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네이버 공유 카카오 공유 트위터 공유 페이스북 공유

‘Art of the Korean Renaissance, 1400-1600’

“Art of the Korean Renaissance, 1400-1600,” which recently opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (March 17-June 21, 2009), is the first exhibition in the United States to highlight the arts of Korea from the early period of the Joseon Dynasty. “Art of the Korean Renaissance, 1400-1600,” which recently opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (March 17-June 21, 2009), is the first exhibition in the United States to highlight the arts of Korea from the early period of the Joseon Dynasty.

Presenting over 45 artworks culled from institutions and collections around the world, this show tells a lively and nuanced story of the noteworthy cultural and artistic renaissance in Korea during this period. The Neo-Confucian royal court and elite scholar-official class, the primary patrons of the arts, d a society that enabled secular art and culture to flourish. Korean and East Asian classical traditions were revived, emphasized, and transformed, along with innovative art forms also being celebrated. At the same time,

Buddhism, which had been the state religion of the Korean Peninsula for over 1,000 years, though widely suppressed publically, remained an enduring cultural influence during the early Joseon period.
This international exhibition brings together masterpieces loaned from 18 esteemed museums, institutions, and private collections from Korea, Japan, Germany, and the U.S. Some works have been featured in earlier exhibitions on Korean art, in particular the “5,000 Years of Korean Art” of the early 1980s, but many of the items are being shown for the first time in the United States. Even the pieces from within America, such as those from the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, are making a rare outing from their homes. We are most fortunate that so many different institutions and individuals have willingly and enthusiastically made available selected paintings and s from their collections, allowing us to organize a cohesive and enticing event.
We also gratefully acknowledge the support of the Korea Foundation. When James Watt, Chairman of the Asian Art Department at the Met., and I visited the Foundation office in Seoul, in the summer of 2007, President Yim Sung-joon and members of the Culture and Arts Department were extremely supportive of our project, while much appreciating its goal and potential. Especially, in light of the current economic situation, the Foundation has provided crucial support for this exhibition, catalogue and related programming (alongside contributions from existing endowments at the Met.).
This exhibition represents the culmination of more than three years of negotiation, research, and preparation. We envisioned launching a series of focused exhibitions, on different periods in Korean art history, with the early Joseon period being selected as the focus of the first show. We knew that we wanted the National Museum of Korea (NMK) to participate as a major lender, not just for this show on the early Joseon period, but for the entire series. We began preliminary negotiations with the NMK in early 2006. Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, whose superlative collection we felt was also essential to the success of our project, soon came on board as well.
Additional Korean lenders included the Amore Pacific Museum, Dongguk University Museum and Library, Goryeong Shin Family Yeongseong-gun Branch, Horim Museum, and Jinju National Museum.
We decided to bor row from outside of Korea as well, in an effort to bring together an interesting and compelling assemblage of visually stunning and historically important art f rom the ear l y Joseon p e r i o d . F r om J a p a n , p a r t i c i p a t i n g l e n d e r s included the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, Y ome i Bu n k o (Ky o t o ) , Seizan Bunko (Kochi), and Kyushu National Museum; from the United States, Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, the collection of Florence and Herbert Irving, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Cleveland Museum of Art; and from Germany, the Museum of East Asian Art, Cologne.
A few behind-the-scenes stories highlight the trials and triumphs of negotiating loans for an exhibition like this. As for the “Portrait of Sin Sukju,” it has a back story as well. Initially, we pursued a more well-known 15th-century portrait, that of Jang Malson. However, the elder members of the descendents did not agree for the painting of their ancestor to travel abroad, prompting us to search elsewhere for a quintessential early Joseon portrait of a scholarofficial dressed in formal dress – no easy task since so few works from the period are still around. The 15th-century “Portrait of Sin Sukju,” an examplar of the Neo-Confucian scholar/politician, seemed ideal, and the National Museum of Korea approached the Goryeong Sin family, on our behalf.
Unfortunately, due to its fragile condition, the painting was not suitable for such a long journey, so the National Museum negotiated the loan of an 18th-century version, now in the collection of the Goryeong Sin family’s Yeongseong-gun branch. Though a work from the later Joseon period, it is a faithful copy of the original; moreover, this painting affords a chance to highlight some key issues regarding portraiture from the early Joseon period, such as the concept of ancestral portraits and the matter of “original” versus “copies” in Korean portraiture.



The exhibition comprises five distinctive yet inter-related thematic sections, following a dramatic introductory part, which sets the stage with just a handful of powerful works. The “Romancing the Past” section highlights the Joseon revival of earlier classical traditions, in particular Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers of Song China (960-1279). By the 15th century, it is the Joseon painters, working in the An Gyeon style, rather than their contemporaries in Ming China, who revitalize and transform this landscape tradition. In section two, “Literati Essentials” presents paintings that depict reunions of government officials, a particularly Korean genre of art of social gatherings of people bound by professional or educational connections, which, it could be argued, still has resonance in today’s Korean society. These paintings are complemented by s of literati aesthetics, such as a lacquer stationery box inlaid with mother-of-pearl and a pristine porcelain bottle. The “Royal Pedigree” section features the works by four distinguished painters of royal descent, including Yi Am, renowned for his unique paintings of royal-breed puppies and falcons. Porcelain reflecting the tastes of the royal court, including blue-and-white ware, is also showcased in this section. In “Vessels of Distinction,” it includes unusual, eye-catching ceramics, both porcelain and buncheong ware, which involve distinctive styles or functions (such as use in Confucian rites or as burials items), or embody the ideals of Confucian principles. The “Worship and Paradise” section presents a selection of Buddhist art produced for members of the royal family, underscoring the continued presence and relevance of Buddhism within the Neo-Confucian society of the early Joseon.
It is hoped that this exhibition will heighten appreciation of the general public and the scholarly community of a remarkably vibrant era of Korean art history: the early Joseon period.
To that end, we have published a catalogue that includes authoritative and accessible essays. To my co-authors, whose contributions will certainly make an impression on all readers, I extend my personal gratitude. As well, I hope that the series of exhibitions we are planning at the Met., each highlighting and defining the artistic achievements of particular moments in Korean history, might help to transform the public’s understanding and appreciation of Korean art and culture, particularly for North American audiences.

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