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”1. 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 museum) which includes not just the Jar itself but also modern works inspired by it, including work by Kim Whanki – one of Korea’s best known twentieth century artists – and a contemporary moon jar by Park Young-sook. There will be a gallery talk at 1:15pm on 22 September, the day of the Chuseok festivities at the Museum.
When you go, be sure also to visit the Korean gallery itself, where some of Paik Nam-June’s video work is on display.
Links:
- British Museum Moon Jar exhibition page
- Source: Gina Ha-Gorlin in the British Musuem’s Autumn 2007 magazine [↩]
(automatically generated) Read LKL’s review of this event here.