain, buncheong ware exhibits been forcibly removed to Japan at the time of the dis tinctive regional characteristics. Kilns in Gyeongsang invasions, and through Japanese potters who had learned Province produced buncheong with well- de昀椀ned inlaid or the technique. stamped patterns (see 昀椀g. 2). Buncheong from Jeolla If green celadon is synonymous with the Goryeo Province were generally decorated with freely executed dynasty, then white porcelain is the ceramic of the incised or sgra昀케to designs. Iron- painted buncheong Joseon dynasty. Unlike that of buncheong, the production Fig. 10. Bowl with two boys and lotuses, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), early 12th century. Stoneware with mold- impressed design under celadon glaze, Diam. 73/4 in. (19.7 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gi昀琀 of Sadajiro Yamanaka, 1911 (11.8.6) Fig. 11. Gourd- shaped ewer with waterfowl and reeds, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), early 12th century. Stoneware with carved and incised design under celadon glaze, H. 101/2 in. (26.7 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Fletcher Fund, 1927 (27.119.2) 10
Fig. 12. Vertical 昀氀ute with chrysanthemums, cranes, and clouds, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), early 13th century. Stoneware with inlaid design under celadon glaze, L. 143/8 in. (36.5 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gi昀琀s, 2008 (2008.71) 11
Fig. 13. Bottle with 昀氀owering plant, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), late 15th–early 16th century. Buncheong ware with white slip and iron- brown, H. 10 in. (25.4 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Bequest of Mary Stillman Harkness, by exchange, and Friends of Korean Art Gi昀琀s, 2021 (2021.126) 12
Fig. 14. Moon jar, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), second half of the 18th Fig. 15. Dragon jar, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), second half of the century. Porcelain, H. 151/4 in. (38.7 cm). The Metropolitan Museum 18th century. Porcelain with underglaze cobalt- blue design, of Art, New York, The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, H. 171/4 in. (43.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gi昀琀 of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Purchase, 2009 Bene昀椀t Fund, 2010 (2010.368) Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gi昀琀, 1975 (1979.413.1) of porcelain, called baekja (white ware) in Korean, was cultural achievements to promulgate nationalist agen- centralized. In the 1460s, the royal court established and das, as they continue to do today.�� managed a group of kilns at Bunwon, and these were Many twentieth- century Korean painters, such as the o昀케cial court kilns until their privatization in the Kim Whanki, admired and collected Joseon decorative 1880s. By the sixteenth century, porcelain had moved arts. Kim was in particular an enthusiast of Joseon beyond the court and the elite, and white ware was being porcelains and made them a frequent subject in paint- produced in regional kilns, consumed in greater num- ings, sketches, and magazine illustrations.�� His 1954 bers, and made in nearly every shape. Large bulbous painting Moon and Jar could correctly but inadequately vessels without any surface decoration, now known as be described as a white asymmetrical porcelain jar on a moon jars, were popular in the eighteenth century tall, thin, salmon- colored pedestal against a backdrop of (昀椀g. 14). In the following century, top- heavy forms with blue (昀椀g. 18). Stylistically, the work demonstrates Kim’s high necks and round shoulders tapering to a narrow keen sense of color, adroit brushwork, and use of seg- base were favored (昀椀g. 15). mentation and shapes—characteristics that he devel- During Japan’s colonization of Korea (1910–45), oped further in his later abstract works. Kim’s images blue- and- white Joseon porcelain was instrumental to are deceptively complex. While the jar and pedestal are the theories and development of Japanese mingei (folk, immediately discernible, the multihued blue background or cra昀琀) aesthetics (昀椀gs. 16, 17). The Japanese admiration does not seem representational. But from the title, we for Joseon art was genuine, but it was o昀琀en couched in know to read the blue circle as the moon in a nighttime terms of simplicity and primitivism, shaped by imperial- sky. By making the blue moon and the white jar nearly ism, and positioned to bolster colonialist e昀昀orts.�� equal in diameter, Kim equates the two things. In fact, he Conversely, Koreans celebrated ceramics as exemplary is widely credited with giving the name “moon jar” to this 13
type of unadorned white round Joseon vessel, though the evidence for this is anecdotal. During the Joseon period, these vessels were utilitarian objects and referred to as daeho (literally, “big jar”). Placing such a jar on a pedestal changes it into an object worthy of appreciation and depiction. The jar is the subject of the painting, but it is not an auspicious symbol or visual pun, thus setting this work apart from earlier forms of Korean still life painting.�� Yet there is also a poignant nostalgia in this depiction of porcelain. Much of Kim’s collection was lost or destroyed during the Korean War (1950–53). Later, while in Paris (1956–59) and New York (1963–74), Kim found comfort and inspiration in Joseon objects, which he continued to collect. Lee Seung- taek, like Kim Whanki, who was one of his teachers, invokes earlier art traditions in his work, but his engagement is less about memory or recuperation and more about, as he states, questioning “stereotypical notions of materials” and seeking to “transform the present into the past and the past into the present.”�� In Tied White Porcelain from 1979, the addition of a ceramic Fig. 16. Bowl with 昀氀oral and abstract motifs and hangeul “rope” to a white jar transforms a familiar object into a inscription, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), dated 1847. Porcelain mysterious one (昀椀g. 19). The interior and exterior of a jar with underglaze cobalt- blue design, H. 45/16 in. (10.6 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Friends are o昀琀en thought of as discrete spaces: the interior is a of Asian Art Gi昀琀s, 2010 (2010.174) receptacle, unadorned and invisible, while the visible exterior is ideal for decoration. Lee breaks this convention by having the rope emerge from inside and fall over the lip onto the outside. He entices us to look inside to 昀椀nd its source. Moreover, the jar and its adornment do not follow the centuries- long conventions of porcelain. By the twen- tieth century, porcelain was revered both for its elegance and for embodying Confucian aesthetics of simplicity, austerity, and solemnity. The rope confounds this reading. It is more nonsensical than elegant. For Lee, that seems to be the point: an object does not need to make sense as an artwork, as a sculpture, or as an ornament. In their postwar drive for reconstruction, the author itarian Korean governments of the 1960s and 1970s placed a premium on value—functional or symbolic— and all concepts and materials were required to align with nationalist agendas. Lee subverts these criteria of value. On the one hand, he revives “traditional” objects that were becoming obsolete and devalued in an indus- trialized society. On the other hand, he challenges the Fig. 17. Jar with 昀氀oral roundels and inscriptions, Joseon dynasty e昀昀orts to use traditional objects to form a nationalist (1392–1910), 19th century. Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue historical narrative that essentializes and rei昀椀es Korean design, H. 15 in. (38.1 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, art and culture. New York, Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gi昀琀s, 2021 (2021.127) Many other contemporary Korean artists have appropriated traditional decorative arts as a means through which to challenge norms and comment on the present moment. Through her 2000 series Cyborg, Lee Bul addresses patriarchal repression of women and highlights the ideals and fears associated with technology. 14
Fig. 18. Kim Whanki (김환기 金煥基, 1913–1974). Moon and Jar (달과 항아리), 1954. Oil on canvas, 637/8 × 383/16 in. (162.2 × 97 cm). Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul 15
Fig. 19. Lee Seung- taek (이승택 李升澤, b. 1932). Tied White Porcelain (매어진 백자), 1979. Porcelain, 107/8 × 111/2 in. (27.5 × 29 cm). Private collection Her human-siz e cyborgs are not “whole” but fractured, green-bluish-gray?—is its most alluring feature. and their curvaceous shapes, long nails, and breast- like Recognizing that it is a fool’s errand to think one descrip- forms suggest a female gender. Like most of her work, tion would su昀케ce, the Korean American artist Byron Cyborg juxtaposes concepts that are o昀琀en in tension— Kim created Goryeo Green Glaze #1 and Goryeo Green human and machine, paragon and monster, beautiful and Glaze #2, two paintings that are part of a larger series, to grotesque, utopia and dystopia. In creating parts of a replicate and explore celadon’s most sublime and tran- futuristic cyborg in porcelain, Lee connects the past and scendent characteristic (昀椀gs. 22, 23). Through images present, old and new technologies (昀椀gs. 20, 21). Scale is that engage with the decorative motifs and glazes on the also of vital importance here, as these parts are similar in surface of clay bodies, Kim correlates a potter’s ornamen- height to the aforementioned Joseon porcelain vessels tation and glazing process to that of a painter. As Kim (see 昀椀gs. 14, 15, and 17). In this way, Lee illustrates that explains, “The belief in the beauty of Koryŏ [sic] green objecti昀椀cation, particularly of Asian women, goes beyond glaze reminded me of the value placed on abstract the pictorial and sculptural and extends to the ceramic painting in Western culture.”�� By focusing on color, Kim vessels and decorative arts that have long fostered pushes against conventions of tradition and abstraction exoticism and fetishism via such Western decorative without completely abandoning taxonomic structures. styles as Chinoiserie and Japonisme. Through seriality, he de昀椀es the reduction of objects and Goryeo celadon, especially in the West, is synony- cultures to singular characteristics and contends with mous with exceptional Korean art, and its inconsistent, artistic hierarchies and sociocultural environments that indescribable color—is it gray-green? green-blue? inform value and appreciation. 16
