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‘Arts of Korea Gallery’Opens in Texas

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) is the largest cultural institution in the state of Texas, and the largest art museum in America south of Chicago, west of Washington, D.C., and east of Los Angeles. Its two main buildings sit on an urban campus of five city blocks in the heart of Houston.



Founded in 1900, the museum was then, and remains today, committed to serving all people by pursuing excellence in art through collection, exhibition, preservation, conservation, and education. Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, with the tenth-largest Asian-American community in the nation and the largest Asian-American community in the U.S. South and Southwest regions. Members of the growing Asian population within Houston, and the surrounding areas, want to see their own cultures represented more fully in the city’s premier arts organization.
With the opening of the “Arts of Korea Gallery,” the museum is placing new emphasis on Korea and thus becomes one of a handful of museums outside of this country to showcase Korea’s ancient culture. The new Korean gallery itself is part of an ongoing commitment by the MFAH to Asian art. Over the next two years, the Asian collection will be relocated and reinstalled on the first floor of the main building, in a space that is quadruple the area of the previous galleries. Next in line is a gallery for the art of Indonesia that will open in spring 2008. The Arts of Southeast Asia and India Gallery is scheduled to open in December 2008, along with galleries devoted to Chinese and Japanese art being opened in 2009. In addition to the expansion of floor space, the MFAH is dedicating additional resources to the acquisition of new works in all areas of Asian art.



The Arts of Korea Gallery at the MFAH will be the museum’s first permanent gallery for Korean art and the only museum gallery in the U.S. Southwest dedicated to the display of Korean art. The establishment of the Arts of Korea Gallery serves as the foundation for our “Korean Art and Culture Initiative.” At the heart of this effort is the exhibition of Korean art of the highest aesthetic and cultural significance, active collaborations with cultural organizations in Korea, and comprehensive educational programs for visitors. The Arts of Korea Gallery and interpretive resources will serve as the center for Korean cultural representation in the South and Southwest regions of the United States. It will also make available to American audiences works that are not widely represented in public collections and might otherwise remain inaccessible.
The arts in the gallery cover the Neolithic age to the present. Four thematic sections - ceramics, Buddhist art, women’s personal ornaments, and contemporary art - depict highlights of the country’s arts and culture. The long-term loan of outstanding traditional works from the National Museum of Korea in Seoul forms the basis of the new installation. Two national treasures, never before shown outside of Korea, will make an exclusive two-month appearance. A selection of recent acquisitions of contemporary Korean art will round out the presentation of 5,000 years of Korea’s cultural history. Following the Asian tradition of marking the entrances to special sites, such as shrines and temples, with distinctive gates, the MFAH has commissioned a portal from the foremost contemporary Korean artist, Do-Ho Suh, to distinguish the gallery entryway. There is also an area dedicated to the first works of traditional Korean art in the MFAH collection, which were donated from prominent local collections.
In addition to expanding the Asian galleries, over the next two years, the MFAH will present several special exhibitions dedicated to Asian art, beginning in January 2008 with a showing of the modernist Korean ink painter Suh Se-ok’s works in a show titled “Where Clouds Disperse: Ink Paintings by Suh Se-ok.” In February 2008, the contemporary Japanese photographer Yanagi Miwa is the subject of an exhibition, and in October 2009, “Contemporary Art from Korea,” co-organized with the Los Angeles Museum of Art, will gather together works by Korea’s internationally renowned contemporary artists for a major exhibition.
Dr. Peter C. Marzio, Director of the MFAH, strongly supported the creation of the Arts of Korea Gallery ever since he first visited the beautiful country in 2004, under the auspices of the Korea Foundation. The MFAH Board of Trustees then agreed to give their full support to this endeavor by matching the funds, dollar for dollar, raised by the local Korean community. The community has responded by donating more than $1 million to date. The museum also received substantial funding from the Korean community abroad, such as from the Korea Foundation and Poongsan Corporation. We are grateful for the continued unified support from the Korean community, both domestically and internationally.
The highly anticipated opening of the gallery on December 7 was spectacular, with over 2,000 people in attendance. The Korean community came out in force to celebrate this momentous occasion in the history of the museum and the city. Former President George H.W. Bush; Cornelia Long, Chair of the Board of Trustees at the MFAH; Ambassador Yim Sung-joon, President of the Korea Foundation; and Dr. Kim Hongnam, Director General of the National Museum of Korea, presented opening remarks and led the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Then, the renowned pansori vocalist and Korean human cultural treasure, Ahn Sook-sun, performed popular Korean songs to the accompaniment of traditional and jazz musicians.
The following day, Dr. Kumja Paik Kim, Emeritus Curator of Korean Art at the Asian Art Museum and Special Consultant to the MFAH’s Arts of Korea Gallery, presented a lecture on the artworks in the new gallery. As I sat listening to Dr. Kim’s lecture, I realized the many other future educational programs now made possible because of the new gallery. Through the Arts of Korea Gallery, Korean art has a permanent place at the museum, around which we can develop meaningful programs of Korean art and partnerships with Korean organizations: the Korea Foundation, National Museum of Korea, Amore Museum, and Arumjigi Culture Keepers in Seoul. As such, the opening of this gallery is only the beginning of bringing Korean artistic and cultural appreciation and understanding to the people of Houston.

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