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Category Archives: Kim Whanki

A visit to the Whanki Museum (환기 미술관)

23-Feb-08

A visit to the Whanki Museum (환기 미술관)

The Korea Tourist Office website advises us that Kim Hwan-gi (1913-1974) (known internationally as Kim Whanki -- and he signs his paintings just plain "Whanki") "was Korea's top artist of modernism". It is therefore frustrating that when you go into the Tourist Information Offices in Insadong no-one has heard of him, still less of the museum that was built specifically to house his work. On two occasions now (a year apart) I've struggled to get the helpful staff to believe that there really is such a place, and that I'd really like to know how to get there. I have to spell out the website address, www.whankimuseum.org, and make sure they type it into their browsers correctly, before they believe ...
Also filed in Permanent displays, Seoul, Whanki Museum | | Comments (1) »

Focus on a piece of happiness

12-Sep-07

Focus on a piece of happiness

The story goes that Bernard Leach, browsing in a Seoul antiques store in the mid 1930s, came across a Choson dynasty Moon Jar and held his head in disbelief at its beauty. And, after one of the more inspired impulse buys in recent art history, he walked out of the shop "carrying a piece of happiness" ((Source: Gina Ha-Gorlin in the British Musuem's Autumn 2007 magazine)). That Jar now resides in the British Museum as one of the highlights of its Korean collection. From 20 September for six weeks, that piece of happiness will be the British Museum's "Object in Focus". Gina Ha-Gorlin, Arts Council Fellow at the museum, has planned an exhibition in room 3 (at the entrance to the ...
Also filed in British Museum, Ceramics, Chuseok 2007, Events news, Nam June Paik, Park Young-sook, Permanent displays | | Comments (0) »

The Leeum Art Gallery, Seoul

11-Feb-07

The Leeum Art Gallery, Seoul

A brief walk from Hangangjin subway stop (line 6) near Itaewon is the Leeum Gallery, set up by Samsung. No expense has been spared on the building itself, with prestigious foreign architects engaged to build it, and an impressive collection of artworks. The building itself is very spacious, and has three main sections. Older artworks are displayed in the galleries around the Guggenheim-style teacup-shaped atrium (left - complete with spiral walkways): Koryo and Chosun ceramics, including many national treasures, ink paintings, and Buddhist artefacts. The second section is devoted to modern and contemporary works, both Korean and international, while the third section, under the main entrance, is set aside for special exhibitions. Currently on show are late Chosun dynasty ink paintings. You ...
Also filed in Chang Uc-chin, Chung Kyung-ja, Jang Seung-eop (Owon), Kim Ki-chang, Lee Bul, Leeum Gallery, Nam June Paik, Park Saeng-kwang, Park Seo-bo, Permanent displays, Seoul, Suh Do-ho, Suh Se-ok, Travel | | Comments (2) »

Kim Young-na: 20th Century Korean Art

31-Jul-06

Kim Young-na: 20th Century Korean Art

(Lawrence King, 2005) Stern(9,g) A collection of articles, turned into a book. As I'm neither an art critic nor an art historian I'm going to restrict myself to a chapter-by-chapter summary of the ground covered. A useful overview of colonial period art. Highlights the difficulty of studying & researching the art history of the period, in part because of the interconnectedness with Japanese art history, the complications of colonialism, and also because of more practical considerations that much of the artwork has disappeared or been destroyed, and that many of the artists ended up in the North and so it has been difficult to get access to them and their works. One thing to come across quite strongly is the fact that, at ...
Also filed in Book reviews: Art, Kim Ki-chang | Tagged | Comments (1) »