Fig. 20. Lee Bul (이불, b. 1964). Cyborg Leg, 2000. Porcelain, 21 × 9 × 14 in. (53.3 × 22.9 × 35.6 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gi昀琀 of Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, 2023 (2023.285.1) Fig. 21. Lee Bul (이불, b. 1964). Cyborg Pelvis, 2000. Porcelain, 14 × 12 × 14 in. (35.6 × 30.5 × 35.6 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gi昀琀 of Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, 2023 (2023.285.2) 17
Fig. 22. Byron Kim (b. 1961). Goryeo Green Glaze #1, 1995–96. Oil on linen, 84 × 60 in. (213.4 × 152.4 cm). Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul 18
Fig. 23. Byron Kim (b. 1961). Goryeo Green Glaze #2, 1996. Oil on linen, 84 × 60 in. (213.4 × 152.4 cm). Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul 19
Fig. 24. Unidenti昀椀ed artist. Gathering of Government O昀케cials, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), ca. 1551. Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, 821/2 × 36 in. (209.6 × 91.4 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Acquisitions Fund, and The Vincent Astor Foundation and Hahn Kwang Ho Gi昀琀s, 2008 (2008.55) Fig. 25 (opposite). Ko Hui- dong (고희동 高羲東, 1886–1965). Autumn Landscape (추경산수), 1931. Ink and color on paper, 493/4 × 12 in. (126.5 × 30.5 cm). National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea 20
PLACES The formation of lineages and histories cannot be separated from place. From the Confucian emphasis on the importance of recognizing one’s position in a broader societal structure to the vast displacements that shaped the Korean diaspora in the modern period, place has long been deeply ingrained in Korean art, with ties to notions of belonging, homeland, and identity. Notably, Korean landscape paintings o昀琀en carry deeper meanings beyond an interest in nature. During the Joseon dynasty, landscape was one of the most revered subjects, and it provided opportunities to demon- strate skills in controlling ink and the calligraphic line.�� Known as the Three Perfections, calligraphy, painting, and poetry were considered the highest forms of art, and they are all found in gyehoedo, a 昀椀昀琀eenth- and sixteenth- century Korean landscape genre that records notable social gatherings, usually of men in government.�� In the hanging scroll Gathering of Government O昀케cials, from about 1551, the lyrical inscription at the top identi昀椀es the painted event as a reunion of sixty- year- old men who entered the civil service around the same time (昀椀g. 24). Written by Jeong Sa- ryong (정사룡 鄭士龍, 1491–1570), an eminent poet, calligrapher, and civil o昀케cial, the text o昀昀ers a vivid description of the camara- derie among colleagues as they feast and recite poetry together. The gathering is rendered with an unusual amount of detail, showing that this is a well- planned event with cushions, books, and writing implements; plenty of food and drink; and ten attendants on hand to serve. Nevertheless, it is the landscape that takes center stage in the scroll; the 昀椀gures are small and situated on an outcrop in the lower right. The importance of nature is conveyed through the large rocky mountains that recede into the distance, the long winding stream, and the crashing waves carefully rendered with thin lines. Apart from the group, the landscape is devoid of human life. This image is as much about communing with nature as it is about social interactions. The seated 昀椀gure holding his knees next to the table con昀椀rms this fact by looking into the distance. While recording an actual gathering, the painting is an idealized landscape with every element skillfully executed in an elegant style that fuses multiple pictorial traditions. Over time, landscape became a means of displaying di昀昀erent painting techniques, including an engagement with Western art, which was known in Korea as early as the sixteenth century through Joseon Koreans’ direct encounter with Europeans in Qing China and Edo Japan and through the circulation of printed images. By the mid- nineteenth century, some Korean artists had begun to incorporate linear perspective and chiaroscuro into their work.�� 21
Fig. 26. Paik Nam- soon (백남순 白南舜, 1904–1994). Paradise (낙원), 1936. Eight- panel folding screen; oil on canvas, 681/8 × 1461/2 in. (173 × 372 cm). National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Lee Kun-H ee Collection Ko Hui- dong is widely referred to as Korea’s 昀椀rst oil this long, thin hanging scroll, the natural elements have painter. He went to Japan in 1909. Although he enrolled in solidity—the trees grow out of a level portion of 昀椀rm the Western painting department at the Tokyo School of ground and the peach- colored mountain is a vertical Fine Arts, becoming its 昀椀rst Korean graduate, he eventu- mass that recedes back. With his familial connections, ally returned to ink painting in the 1920s. In works such 昀氀uency in several languages, diverse training, and active as Autumn Landscape, from 1931, he integrated the participation in art societies and associations, Ko was techniques of seoyanghwa (Western- style painting) very in昀氀uential in Korea, and his style choices would be and dongyanghwa (Eastern- style painting) (昀椀g. 25). In used to champion (then and now) 昀椀rst “modern” and 22
then “traditional” art. Hence, in Autumn Landscape, his If Ko Hui- dong’s Autumn Landscape can be broadly election to paint what could be a Korean scene, real or described as an ink landscape with some Western paint- imagined, in ink and color on paper can be easily linked ing techniques, then Paik Nam- soon’s Paradise, from to political issues related to ethnic consciousness, 1936, is an oil painting that incorporates Korean painting nationalism, and social hierarchy. Like so many artists techniques (昀椀g. 26). Paik trained in oil painting at the active in the early twentieth century, Ko grappled with Women’s School of Fine Arts in Tokyo and, in 1928, went to his identity as a Korean and an artist, questioning how study in Paris, where she became interested in Fauvism. As and what it meant to make modern art.�� colonial subjects, Koreans were allowed to travel abroad, 23
but they were denied the same status as their Japanese natural topography and historic places. In the eighteenth counterparts. This was particularly true for women. century, painter Jeong Seon (정선 鄭歚, 1676–1759) Nonetheless, Paik was the 昀椀rst professional Korean frequently visited famed picturesque locations, which he woman artist to exhibit internationally, participating in sketched and painted on-site. These images, particularly the Salon des Tuileries and Salon d’Automne in 1929.�� those of Mount Geumgang, or the Diamond Mountains, In Paradise, Paik literally maps European representa- ushered in a new genre of landscape painting.�� His tional techniques onto a Korean framework, combining legacy is evident in the work of Sin Hak- gwon, especially Western media—oil on canvas—on a decidedly Korean in Sin’s panoramic view of the interior section of painting format—an eight- panel folding screen. The Geumgang, where forty- six well- known sites are identi- shapes of the peaks, the waterfall that streams into a pool, 昀椀ed by name (昀椀g. 27). Sin’s juxtaposition of the tree- the low bridges, and the unoccupied thatched pavilion covered hills in the foreground—delineated through are common to ink landscapes. Yet some of the architec- washes and short strokes—and the jagged peaks in the ture, the nude and partially clothed 昀椀gures, the color background deliberately echoes the style of Jeong. The palette, and the painting style all come from Western double outlines around the spindly peaks, however, art. Paradise was a wedding gi昀琀 for Paik’s friend. In which give a slightly blurry impression, are Sin’s trade- the bucolic scene, men are working, and women seem mark. In the inscription, the artist notes that he “copied” more at their leisure. A male- female pair appears on a work by Jeong whose condition was deteriorating. the rightmost panel. Customarily, folding screens are Unable to make the pilgrimage to Geumgang himself, Sin read from right to le昀琀, so the couple is on the 昀椀rst panel. used Jeong’s compositions, as did Jeong’s contemporar- Their position on the threshold of this picturesque ies, as substitutes for travel that either fueled or satis昀椀ed landscape likely echoes Paik’s auspicious wishes for her a longing for the famed mountains. friend as she enters marital life. Spring Dawn at Mount Baegak is a depiction of Alongside utopian landscapes, there was a tradition Gyeongbok Palace with its main gate, Gwanghwamun, of depicting actual locations in Korean art. A昀琀er the in front and Mount Baegak (today referred to as Mount destructive Japanese and Manchu invasions in the late Bugak) prominent in the background (昀椀g. 28). An Jung- sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, respectively, sik, one of the last Joseon court painters, creates a sense there was a renewed awareness of Korea’s position within of recession leading to the gate, behind which a com- East Asia that spurred an interest in the peninsula’s pressed space contains the palace with dense trees and Fig. 27. Sin Hak- gwon (신학권 申學權, 1785–1866). General View of Inner Geumgang, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), mid- 19th century. Six sheets of paper mounted as a single panel; ink and light color on paper, 185/8 × 921/2 in. (47.3 × 235 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gi昀琀s, Gi昀琀 of Dr. Mortimer D. Sackler, Theresa Sackler and Family, and Brooke Russell Astor Bequest, 2017 (2017.185) 24
