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Renovated Korean Art Gallery Opens in Los Angeles

On September 10, 2009, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) unveiled its newly renovated Korean gallery area (about 6,700 square feet), which has been relocated to the plaza level of the Hammer Building.

Presenting Korean artwork from the 5th to the 20th century, the exhibition area features more than 100 s dating from the Three Kingdoms Period (1st century B.C.-7th century A.D.) to the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), including Buddhist and literati art, ceramics, lacquerware, paintings, and sculpture. Organized by theme, the new gallery areas explore the cultures of women and men in Korea during the 18th and 19th centuries, modes of visual representation and of Korean painting, Buddhist spirituality and rituals, and the elegance of Korean ceramics.



The Old and the New
During the two-year preparation period, project participants focused on a theme of 'Tempo and Topos (Time and Space)' while considering how to best present Korea’s traditional art in 21st century Los Angeles, along with revealing the continuity of Korean history and culture. The LACMA exhibition design team thus sought to an exhibition area that would harmonize the contemporary with the traditional, while preserving the underlying Korean sentiments. For a more creative approach to the display of traditional Korean art, LACMA commissioned One O One Architects, a Korean architectural firm, to design the casework for the gallery area. Although the overall appearance of the display cases is contemporary, the architects managed to integrate traditional elements into the design as well. In addition, the cases included two types of traditional Korean paper. A thicker, yellowish paper has been applied to the outer surfaces, while the interiors are lined with thinner paper sheets. The proportions of the cases were also influenced by traditional Korean furniture.



Another consideration involved the context or setting to help highlight the s on display. For example, to demonstrate the manner in which ceramic tablets were placed within a tomb, two tablets have been displayed in the ceramic bowl from which they were originally recovered. In an independent case, the lacquer Amita Buddha is surrounded by sheets of sutra in three languages (Sanskrit, classical Chinese, and Korean), along with a page of prayers and symbolic articles that had been housed within the sculpture. An innovative installation of Korean ceramics works exemplifies the value of a well designed contextual display. Here, 121 ceramic shards are displayed, grouped according to their area of origin from the eight provinces of the Korean Peninsula. The geographical areas are distinguished by having the cases lined with traditional Korean paper of different colors.
Of note, new technology was applied for the gallery’s information panels. Instead of conventional text messages, display screens show video images for the convenience of viewers. The information is image-oriented and nonlinear in format, so that visitors can leisurely view the videos, which provide an overview of the gallery themes including Buddhist art and ceramics, while also highlighting specific genres and s on display.



Gallery Areas
This new Korean art space is comprised of five gallery areas, small sections along the entrance and exit corridors, an ample entranceway, and a temporary hands-on children’s painting workshop. A photo mural of the Nakseonjae entrance scene, from the Changdeok Palace in Seoul, greets visitors in the entrance foyer. The images of this building convey a dream-like nostalgia and provide a Korean architectural backdrop for the gallery areas.
The central gallery will present exhibits related to various themes on a rotational basis. To celebrate the opening of the renovated Korean art gallery, LACMA was able to borrow the Maitrey a Pensive Bodhisattva dating from the late 6th century and a National Treasure of Korea, which is being shown at a prominent area of the museum until December 13, 2009. Thereafter, additional examples of noteworthy Korean art will be arriving at LACMA from a variety of institutions in Korea and elsewhere, so that diverse facets of Korean art can be continuously displayed.
The entrance corridor leading to the foyer is used to display ancient maps of Korea, in order for visitors to understand the country’s geographical location in Asia. The first gallery area features paintings in various formats, such as screens, album leaves, hand scrolls, and hanging scrolls. The next gallery depicts the tension and harmony between men and women in Korea. Women’s art has not been fully recognized in the field of art history, or in museum exhibitions. However, LACMA’s new Korean gallery devotes an entire section to women’s art, which shows how Korean women, in fact, played important roles at every level as artists, collectors and sponsors. For a glimpse into the culture of Korean women, 23 items are on display from Amore Pacific Museum, along with additional s from LACMA’s collection, in this unique section. The Buddhist art gallery includes a notable series of Buddhist paintings, the Ten Kings of Hell, which have just recently been restored and had never before been exhibited due to thei r del icate condi t ion. LACMA’s Amita Buddha and the granite-stone Bodhisattva of Maitreya, on loan along with one of the most admired Korean national treasures, the Maitreya Pensive Bodhisattva, demonstrate the different materials used in traditional Korean art, and provide a context for understanding Korean Buddhist sculpture.
A final gallery area is dedicated mainly to Korean ceramics, ranging from 6th century earthenware to 19th century white porcelain wares. There are also fine examples of mother-of -pear l lacquer ware, and metalwork items. A separate section shows a novel installation of Korean ceramic shards. The pieces, displayed in a collective setting, symbolize that history is a puzzle made up of numerous fragments. We hope visitors will not only see and understand the fragments of Korean history and culture on display in the gallery areas, but that they will also acquire an overall perspective of the history and culture of Korea and its people.

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