The Korean Cultural Centre UK’s summer exhibition ‘Across the Decades’ will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the National Academy of Arts of the Republic of Korea. The National Academy of Arts (NAA), Republic of Korea is an institution dedicated to celebrating the works and insights of master artists over the past 70 years. As the … [Read More]
Artist: Kim Whanki
Selected publications
- Oh Kwang-su: Kim Whanki: A Critical Biography tr Yer-Ae K Choi, Youl Hwa Dang 1998
2017 travel diary 10: A lazy weekend in Seoul
Insadong, Seoul, 6 May 2018. There is never a shortage of things to do in Seoul. For the final weekend of my 2017 Korea trip I had not scheduled anything other than a couple of dinner engagements. I could easily have done nothing apart from hanging out in my new favourite coffee shop. Their fresh salads … [Read More]
Dansaekhwa – a Biennale collateral event in Venice, 7 May – 15 Aug
Lee Ufan returns to Venice with some site-specific work as part of an official collateral event of Dansaekhwa artists: Dansaekhwa Collateral Event of the 56th International Art Exhibition la Biennale di Venezia Dates: May 7–August 15, 2015 Opening: May 7, 7pm Venue: Palazzo Contarini-Polignac | 874 Dorsoduro | 30123 Venezia www.villaempain.com | www.kukjegallery.com | www.tinakimgallery.com … [Read More]
A Kim Whanki beats its sale estimate
A rare Kim Whanki for sale at Christie’s Hong Kong: estimated to sell in the range of USD 71,000 to USD 97,000, actually sold for nearly 40% more – USD134,000 – at the 20th Century Asian Art sale on 26 May 2012. [Read More]
2012 Travel Diary 1: Dansaekhwa – Korean Monochrome Painting at the Museum of Contemporary Art
Gwacheon, Gyeonggi-do, Saturday 24 March 2012. Whenever I come to Seoul I always try to get to Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon to visit the National Museum of Contemporary Art. Even if there isn’t a particularly interesting special exhibition on (and that’s rare), their permanent collection is always worth a browse. This time, the special … [Read More]
Dansaekhwa: Korean Monochrome Painting, at MMCA Gwacheon
A major retrospective of possibly modern Korea’s most representative artistic style: Dansaekhwa: Korean Monochrome Painting National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon 17 March – 13 May 2012 Highlights Korean monochrome paintings from the 1970s to the present in the largest such exhibition in Korea. Landscape of the mind as embodied by monochrome painters … [Read More]
Kim Whanki and Lee Jung Seob in Christies Sale
A late Lee Jung-seop work – Fighting Bulls, 1955 – is coming up at Christie’s NY (14 Sept 2011). Estimate: a cool million. And double that for a gorgeous Kim Whanki (1913-1974) Landscape in Blue [Read More]
Poetry in Clay at the Metropolitan Museum
Poetry in Clay, the exhibition of Buncheong Ceramics from the Leeum Museum currently at the Metropolitan Museum is seriously worth a visit, with some beautiful pots. Interesting that they also juxtapose a couple of 20th century paintings. Kim Whanki’s dot paintings really do look like the dot decoration on one of the pots # Curator … [Read More]
And upcoming art auction: I need to win the lottery – fast
Coming up this month is a big sale of Korean work at Christie’s sale rooms in New York. The flagship piece is a mature work by Kim Whanki (1913-1974) with the rather dull title of 2-V-73 #313. If the estimated $1 million price tag is beyond all but the uber-rich and lottery winners, there are … [Read More]
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 … [Read More]
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 … [Read More]
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 … [Read More]
Kim Youngna: 20th Century Korean Art
(Lawrence King, 2005) 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 … [Read More]