the large mountain beyond. Built three years a昀琀er the the mountain is An’s fabrication. Topographically, the founding of the Joseon dynasty in 1392, Gyeongbok autumn version is more accurate. Mount Baegak and Palace was the symbolic seat of the Joseon kings. The title Gwanghwamun do not align; the imposing peak is to the of this painting comes from the four- character inscription gate’s west. In repositioning the immovable mountain notably written in an archaic script o昀琀en favored for titles. to the center in the summer version, An calls back to a tra- The adjacent, smaller inscription, written in a more dition of imagined, poetic landscape painting in which a standard script, provides the date, “summer 1915.” An monumental central mountain would serve as a represen- made a second, very similar painting with the same tation of strong governance and order. With the palace title and year, but linked it to autumn in the inscription closed, Mount Baegak is not an emblem of governance (昀椀g. 29). Which begs the question, why do they share the but of the land itself. Sovereignty is lost, but the land is title “spring dawn” when the inscriptions refer to summer still strong and thriving, and in that An seems to 昀椀nd the and autumn, respectively? An rendered Gwanghwamun hopefulness of a spring dawn. quite faithfully, but he does not portray Gyeongbok Real and imagined landscapes, along with feelings of Palace and its environs as they looked in 1915—he has inaccessibility and nostalgia, took on a di昀昀erent form a昀琀er created romanticized representations of reality.�� A昀琀er the Korean War. The 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement 1910, Gyeongbok Palace was no longer the seat of gover- brought about a cease-昀椀re and the establishment of the nance, and the colonial Japanese government systemati- demilitarized zone (DMZ) near the thirty- eighth parallel cally changed the palace architecture, destroying many north. The aforementioned famed Mount Geumgang is buildings and replacing them with temporary exhibition situated north of the parallel, making it a faraway paradise halls.�� The road leading to Gwanghwamun was a busy and a symbol of loss for those living south of the DMZ. thoroughfare, but An’s paintings are devoid of people Byeon Gwan- sik 昀椀rst learned painting from his and activity. In the summer version, the dense trees look maternal grandfather, the court painter Jo Seok- jin like overgrowth, enveloping and overtaking the vacated (조석진 趙錫晋, 1853–1920), before studying in Tokyo in palace, and the doors of Gwanghwamun are 昀椀rmly the 1920s. In the 1930s and 1940s, he traveled extensively, shut—the palace and the sovereignty it represented are visiting Mount Geumgang many times. A昀琀er the Korean inaccessible. Yet the looming Mount Baegak exudes War, Byeon created numerous images based on his vivid natural grandeur and solidity. Compared to the autumn memories of the site.�� Bodeok Cave, from 1960, illus- version and contemporary photographs, the centrality of trates Byeon’s skill in using scale and perspective to 25
Fig. 28. An Jung- sik (안중식 安中植, 1861–1919). Spring Dawn Fig. 29. An Jung- sik (안중식 安中植, 1861–1919). Spring Dawn at Mount Baegak (백악춘효), 1915. Hanging scroll; ink and color at Mount Baegak (백악춘효), 1915. Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, 773/4 × 251/16 in. (197.5 × 63.7 cm). National Museum of on silk, 499/16 × 205/8 in. (125.9 × 51.5 cm). National Museum of Korea, Seoul Korea, Seoul 26
Fig. 30. Byeon Gwan- sik (변관식 卞寬植, 1899–1976). Bodeok Cave (보덕굴), 1960. Panel; light color on paper, 10315/16 × 471/2 in. (264 × 120.5 cm). Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul 27
Fig. 31. Kim Hong Joo (김홍주 金洪疇, b. 1945). Untitled, 1993. Oil on canvas, 571/8 × 441/8 in. (145 × 112 cm). Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul Fig. 32 (opposite). Do Ho Suh (서도호 徐道濩, b. 1962). My/Our Country (우리 나라), 2014. Bronze, 53 × 76 × 35/8 in. (137 × 194.3 × 8 cm). Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul convey the mountain’s vastness and grandeur (昀椀g. 30). He with the opposing political ideologies. Realism became keeps to the tradition of placing diminutive 昀椀gures within the banner technique of the Minjung movement, while the landscape, but he enlivens them with expressive abstraction was o昀琀en seen as conservative.�� postures of active looking. The 昀椀gures wear traditional One of the few artists who refused to be categorized dress, which suggests to us that this is a scene from the is Kim Hong Joo, whose work captures the uncertainty past, a memory. A昀琀er becoming a South Korean citizen, in post- Minjung South Korea. Kim’s untitled painting from Byeon could no longer be one of those 昀椀gures enjoying 1993 is as much about the profound societal disruption Mount Geumgang—this landscape is a place that he e昀昀ected by rapid modernization as it is about place could not visit again. (昀椀g. 31). In this split composition, the lower half is a metic- A昀琀er decades of authoritarian rule, South Korea’s ulously painted so昀琀 grassland surrounding a reservoir. prodemocracy Minjung movement culminated in the At the dividing horizon line—an allusion to the partition 1980s with protests that were met with violent suppres- at the DMZ—the border of the pasture appears as sion. Nevertheless, this powerful movement led to arti昀椀cial as the blades of grass look real. In the upper half, constitutional changes and South Korea’s 昀椀rst demo- silk- screened photographs of new and old buildings cratic elections, in 1987. Like the political milieu, artists 昀氀oat alongside painted rootless trees and planted 昀椀elds were divided into factions, with certain styles associated within a 昀氀at, unpainted vertical plane. Looking again, we 28
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Detail of My/Our Country can see that the shape of the reservoir is strangely tion of the individual and the collective is seen in the title: reminiscent of the Korean peninsula while also contain- 우리 나라 (Uri Nara). Uri directly translates to “our/we,” ing an anamorphic portrait of the artist, a conceit that and nara to “country.” But Suh rightly translates uri to adds a human presence to a landscape and refers to “my/our,” because when speaking in Korean about one’s Western painting traditions. Through every aspect of country, family, school, employer, etc., one says “our” and this painting, from the silk- screened photographs and “we,” though implying “my” and “I.” By using uri and the precisely painted grass to the distorted imagery and linguistic ambiguity of “my/our” in his title, Suh incorpo- conceptualization of space, Kim questions and chal- rates and places the individual into a larger collective lenges the forms and languages of representation. unit. In My/Our Country, the uniform height and density In My/Our Country, from 2014, Do Ho Suh creates the of the 昀椀gurines create a geographical mass without topo- Korean peninsula out of a mass of small bronze 昀椀gurines, graphic qualities. Although the peninsula is known for its each a little over a half inch high (昀椀g. 32). This inextricable hilly terrain, here it is nearly 昀氀at, recalling the way terms link between place and people, found above in Kim Hong like uri, “nation,” and “culture” represent collectives, Joo’s anamorphic face, is also present in People, a work erasing and 昀氀attening an individual to a word or concept. by Do Ho Suh’s father, Suh Se Ok. This is not to assert that Yet, notably, these 昀椀gurines are not impersonal iterations. My/Our Country correlates to People because of the Do Ho Suh counters the 昀氀attening by giving the 昀椀gurines artists’ father- son relationship; nevertheless, the two faces, di昀昀erent postures, and distinctive clothing. There works resonate in their repetitive use of a person, be it a are old and young people, men and women. Some even 昀椀gurine or an ideograph, to transform an image of a interact with adjacent 昀椀gurines. Prescient of a future when place or landscape. In Suh Se Ok’s painting, the people one can zoom in and out of images with ease, Do Ho Suh and place are intentionally unidenti昀椀able. His focus was not only challenges us to consider questions of collective on material, medium, and the legacy of ink painting in identity and individualism but also reminds us that Korean art. Conversely, through form and title, Do Ho Suh macro and micro perspectives will provide di昀昀erent yet speci昀椀es the place in his image as the country of Korea limited information and that we should be looking at and the people as Korean citizens. The frequent con昀氀a- both the parts and the whole. 30
Fig. 33. Unidenti昀椀ed artist. Portrait of Yun Dong- seom, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), ca. 1790–1805. Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, 76 × 331/4 in. (193 × 84.5 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Harris Brisbane Dick and 2014 Bene昀椀t Funds; Friends of Korean Art, Locks Foundation, Hyun Jun M. Kim, and Tchah Sup and Myong Hi Kim Gi昀琀s, 2014 (2014.605) PEOPLE During the Joseon dynasty, ancestor portraits were The di昀昀erent ways in which Byeon, Kim, and Suh incorpo- important in neo- Confucian society. These commemora- rate people in their works demonstrate a signi昀椀cant tive objects would have been placed in a family shrine change in art production. Prior to the twentieth century, dedicated to honoring the family’s male lineage, in calligraphy and landscape were the revered modes of accordance with neo- Confucian philosophy. Dressed in painting, and 昀椀gural representation was predominantly formal attire, seated in three- quarter view on a high- relegated to portraiture. The overall increase in 昀椀gural backed chair atop a woven mat, and set against a blank representation across various genres, along with an background, the subject in the Portrait of Yun Dong- expansion in the types of and the manner in which people seom, from about 1790–1805, re昀氀ects all the formal are depicted, re昀氀ects comprehensive societal change conventions of ancestral portraiture (昀椀g. 33). With the and recon昀椀guration of the class system. exception of his face and the tips of his shoes, Yun’s body 31
is concealed by the voluminous, patterned robe. The folds of the billowing sleeves and the white underrobe suggest that Yun’s hidden hands are placed on his thighs. Along with the opulent robe, there are other markers of high status: the leopard skin draped on the chair, the colorful hyungbae (rank badge) of double cranes with a bullocho (elixir plant), the decorative belt, and the footrest. The subtle shading to articulate his facial features and the robe’s volume is evidence of the greater circulation and in昀氀uence of European images, painting techniques, and materials in Korea during the eighteenth century.�� The growth of photography in early twentieth- century Korea brought about an increase in the use of illusionistic techniques in painting. In Portrait of a Scholar, dated to 1924, the selective shading and crisp lines seen in the depiction of Yun Dong- seom’s face give way to expert modeling and naturalistic wrinkles (昀椀g. 34). One can sense the sitter’s corporeality. Nevertheless, his attire is not handled in the same manner as his face and hands. Even with the addition of white highlights, a technique borrowed from Western painting, his robes are not meant to be photorealistic, suggesting the ways in which the artist skillfully selected di昀昀erent techniques to create a distinctive style that was both old and new. The inclusion of folding screens in portraits like this one may have its origin in photography, since they were commonly used as backdrops in photography studios. Although unidenti昀椀ed, the sitter, with his black- trimmed white robe and double- tiered hat with three peaks, is clearly a scholar in informal garb. This portrait, like the one of Yun, would have been used in rituals remembering the ancestors. It is noteworthy that the scroll’s red cord with tassels, a display convention of ancestral portraiture, has survived, as most are lost. Due to its expert rendering and stylistic similarities to other signed portraits, this image has been attributed to Chae Yong- sin.�� Chae passed the military service Fig. 34. Attributed to Chae Yong- sin (채용신 蔡龍臣, 1850–1941). examination in 1887, but he became renowned for his Portrait of a Scholar, dated by inscription to 1924. Hanging scroll; ability to retain earlier portraiture conventions while ink and color on silk, 48 × 243/4 in. (121.9 × 62.9 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gi昀琀s, adding photographic qualities and was appointed royal 2012 (2012.329) portraitist in 1901. A昀琀er Korea lost diplomatic sovereignty in 1905, he retired from his post. He was known to paint wives, and daughters were extolled in literature, such from photographs, especially as age limited his mobility; 昀椀gures only began to be depicted in artworks in the this portrait may very well have had a photographic, late nineteenth century, o昀琀en as double portraits with rather than live, model. their husbands. With the androcentrism of neo-C onfucianism, there Portrait of a Woman, from about 1920–40, depicts an is a dearth of female ancestral portraits. As pungsokhwa interior environment similar to those found in images (genre paintings of everyday life) became more wide- from early twentieth-c entury photography studios, spread starting in the late seventeenth century, images complete with a folding screen, tables, potted 昀氀owers, a of women—predominantly gisaeng (female entertainers), vase, and a patterned mat (昀椀g. 35). Flower motifs sur- commoners, and shamans—became more prevalent.�� round the sitter, from the plants on the table to the vase While the importance and virtues of women as matriarchs, covered in multicolored blooms and the folding screen 32
Fig. 35. Unidenti昀椀ed artist. Portrait of a Woman, ca. 1920–40. Framed painting; ink and color on cotton, 333/4 × 201/2 in. (85.7 × 52.1 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1943 (43.12) decorated with a bird- and- 昀氀ower composition in faint lines, her small full mouth is light pink, and her piercing ink. In her lap, she holds a spray of peonies. Even the eyes are depicted with dark gray irises, black pupils, and blue tablecloth is dotted with small 昀氀owers. de昀椀ned upper lids. Echoing the curve of the eyes, her In contrast to the many details surrounding the eyebrows are a faint gray. The rest of her face is unmot- sitter—the green cushion with dense tassels, her tled, as if the painter did not want to disturb her pale long braid intertwined with a red textile, the gold- skin with her features. This unshaded, porcelaneous painted planter with 昀氀oral motifs, and the lush leaves of face conveys female beauty standards of the time and the peonies—her face stands out as one of the palest mirrors the trend in contemporary East Asian portrait portions of the paintings. Due to her white complexion, photography in which studio lighting was arranged to closer inspection is needed to see the carefully rendered diminish shadows on the face.�� While every wrinkle features. Her nose and ears are articulated through thin on the aforementioned scholar was a testament to his 33
Fig. 36. Lee Yootae (이유태 李惟台, 1916–1999). A Pair of Figures—Inquiry (인물일대 [人物一對]—탐구 [探究]), 1944. Ink and color on paper, 831/2 × 601/4 in. (212 × 153 cm). National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea elderly and thus venerable status, the smooth white skin of a researcher seated in her laboratory is evidence of of the woman was a testament to her beauty and youth- the changing status of women. The emergence of the fulness. The treatment of her face, along with her long “modern girl” or “new woman” (sin yeoseong) in Korea braid indicating her unmarried status, links this painting was part of a global phenomenon of expanding spheres to the earlier Joseon genre of miindo (painting of a of opportunity for women.�� The well- equipped labora- beauty), contemporary depictions of women in colonial tory, with its glass 昀氀asks, batteries, microscopes, and Korea, and images of women in the Japanese genre of other instruments, shows Korea involved in scienti昀椀c nihonga (literally, “Japanese painting”), which emerged progress. While Lee is depicting recent social changes, he in the late 1870s and early 1880s and was characterized has not completely abandoned the past. Under the white by so昀琀 lines and pastel colors. coat, the researcher wears a hanbok (Korean dress). The sitter and her surroundings become the means Between the white lapels, a one-bo w tie and overlapping of negotiating a complex web of old and new art forms collar with white trim are just visible. within a changing and charged sociopolitical environ- Signaling the ambiguous response to modernization ment in A Pair of Figures—Inquiry, a painting by Lee and female emancipation in colonial Korea, Lee exhibited Yootae (昀椀g. 36).�� While there is similarly minimal articula- A Pair of Figures—Inquiry as a diptych, pairing it with tion of features, the female’s face is not awash in white, A Pair of Figures—Composing a Verse in Response as in the previous portrait. She has 昀氀esh-t oned skin and (昀椀g. 37), a work made the same year, in the last edition of a bit of rouge on her cheeks. Created in 1944, this image the Joseon Fine Art Exhibition (Joseon misul jeollamhoe). 34
Fig. 37. Lee Yootae (이유태 李惟台, 1916–1999). A Pair of Figures—Composing a Verse in Response (인물일대 [人物一對]— 화운 [和韻]), 1944. Ink and color on paper, 825/8 × 581/2 in. (210 × 148.5 cm). National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea Commonly referred to as Seonjeon, this annual national These two paintings complicate the categories in salon was the most important art show in Korea at the which women and art were placed. As art historian Joan time. A Pair of Figures—Composing a Verse in Response Kee aptly states, “the deliberate presentation of the seems to be the antithesis of A Pair of Figures—Inquiry. works as a diptych made palpable what the poet and A woman in a hanbok is seated in a stately interior with essayist Mo Yun- suk described as the price of being a Asian- and Western-inspir ed furniture, a grand piano, and ‘modern woman’: ‘we have to carry out the duties of the lush peonies. Her hair is parted at the side and neatly housewife as well as work as professionals in the public swept behind her ears. She rests her chin on the back of realm.’”�� Is this the beginning of the superwoman type, intertwined hands and appears lost in thought. From the when multiple roles are a requirement and the perfor- title, she is likely thinking about her hwaun, a verse mance of those roles determines a woman’s legitimacy composed in response to a poem. On the surface, this and worth? seems to be a painting of a “traditional” woman. Yet as in The colonization of Korea by Japan had an indelible A Pair of Figures—Inquiry, there are subtle nods to the impact on art, not only on production but also on the present moment of change. The eclectic assortment of manner in which it was viewed, interpreted, and catego- furniture is a coexistence of old and new. The piano, rized.�� A昀琀er liberation in 1945, the Korean peninsula undoubtedly an emblem of wealth, is a Western instru- became a site of Cold War geopolitics, and the subse- ment that signals new forms of learning and even quent Korean War caused destruction to a degree that Christianity, since many churches had pianos. had never before been experienced. 35
Fig. 38. Kim Whanki (김환기 金煥基, 1913–1974). Refugee Train (피난열차), 1951. Oil on canvas, 141/2 × 201/2 in. (37 × 52 cm). Private collection Fig. 39. Chang Uc- chin (장욱진 張旭鎭, 1917–1990). Ferry Boat (나룻배), 1951. Oil on panel, 53/8 × 111/2 in. (13.7 × 29 cm). National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Lee Kun- Hee Collection Artists Kim Whanki and Chang Uc- chin explore these representation, abstraction was heralded as a language of changes in two paintings produced in 1951. In Kim’s artistic freedom. But as a Euro- American art movement, Refugee Train, against a deep blue sky, a row of train cars abstraction in the Korean context was seemingly entwined travels on tracks running along a burnished red ground with Cold War politics and the horri昀椀c realities of war. (昀椀g. 38). The cars are full, over昀氀owing with rectangular In Chang Uc- chin’s deceptively simple-looking Ferry forms topped with red and peach dots. Due to the Boat, the 昀椀ve faceless 昀椀gures can be identi昀椀ed as a abbreviated style, the cargo is not immediately identi昀椀- ferryman, a boy with a bicycle, a woman carrying a heavy able as people, though this fact is con昀椀rmed by the title. bundle atop her head, a woman clutching a parcel in her The Korean War brought about an unprecedented level of arms, and a young man with a backpack, who may be movement. Masses 昀氀ed on foot and via crammed trains the owner of the cow next to him (昀椀g. 39).�� The subjects and boats. A昀琀er the formation of the DMZ, the peninsula are in passage, despite the relatively static quality of the was a divided entity for the 昀椀rst time since the seventh composition. Read within the context of the refugee century. Partition with an impermeable border was an crisis during the Korean War and considered alongside inconceivable outcome. The numerous refugee settle- Kim Whanki’s painting, this image seems to show how ments that sprang up were thought to be temporary; those Chang too grappled with the tide of people 昀氀eeing war in who had come south would return home a昀琀er the turmoil. search of shelter, carrying their lives on their heads and But with the DMZ, movement became displacement, backs. Chang’s straightforward painting style echoes his escape became migration, and momentary separation proclamation of being a simple man, but it does not limit became permanent rupture. Small as it is, Kim’s painting his expressiveness. Through his use of simple forms, suggests the ways in which the war placed pressure Chang is also able to convey loss, isolation, and bereave- upon the language of formal abstraction. Breaking from ment without formally depicting trauma. 36
The muted colors and heavily textured surface of the 1965 painting Tree and Two Women by Park Soo- keun are in stark contrast to those in Ferry Boat, and yet both images are infused with sentiment conveyed through elemental forms (昀椀g. 40). Park came from a humble background and vowed to become an artist a昀琀er seeing a work by the self- taught French painter Jean- François Millet (1814–1875). In the 1940s, while he was in Pyeongyang, Park developed his signature style, which is o昀琀en described as stonelike because of its gray and brown palette and mottled surface, inspired by granite Buddhist sculptures and pagodas, and by wall paintings in the recently excavated Goguryeo tombs (37 BCE–668 CE). Early on in his career, Park made a living drawing portraits of American soldiers stationed in Seoul. In his own work, he portrayed everyday people, primarily women and children, re昀氀ecting the indelible impact of Millet. Though postwar Korea was 昀椀rmly a Confucian society, the deaths of so many, especially men, meant widows and daughters shouldered the weight of recovery and reconstruction. In depicting women, o昀琀en caring for children or at work, Park recognizes their indispensability and seemingly empathizes with their burdens of survival. Painted in his rough style, the women take on a monumental perma- nence inspired by Buddhist monuments, a connection that may also be an artistic response to the swi昀琀 changes overtaking postwar Korea. The 1970s and 1980s in South Korea saw rapid industrialization and urbanization concomitant with Fig. 40. Park Soo- keun (박수근 朴壽根, 1914–1965). Tree and Two increasing authoritarianism, which gave rise to a grass- Women (나무와 두 여인), 1965. Oil on canvas, 511/8 × 35 in. (130 × 89 cm). roots democratization movement known as Minjung, Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul discussed earlier.�� Artists like Lee Jong- gu, who were a part of the Minjung art movement, adopted realism roofed house set against hills and a light blue sky. The as a deliberately politicized aesthetic language that sky blends into the blue of the Roh Tae- woo presidential- challenged the quiet abstraction of earlier artists, such as campaign poster, and the hills are met with torn edges of Kim Whanki and Lee Ufan (discussed later). Lee Jong- gu newspaper spreads. The posters and newspapers look to highlighted the harsh realities faced by Korean farmers be on a wall. What is this backdrop? Is it a wall that had a and laborers in his hyperrealistic paintings. His attention painting of a 昀椀eld that was then pasted over with posters? to detail is evident in the weathered, tanned faces and Are the men in front of this wall? Where does the ground rough, veiny hands of the men in Earth- at- Oziri (Oziri meet the wall? Lee makes the image more surreal with People) (昀椀g. 41). Squatting and gazing directly at us, the the cutouts of 昀氀oating cabbages and a pack of Camel men are not brie昀氀y resting but anticipating de昀椀ance. cigarettes. He cheekily uses a Marlboro cigarette carton What they are waiting for is hard to determine. If the wall to stand in for a house. of campaign posters and newspapers is an indicator, Questioning reality was central to the practice of perhaps they are waiting for substantial, and real, socio- hyperrealistic painting, which in Korea became tethered political change. The collage of pasted papers in the to social critique and was less associated with commer- background creates a sense of trompe l’oeil, making it cialism in contrast to the practice in America. Through his di昀케cult to discern the multiple levels of reality in the painting style, juxtaposition of incongruous elements, composition. Which is more real: the posters promising and choice and use of materials, Lee reveals the banality change or the men awaiting a di昀昀erent kind of reality? of “seeing is believing.” Earth- at- Oziri (Oziri People) is Upon closer inspection, it is apparent that the men infused with skepticism, evident in the torn posters of are situated in a bizarre setting. Their brown shadows le昀琀- and right-wing politicians with their campaign morph into a receding tract of farmland with a red- promises. He extends the skepticism to global politics, 37
Fig. 41. Lee Jong- gu (이종구, b. 1954). Earth- at- Oziri (Oziri People) (국토 – 오지리에서 [오지리사람들]), 1988. Acrylic and collage on grain bag, 783/4 × 67 in. (200 × 170 cm). National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea 38
especially to America and the West, with the photo- glance, the thin, jointed stalks and small and large leaves graphs of famine- stricken children and the English- point to a continuation of the literati lineage found in the language newspaper headlines reading “Reagan’s Code earlier Joseon bamboo painting by Yi Jeong. Yang trained of Honor” and “A Ri昀琀 in the Communist Party.” He even as a court painter in the Joseon- dynasty Dohwaseo forces us to question the norms of art production by (Bureau of Painting), and he was particularly known for reusing bags that held grain as his substrate. The fore- his plum blossom and geese paintings.�� ground is le昀琀 unpainted, and the printing on the bags Yet Yang painted Blood Bamboo in 1906, during a is clearly legible, calling attention to the fact that this tumultuous time for the Korean peninsula. At the turn of work is not on the usual canvas, paper, silk, or wood. Just the century, Korea had to contend with the increasing as anyone and everyone can be the subject of a work, encroachment of Western countries and Meiji Japan. In anything can be used to make art. response to rapidly changing global politics, King As Lee demonstrates, Korean art de昀椀es straight- Gojong, who ascended to the throne in 1864, declared forward categorization. Like Suh Se Ok’s People, Lee’s Joseon an empire in 1897, thus becoming the last Joseon Earth- at- Oziri (Oziri People) seeks to challenge the king and the 昀椀rst emperor (r. 1897–1907) of the Korean traditional painterly languages of the past. Though Empire (Daehan Jeguk, 1897–1910). Japan’s victory in the the artistic outcomes are not always known, such art Russo- Japanese War (1904–5) and the 1905 Ta昀琀- Katsura demands that we pay attention to the details and adopt Memorandum, in which the United States agreed to gazes that are as dubious as those of the men in the reduce its involvement in Asia and allow Japan to take painting, in search of future horizons. control of Korea, paved the way for Japan’s increasing imperial ambitions.�� Consequently, the Korean Empire LINES was forced to sign the Eulsa Treaty (Japan–K orea Treaty of Returning to Suh Se Ok’s People leads us to the 昀椀nal 1905), making Korea a protectorate of Japan and depriv- theme—lines—which reconsiders calligraphy and ink ing the country of its diplomatic sovereignty. painting, two techniques synonymous with Korean art. Yang was asked to paint Blood Bamboo for the On another level, lines suggest lineages and legacies, Korean Daily News (Daehan maeil sinbo) a昀琀er the invisible connections across time. politician, diplomat, and general Min Young- hwan (민영환 Bamboo in the Wind (昀椀g. 42), from the early seven- 閔泳煥, 1861–1905) died by suicide in symbolic opposition teenth century, is a rare extant example of bamboo to the Eulsa Treaty.�� When the room in which he had painting by Yi Jeong, a premier literati artist and great- died was opened a year later, it was reported that great- grandson of King Sejong (세종대왕 世宗大王, bamboo stalks had grown through the 昀氀oorboards where r. 1418–50). Yi’s con昀椀dence and expertise are on display his bloody clothes had lain. The bamboo was said to have throughout the composition, from the li昀琀ing of the forty- 昀椀ve leaves, matching Min’s age at the time of his brush to form the leaves’ tapering ends and the precise death, and to have been nurtured by Min’s blood, leading changes in direction to create the tips bent by the wind to its being called hyeoljuk, or “blood bamboo.” While to the faint gray depiction of bamboo in the background. Yang would create a few versions of Blood Bamboo, the A favored subject for East Asian scholar-p ainters for original painting was 昀椀rst published on July 17, 1906, and over a millennium, bamboo is imbued with both subsequent versions were printed in other newspapers Confucian and Daoist meanings; hence, it is as much a and circulated as woodblock prints.�� symbol as it is an object. As rendered in this painting, In the version reproduced here, the bamboo is bamboo is admired for its ability to bend in the wind with- situated against an unpainted backdrop growing from out breaking. It is a symbol of resilience and 昀氀exi bility, of the land, not sprouting from the 昀氀oorboards within an adapting but not succumbing to the harsh elements—all interior, as described in the colophon; this decision gives character traits of a virtuous person. These traits are the subject a timeless quality. Painted in green, the referenced in the colophon describing the painting: bamboo is alive and connected to the land. Because of these choices, Blood Bamboo is more than a literati or Aged bamboo has grown unevenly, calligraphic symbol and more than a continuation of a Branches li昀琀 together in the breeze, painting style. Desolate and sparse, seeking to stir people, Calligraphy has long been thought to re昀氀ect the Lingering resonance found nowhere else.�� writer’s moral character. The brush is an extension of the hand on an arm that is connected to the heart; thus, The values of “seeking to stir people” and “lingering the style and ability of a calligrapher are said to mirror resonance” take on added meaning in the 1906 work their heart and mind.�� Ahn Junggeun stands within a Blood Bamboo, attributed to Yang Gi- hun (昀椀g. 43). At 昀椀rst legacy of calligraphers who use an expressive brush to 39
Fig. 43. Attributed to Yang Gi- hun (양기훈 楊基薰, 1843–?). Blood Bamboo (혈죽도), 1906. Ink and color on silk, 491/2 × 211/4 in. (126 × 54 cm). Korea University Museum, Seoul Fig. 42. Yi Jeong (이정 李霆, 1541–1626). Bamboo in the Wind, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), early 17th century. Hanging scroll; ink on silk with gold on colophon, 8713/16 × 283/4 in. (223 × 73 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gi昀琀 of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015 (2015.300.299) 40
impart mantras, lament injustice, and inspire action. Ahn received a classical education, and as a young man witnessing the whittling away of Korea’s sovereignty, he devoted himself to studying geopolitics and history and sought to educate others by establishing schools. In 1907 he moved to the Vladivostok region (then Manchuria) to join fellow Korean independence activists. A昀琀er hearing that Itō Hirobumi (伊藤 博文, 1841–1909), a Japanese politician who served as the 昀椀rst resident- general of Korea, would be passing through Manchuria, Ahn and others devised a plan to assassinate Itō; as a pledge to the plan, the activists each cut o昀昀 the last joint of their ring 昀椀nger. Ahn intercepted and fatally shot Itō at the Harbin Railway Station before being caught by the authorities. During his nearly six- month imprisonment before execution, Ahn wrote his autobiography and made calligraphic works that were much admired (昀椀g. 44). On these works, he imprinted his self- mutilated le昀琀 hand, a visual mark of his pledge and a poignant nod to the connection of a calligrapher’s hand, heart, and mind. Lee Ufan channels the energetic precision of cal- ligraphic strokes in his abstract paintings.�� The act of using a brush until the pigment it holds diminishes gradually to barely leave a mark is a calligraphic conven- tion that Lee deliberately evokes in the 1979 painting From Line (昀椀g. 45). Here, the closely spaced linear rows that start at the top edge and 昀椀ll the entire length of the canvas make the viewer aware of the large dimensions of the work. The lack of a border creates a sense of fullness, even though each line fades and dissolves. Before moving to Japan in 1956, Lee studied ink painting with Suh Se Ok. Lee’s ability to produce a series of straight lines of equal width demonstrates his rigorous calligraphic discipline. Against the lineages of black calligraphy and ink painting, Lee chose to employ a blue pigment, derived from cobalt and cadmium.�� Individuals like Lee recognized the numerous opposi- tional categories by which pre- and postwar artists and their works were being de昀椀ned, such as traditional versus modern, ink versus oil, and representation versus abstraction. Lee grapples with these binaries by bringing together unlikely combinations of materials, objects, and concepts. From Line is evidence of this practice, as the painted line is both solid and porous and the visual 昀椀eld is full and empty. Lee’s embrace of the both- and paradigm is also present in the work’s title—“from” is as important as “line,” since it indicates a start, a process, and signals open- endedness and is not a de昀椀nitive statement. Like Lee Ufan, Yun Hyong- keun steered away from Fig. 44. Ahn Junggeun (안중근 安重根, 1879–1910). black in his paintings, because he understood that it had One Takes Pain and Worries for the Safety and become a signi昀椀er of ink. He employed burnt umber and Danger of the Country (국가안위노심초사), 1909. Ink ultramarine, which are foregrounded in the titles of his on silk, 585/8 × 15 in. (149 × 38.2 cm). Ahn Junggeun Memorial Museum, Seoul, Treasure no. 569-21 works. Though it does not appear blue, Umber Blue, from 41
Fig. 45. Lee Ufan (이우환 李禹煥, b. 1936). From Line (선에서), 1979. Oil on canvas, 763/8 × 1023/8 in. (194 × 260 cm). Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul 42
1975, is composed of obfuscated layers of pigment that create varying degrees of darkness (昀椀g. 46). When looking at the thinned and layered paint, the visible brushstrokes, the blurred lines, and the weave of the linen in the unpainted areas, it is as if one has zoomed in very close to a section of an ink painting to examine the interactions between the paint and its substrate. But Yun was not attempting to mimic ink painting with oil and linen; rather, he was fascinated by the intimate interplay of materials. Yun visualizes time and accident in Umber Blue by harnessing the di昀昀erences in solubility and viscosity of paint and turpentine as well as the variability of spread- ing and absorption.�� While he can determine where and when to layer the paint, the resultant hues and perme- ations are dependent on the concentration of the paint mixture and the degree of wetness of previous layers. By allowing absorption to play a role equal to application, Yun challenges the primacy of mark making that is intrinsically linked to ink painting. In painting the edges and placing the unmarked area in the center, he draws the eye to the texture of the linen support and to the areas where the paint and linen meet. The thin strips of paint at the top and bottom give the unpainted center a discrete shape even while the painted areas conform to the structure of the support and look as if they could extend beyond it. In this way, Yun counters ideas about emptiness or the void, concepts that o昀琀en conjure up a notion of “Asian” spirituality or philosophy for non- Asian audiences.�� Though an interest in the formal qualities of line appears to be central to the work of Kwon Young- woo, the artist complicates the standards and conceptions of mark making and gestural abstraction by interrogating the methods of ink painting.�� In postwar Korea, the choice of medium carried with it an existential weight, bound up in larger issues of identity and nationalism. Selecting ink painting versus oil painting signaled a di昀昀erent cultural path linked to broader issues of “Oriental” versus “Western,” which had other pejorative implications, including underdeveloped versus progressive and insular versus cosmopolitan.�� Trained as an ink painter, Kwon radically engaged with paper in the 1960s, directing his attention to hanji (literally, “Korean paper”) and exploring its potential for three- dimensional transformation as a way to refute the privileged status of painting over all other forms of art and its strict distinction from sculpture. Paper, as one of the Three Friends of the Scholar, is revered as an indispensable component of ink painting and calligraphy but usually as a support for ink and brush. By tearing, pasting, and molding, Kwon extricated paper from its substrate role and brought it to the forefront. During the 1980s, while living in Paris, Kwon reen- gaged with ink and color while still drawing attention to 43
Fig. 46. Yun Hyong- keun (윤형근 尹亨根, 1928–2007). Umber Blue (청다), 1975. Oil on linen, 513/16 × 383/16 in. (130 × 97 cm). National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea the paper substrate itself. Untitled, from 1984, is com- tion of ink painters called Munghimhoe (묵림회, Ink posed of long vertical cuts made at regular intervals and Forest Group). Wrestling with the same issues about style an undulating horizontal tear (昀椀g. 47). A gray- blue color, and materiality in relation to modernism and cultural a mix of ink and gouache, radiates outward from the identity, Kwon and Suh responded quite di昀昀erently. center; it looks as if by capillary action to be bleeding Similarly, all the artists discussed here have contended from the vertical slashes. The color darkens the cuts, with domestic and global artistic conventions and making them more visible—indeed, the darkest lineages. Their works reveal the various methods and and thickest “line” is the horizontal space formed by coexisting practices with which they responded. Many tearing. This gap compels us to take a closer look to see knew each other and debated about individual and if there is anything behind it. Kwon submitted to the national identity, politics, and art. Many became profes- paper by choosing to apply the color on the reverse and sors at the leading art schools and inspired future letting it seep through to the front. Thus, in returning to generations, creating legacies of their own. They are parts ink, Kwon challenged its supremacy and the o昀琀en- of a vast whole that makes up Korean art. Echoing the glamorized act of laying ink on paper. artists’ e昀昀orts against strict categorizations and fore- Kwon is a 昀椀tting close to this essay, since it began grounding the importance of retaining plurality, the use with Suh Se Ok. From the formal di昀昀erences in their of “s” in the exhibition title, as well as the plural form of works, it may come as a surprise that the two were each of the four themes, is as deliberate as the selection contemporaries and part of an in昀氀uential artist associa- of objects and their groupings into loose constellations. 44
Fig. 47. Kwon Young- woo (권영우 權寧禹, 1926–2013). Untitled, 1984. Ink and gouache on hanji paper, 883/16 × 67 in. (224 × 170 cm). Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul 45
NOTES in Korean Art: Fluidity and 7. There have been 昀椀ve special 11. Kim Brandt, Kingdom of Fragmentation (New York: exhibitions in the Arts of Korea Beauty: Mingei and the Politics 1. For more on Suh Se Ok and Routledge, 2022); and Kyung Gallery: the inaugural show, Arts of Folk Art in Imperial Japan modern ink painting, see Chung An and Kang Soojung, eds., Only of Korea (1998); Korean Ceramics (Durham, NC: Duke University Hyung- min, Modern Korean Ink the Young: Experimental Art in from the Museum of Oriental Press, 2007), pp. 1–37. Painting, Korean Culture Series 5 Korea, 1960s and 1970s (New Ceramics, Osaka (2000); Art of 12. For example, the status of the (Elizabeth, NJ: Hollym, 2006); York: Guggenheim Museum the Korean Renaissance, moon jar as a national symbol Joan Kee, “The Curious Case Publications, 2023). 1400–1600 (2009); Poetry in Clay: was solidi昀椀ed when it became of Contemporary Ink Painting,” 4. For more on the Crosby Brown Korean Buncheong Ceramics the model for the Olympic torch Art Journal 69, no. 3 (2010): Collection, see Sally B. Brown, from Leeum, Samsung Museum at the 2018 Winter Olympics in pp. 88–113; and Joan Kee, “Jung “Mary Elizabeth Adams Brown: of Art (2011); and Diamond Pyeongchang. Tak- young and the Making of An Incurable Collector of Musical Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia Abstract Ink Painting,” Art Instruments,” in “A Gi昀琀 of Sound: in Korean Art (2018). Silla: Korea’s 13. A昀琀er Kim Whanki’s death, Bulletin 101, no. 4 (December The Crosby Brown Collection of Golden Kingdom (2013–14) was items from his collection were 2019): pp. 117–41. Musical Instruments,” special held in a special exhibition space exhibited at the National 2. In this essay and the related issue, The Metropolitan Museum at The Met. Museum of Korea, Seoul. exhibition, the terms “Korea” of Art Bulletin 76, no. 1 (Summer 8. Soyoung Lee, “Collecting 14. On earlier Korean still life and “Korean” refer to the entire 2018): pp. 4–47. Korea at the Met,” Orientations paintings, see Byungmo peninsula for the period until 5. The misattribution of Goryeo 46, no. 2 (March 2015): pp. 170–78. Chung and Sunglim Kim, eds., the 1953 armistice, whereas for Buddhist paintings was not 9. Soyoung Lee, “Goryeo Chaekgeori: The Power and the subsequent period they refer limited to The Met. For Celadon and Its Reception in the Pleasure of Possessions in solely to the Republic of Korea, information on such paintings, West,” in Arts of Korea: Histories, Korean Painted Screens, exh. known as South Korea, and its see the digital catalogue Challenges, and Perspectives, cat., SUNY Series in Korean connections to American and Goryeo Buddhist Painting: ed. Jason Steuber and Allysa B. Studies (Albany: State University Western European art move- A Closer Look, National Museum Peyton (Gainesville: University of of New York Press, 2017); Sunglim ments and politics. Unfortunately, of Asian Art, Smithsonian Florida Press, 2018), pp. 258–83. Kim, Flowering Plums and a proper examination of post- 1953 Institution, Washington, DC, For more on Goryeo celadon, Curio Cabinets: The Culture of art and culture of the Democratic accessed March 10, 2023, see Itoh Ikutaro, Korean Objects in Late Chos漃n Korean People’s Republic of Korea, or https://publications.asia.si Ceramics from the Museum Art (Seattle: University of North Korea, is beyond the scope .edu/publications/goryeo/en of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, Washington Press, 2018); of this project. Note also that /default.php. exh. cat. (New York: The Eleanor Soo- ah Hyun, “Korean some of the artworks discussed Metropolitan Museum of Art, Munbangdo Paintings,” in in this essay are not included in 6. Prior to the opening of the Arts 2000); Youngsook Pak and Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History the exhibition at The Met. of Korea Gallery, two exhibitions Roderick Whit昀椀eld, Earthenware (New York: The Metropolitan 3. The Space Between: The surveying Korean art traveled to and Celadon, Handbook of Museum of Art, 2000–), http:// Modern in Korean Art, at the Los several institutions across the Korean Art (London: Laurence www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd Angeles County Museum of Art United States and Europe, King, 2003); Soyoung Lee, /chae/hd_chae.htm (December (LACMA), was the 昀椀rst exhibition including The Met—one in 1957 “Goryeo Celadon,” in Heilbrunn 2016; updated May 2020); and in a Western museum to survey and the other from 1979 to 1981. Timeline of Art History (New Sunglim Kim, “Still Life in Motion: modern Korean art; see Virginia For more information, see Nancy York: The Metropolitan Museum The Origins and Development Moon, ed., The Space Between: Lin, “5000 Years of Korean Art: of Art, 2000–), http://www of Chaekgeori Painting,” in The Modern in Korean Art, Exhibitions Abroad as Cultural .metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cela “The Graphic Arts,” ed. Holly exh. cat. (Los Angeles: LACMA; Diplomacy,” in “Ideas of Asia in /hd_cela.htm (October 2003); Sha昀昀er, special issue, Ars New York: DelMonico Books, the Museum,” ed. Sonya S. Lee, and The Splendor of Goryeo Orientalis 51 (2022): pp. 65–104, 2022). See also Youngna Kim, special issue, Journal of the Celadon: Ewha Womans https://doi.org/10.3998/ars Modern and Contemporary Art History of Collections 28, no. 3 University 131st Anniversary .13441566.0051.003. in Korea: Tradition, Modernity, (November 2016): pp. 383–400. Special Exhibition (in Korean), 15. Quoted in Joan Kee, “Use on and Identity, Korean Culture The Korea Foundation and the exh. cat. (Seoul: Ewha Womans Vacation: The Non- Sculptures of Series 1 (Elizabeth, NJ: Hollym, Kun- Hee Lee Fund for Korean Art University Museum, 2017). Lee Seung- taek,” Archives of 2005); Korean Rhapsody: made possible the establishment Asian Art 63, no. 1 (2013): p. 103. A Montage of History and of the gallery, along with its 10. Soyoung Lee, “Joseon Memory, exh. cat. (Seoul: Leeum roster of exhibitions and public Buncheong Ware: Between 16. Quoted in Byron Kim: Grey- Museum of Art, 2011); Charlotte programs. The project was Celadon and Porcelain,” in Green, exh. cat. (Washington, Horlyck, Korean Art: From the supervised by Judith G. Smith, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History DC: Hirshhorn Museum and 19th Century to the Present then special assistant to the (New York: The Metropolitan Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian (London: Reaktion Books, 2017); consultative chairman, and Museum of Art, 2000–), http:// Institution, 1996), n.p. Kang Mingi et al., Korean Art Hongkyung Anna Suh, curatorial www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd 17. See Ahn Hwi- joon, “The 1900–2000 (Seoul: National assistant. A grant from the /pnch/hd_pnch.htm (October Origin and Development Museum of Modern and Republic of Korea’s Ministry of 2003); Soyoung Lee and Jeon of Landscape Painting in Korea,” Contemporary Art, Korea, 2022); Culture, Sports and Tourism Seung- chang, Korean Buncheong in Arts of Korea, exh. cat., ed. Kyunghee Pyun and Jung- ah Woo, enabled a refurbishment in 2017. Ceramics from Leeum, Samsung Judith G. Smith (New York: The eds., Interpreting Modernism Museum of Art (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011). 46
1998), pp. 294–329; Soyoung Lee, of Korea, Seoul, accessed 32. The Arrival of New Women thesis, Academy of Korean based on original work by Ahn March 26, 2023, https://www (in Korean), exh. cat. (Seoul: Studies, 2013), pp. 17–21. The Hwi- joon, “Mountain and Water: .museum.go.kr/site/main/relic National Museum of Modern and painting reproduced has neither Korean Landscape Painting, /recommend/view?relic Contemporary Art, Korea, 2017). a signature nor a seal, but 1400–1800,” in Heilbrunn RecommendId=164289. 33. Kee, “Modern Art in Late the composition and calligraphy Timeline of Art History (New 24. Todd Henry, Assimilating Colonial Korea,” p. 233. are stylistically similar to a York: The Metropolitan Museum Seoul: Japanese Rule and the work in the Seoul Museum of of Art, 2000–), http://www Politics of Public Space in 34. See Joan Kee, “What History, which bears Yang’s .metmuseum.org/toah/hd Colonial Korea, 1910–1945 Contemporary Art Means in name and seal. /mowa/hd_mowa.htm (October (Berkeley: University of California Korea,” in The Space Between, 42. See Robert E. Harrist, Jr., 2004); and Burglind Jungmann, Press, 2014), pp. 92–129. pp. 285–97. and Wen C. Fong, The Embodied Pathways to Korean Culture: 35. Chang Uc- chin painted Ferry Image: Chinese Calligraphy Paintings of the Joseon Dynasty, 25. See Lee et al., Diamond Boat on the back of his 1939 from the John B. Elliott 1392–1910 (London: Reaktion Mountains, pp. 81–82. work A Girl. During and a昀琀er the Collection, exh. cat. (Princeton, Books, 2014), pp. 37–49. 26. Wan-kyung Sung, “The Rise Korean War, many artists facing NJ: Princeton University Art 18. On the Three Perfections and Fall of Minjung Art,” in economic hardship reused what Museum in association with and gyehoedo, see Soyoung Lee, Being Political Popular: South they had on hand or turned to Harry N. Abrams, 1999); Stephen “Art and Patronage in the Early Korean Art at the Intersection of unconventional materials. Little and Virginia Moon, eds., Joseon,” in Lee et al., Art of the Popular Culture and Democracy, 36. See n. 26 above. Beyond Line: The Art of Korean Korean Renaissance, 1400–1600, 1980–2010, exh. cat., ed. Sohl Lee Writing, exh. cat. (Los Angeles: exh. cat. (New York: The (Seoul: Hyunsil Publishing, 2012), 37. Translation by Tim Zhang. LACMA; New York: DelMonico Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 189–202. 38. For Joseon court painters Books, 2019). 2009), pp. 25–30; Soyoung Lee, 27. See n. 19 above. and paintings, see The Court 43. For more on Lee Ufan, see “Art of the Korean Renaissance, Painters of the Joseon Dynasty Alexandra Munroe et al., Lee 1400–1600,” in Heilbrunn 28. I am grateful to Haely Chang (in Korean), exh. cat. (Seoul: Ufan: Marking In昀椀nity, exh. Timeline of Art History (New for her insights about Chae Leeum Museum of Art, 2011). cat. (New York: Guggenheim York: The Metropolitan Museum Yong- sin and this painting. As of Museum, 2011); Joan Kee, of Art, 2000–), http://www this writing, Haely is a Jane and 39. Gi- wook Shin and Michael E. Contemporary Korean Art: .metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kore Morgan Whitney Fellow at The Robinson, eds., Colonial Tansaekhwa and the Urgency /hd_kore.htm (September 2010). Met and a PhD candidate in Modernity in Korea, Harvard of Method (Minneapolis: 19. See Yi Song- mi, Searching History of Art at the University East Asian Monographs 184 University of Minnesota Press, for Modernity: Western of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is (Cambridge, MA: Harvard 2013), pp. 147–89. In昀氀uence and True- View completing a dissertation titled University Asia Center, 1999), Landscape in Korean Painting “Painting a Di昀昀erent Picture.” pp. 21–51; Michael E. Robinson, 44. Joan Kee, “Points, Lines, of the Late Chos漃n Period 29. Eleanor Soo- ah Hyun, “Work Korea’s Twentieth- Century Encounters: The World (Seattle: University of and Leisure: Eighteenth- Century Odyssey: A Short History According to Lee Ufan,” Oxford Washington Press, 2015). Genre Painting in Korea,” in (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Art Journal 31, no. 3 (October Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Press, 2007), pp. 8–35. 2008): pp. 403–24. 20. Joan Kee, “Contemporary (New York: The Metropolitan 40. For more on Min Young- 45. Joan Kee, Contemporary Art in Early Colonial Korea: The Museum of Art, 2000–), http:// hwan’s ideological stance, see Korean Art, pp. 74–93. Self Portraits of Ko Hui- dong,” www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd Min Y漃nghwan: The Selected Art History 36, no. 2 (April 2013): /kgnr/hd_kgnr.htm (October Writings of a Late Chos漃n 46. Alexandra Munroe, pp. 392–417. 2004). Diplomat, trans. Michael Finch “Buddhism and the Neo- Avant- 21. For more on Paik Nam- soon, (Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Garde: Cage Zen, Beat Zen, see Horlyck, Korean Art, 30. Roberta Wue, “Essentially Studies, University of California, and Zen,” in The Third Mind: pp. 47–49. Chinese: The Chinese Portrait 2008); Lee Sung- hyun, “A Study American Artists Contemplate Subject in Nineteenth-Century on the Discourse of Min Asia, 1860–1989, exh. cat., ed. 22. Soyoung Lee et al., Diamond Photography,” in Body and Face Young- hwan’s Patriotic Martyrs Munroe (New York: Guggenheim Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Chinese Visual Culture, eds. for the Country” (in Korean), Museum, 2009), pp. 199–216. in Korean Art, exh. cat. (New Wu Hung and Katherine R. Tsiang Kangwoen Sahak 26 (2014): For more on Kwon Young- woo, York: The Metropolitan Museum (Cambridge, MA: Harvard 47. of Art, 2018). University Art Center, 2005), pp. 99–146. see Kee, Contemporary Korean pp. 264–70. 41. Seo Jeong- min, “The Art, pp. 35–74. 23. Kim Seung- ik, “Spring Dawn Paintings of Seokyeon Yang 48. Joan Kee, “Contemporaneity at Mount Baegak—The Lost 31. On this painting, see Joan Gi- hun” (in Korean) (master’s as Calculus,” Third Text 25, no. 5 Spring of the Palace” (in Korean), Kee, “Modern Art in Late Colonial (October 2011): pp. 563–69. website of the National Museum Korea: A Research Experiment,” Modernism/modernity 25, no. 2 (April 2018): pp. 215–43. 47
This publication is issued in conjunction with Lineages: Korean Art at 昀椀gs. 28, 29; Photo © National Museum of Modern and Contemporary The Met, on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from Art, Korea: 昀椀g. 25; © The Estate of Paik Nam-soon. Photo © National November 7, 2023, through October 20, 2024. Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea: 昀椀g. 26; © The Estate The exhibition and Bulletin are made possible by the Ministry of of Park Soo-keun. Photo courtesy Leeum Museum of Art: 昀椀g. 40; © Suh Culture, Sports and Tourism, The Republic of Korea (MCST). Se Ok. Photo © National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea: 昀椀g. 1; © Do Ho Suh. Photo courtesy of Leeum Museum of Art: The Metropolitan’s quarterly Bulletin program is supported in part by 昀椀g. 32; © Whanki Foundation-Whanki Museum, photo courtesy Whanki the Lila Acheson Wallace Fund for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Foundation: 昀椀gs. 18, 38; © The Estate of Lee Yootae. Photo © National established by the cofounder of Reader’s Digest. Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea: 昀椀gs. 36, 27; Image © Yun Seong-ryeol, courtesy David Zwirner and PKM Gallery, Seoul. Photo The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Summer 2023 © National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea: 昀椀g. 46 Volume LXXXI, Number 1 The Metropolitan Museum of Art endeavors to respect copyright in a Copyright © 2023 by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York manner consistent with its nonpro昀椀t educational mission. If you The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (ISSN 0026-1521) is published believe any material has been included in this publication improperly, quarterly by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fi昀琀h Avenue, please contact the Publications and Editorial Department. New York, NY 10028-0198. Periodicals postage paid at New York NY and All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or additional mailing o昀케ces. 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Volumes New York, New York 10028 I–XXXVII (1905–42) available as a clothbound reprint set or as individual metmuseum.org yearly volumes from Ayer Company Publishers, Suite B-213, 400 Bedford Street, Manchester, NH 03101, or from the Metropolitan ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Museum, 66–26 Metropolitan Avenue, Middle Village, NY 11381-0001. Celebrating the anniversary of the Arts of Korea Gallery is a deeply personal moment, because its inaugural exhibition inspired me to Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York study Korean art history. Former Consultative Chairman Wen C. Fong, Mark Polizzotti, Publisher and Editor in Chief with assistance from special consultant Kim Hongnam, envisioned Peter Antony, Associate Publisher for Production the gallery and its location. The tireless e昀昀orts of Judith G. Smith and Michael Sittenfeld, Associate Publisher for Editorial Hongkyung Anna Suh ensured that the project came to fruition, Editor of the Bulletin: Anne Blood Mann and they later became generous mentors. The establishment of the Production by Paul Booth Arts of Korea Gallery was made possible by the Korea Foundation. Designed by Julia Ma, Miko McGinty, Inc. LG provided support for the inaugural exhibition. Under the inspired Bibliographic editing by Julia Oswald leadership of Madame Ra Hee Hong Lee, the Samsung Foundation Image acquisitions and permissions by Josephine Rodriguez of Culture formed the Kun-Hee Lee Fund for Korean Art, which has Typeset in Utile by Tina Henderson, Miko McGinty, Inc. allowed for twenty-昀椀ve years of Korean art exhibitions and program- Separations by Professional Graphics, Inc., Rockford, Illinois ming at The Met. In 2015, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Printed and bound by GHP Media, Inc., West Haven, Connecticut The Republic of Korea (MSCT), made a signi昀椀cant gi昀琀 that has supported a gallery refurbishment, exhibitions, and programming, Front cover: Kwon Young-woo, Untitled, 1984 (昀椀g. 47). Inside front a commitment that it renewed in 2019. cover: Paik Nam-soon, Paradise, 1936 (昀椀g. 26). Page 2: Kim Hong Joo, The exhibition and Bulletin are made possible by this Ministry, Untitled, 1993 (昀椀g. 31). Inside back cover: Kim Whanki, Moon and Jar, which we gratefully acknowledge. Additional thanks are due to the Lila 1954 (昀椀g. 18). Back cover: Unidenti昀椀ed artist, Portrait of a Woman, Acheson Wallace Fund for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, established ca. 1920–40 (昀椀g. 35). by the cofounder of Reader’s Digest, for its partial support of the Photographs of works in The Met collection are by Oi-Cheong Lee, quarterly Bulletin program. Imaging Department, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, unless I wish to thank Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director and otherwise noted. CEO, and Maxwell K. Hearn, Douglas Dillon Chair of the Department of Asian Art, for continuing to champion Korean art at The Met. Generous Additional photography credits: © 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), loans from the Korea University Museum, Seoul; the Leeum Museum New York / ADAGP, Paris. Photo courtesy Leeum Museum of Art: 昀椀g. 45; of Art, Seoul; the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, © Chang Uc-chin. From Korean Rhapsody: A Montage of History and Korea; and a private collector have enabled us to tell this story. I am Memory, Leeum Museum of Art, 2011, p. 124. Image © The Metropolitan grateful to numerous dedicated colleagues for helping bring this Museum of Art, photo by Teri Aderman: 昀椀g. 39; © Gallery Hyundai and project to fruition, in particular Imtikar Ally, Jennifer Bantz, Melissa Bell, Lee Seung-taek: 昀椀g. 19; © Byron Kim, 2023. Image courtesy of the artist Rebecca Capua, Paul Caro, Harrison Carter, Linsen Chai, Haely (Haeyoon) and James Cohan, New York. Photo courtesy Leeum Museum of Art: Chang, Meryl Cohen, Shawn Digney-Peer, Michael Doscher and his 昀椀gs. 22, 23; From Korean Rhapsody: A Montage of History and Memory, team of handlers, Djamel Haoues, Yuan-li Hou, Mary Hurt, Sooyoung Leeum Museum of Art, 2011, pp. 54, 55. Image © The Metropolitan Jeon, Stella Kim, Jessica Kuhn, Stephanie Kwai, Eunhee Lee, Anne Blood Museum of Art, photo by Teri Aderman: 昀椀gs. 43, 44; Image courtesy Mann, Aileen Marcantonio, Vicki Parry, Jennifer Perry, Beatrice Pinto, Kwon Young-woo Estate. Photo courtesy of Leeum Museum of Art: Josephine Rodriguez, Frederick Sager and his team of preparators, 昀椀g. 47; © Lee Jong-gu. Photo © National Museum of Modern and Kewei Wang, Masanobu Yamazaki, and Jianxiang Zhou. Finally, thank Contemporary Art, Korea: 昀椀g. 41; Photo courtesy Leeum Museum of you, Young Bae, Joan Kee, Joy Kim, Michele Matteini, Iris Moon, and Art: 昀椀gs. 30, 31; Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 昀椀gs. 2, 4–17, Joseph Scheier-Dolberg, Oscar Tang and Agnes Hsu-Tang Associate 24, 27, 33–35, 42; Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, photo by Curator of Chinese Paintings, for providing essential insights about the Oi-Cheong Lee: 昀椀gs. 3, 20, 21; Courtesy National Museum of Korea: works and concepts in this Bulletin.
