QUARTERLY MAGAZINE VOL.50 WINTER 2020
QUARTERLY MAGAZINE VOL.50 WINTER 2020
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Gaya Spirit—Iron and Tune is an eminent, large-scale show that gives an overview of the history
and culture of the ancient Gaya Confederacy. It focuses on explaining the coexistence and reconciliation that Gaya sought, especially the secret as to how it was able to last for hundreds of years as a confederacy.
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Artist Jeong Kwangho, using thin copper wire to make leaves, flower petals, jars,
letters, and so on, has created his own dimension in art. Taking the meeting point between the plane and the solid as his motif for his works, he turns the skin or the outer layer of objects into artworks, showing us his unique creative world.
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The National Museum of Korea
CONTENTS
presents a special exhibition organized in corporation with
the National Museum of Finland. The exhibition takes a wholly new approach, exploring the similarity of objects from the far past with those of today, how the past continues to exert influence on the future, and the similarities between the material culture of Finland and Korea.
02 Yesterday and tomorrow Material, Sense, and Surface 08 Academic heritage Study of Black-glazed Ware Recovered from the Sinan Shipwreck 12 Interview Refresh and Time Travel Sometimes Alone, Sometimes Urged on by a Friend 15 From the collection 16 Current Gaya Spirit—Iron and Tune 22 Essay Memories of Gaya: Myths, Iron, Trade, Warriors, Gayageum, Collapse… 24 Current Man, Matter, Metamorphosis—10 000 Years of Design 30 Issue The Current State of Korean Galleries in Overseas Museums and Future Projects 32 Current A Journey to a Strange Place: A Story of Jeju Exiles 35 Museum scene 36 News 40 Place and event Opening of the World Art Gallery
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The Asian Arts section has been expanded and reorganized to reopen as the World Art Gallery,
which will give visitors the opportunity to develop their understanding of diverse world cultures. Especially the Egyptian Gallery is Korea’s first permanent display space dedicated to the Egyptian civilization.
Publisher National Museum of Korea 137 Seobinggo-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, 04383, Republic of Korea www.museum.go.kr/site/eng/home Editorial Direction Design Team, National Museum of Korea Tel: (82 2) 2077–9573, Fax: (82 2) 2077–9258, Email: polagu47@korea.kr Design and Production aNSWER Photography
Park Jung Hoon Photo Studio
Translation Cho Yoonjung / Nathaniel Kingdon / Timothy Atkinson Revision
Chung Eunsun / Hwang Chiyoung
Publication Date
January 20, 2020
ISSN
2005 – 1123
Printed in Korea. Copyright © 2020 National Museum of Korea. Note to Readers The related information of image is given in the following order: title, period or produced date, artist, material, dimensions. Items from other institutions are classified by their collection names. www.museum.go.kr/site/eng/archive/ebook/all (PDF downloads available)
YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW
By Jeong Kwangho, Artist
Material, Sense, and Surface
As a sculptor working with materials, I have moved away from the spiritual and gradually drawn closer to the material in no time. I spend any ordinary day groping around in the dark with the material, my spirit having vanished without a trace, leaving only my body. Though it may be hard on my body that clashes with the material, I cannot rest in the artificial and arbitrary world of representation, far removed from the origin of the material. The issue is how and with what to draw closer to the reality and how and what can be produced. 02
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In the great world of traditional thought and works of art, which reach beyond egotistical or goal-focused human-centrism, we are able to read the reality and actuality of not only yesterday but also tomorrow. It is not a place that can be easily approached without a fierce battle between the material and the object. For it is the very place where all sorts of delusions and monsters are born. Things with values that are differently expressed as material, motion, and time must return to the world of function where material=motion=time. As countless artists have already
The Landscape910177 (previous page)
Album of Geumgangsan Mountain
Copper wire 177.0 × 130.0 × 5.0 cm 2009
Joseon Dynasty, 1711 By Jeong Seon 35.9 × 37.0 cm
taken the risks and walked this path, it is not a path to be greatly feared. Material and objects flow endlessly, move ceaselessly, and run into each other. On the contrary, the things moving and flowing and running into each other are materials and objects. Inside the endless “duration” that opens up to the whole universe, when one motion revolves around itself and forms a circuit that is closed upon itself an entity (corp) is generated. Hence, one entity is little more than an image of the section of
duration overall, that is, a subjective perception. If, however, this corporal soul falls into narcissism the universe that unfolds around one’s body would stop moving and the autistic, temporary permanencies so formed would become the matter for another entity and come to be dominated. All human history and the history of civilization is thus bound together. How will the tragicomedy and anguish of life and death suffered by these entities be released? This is why my soul keeps looking inward into my body, which is no different to material.
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To release the perceptions that have coagulated in my body, I had to follow the flow of the subtle perceptions (material) constituting them from the perspective of duration that opens to the universe. I had to observe the flow of the unspecified sea of the unconscious, which gives rise to specified perceptions of specified time like angry waves. To do so I believed that art should not be situated in a specified place removed from everyday life, but rather unspecified moments of everyday life and their continuity should be placed within art. This means that life and everyday life become the act of strolling. This is because a stroll is the act of following the footsteps on the surface of one’s thoughts and consciousness. Shin Saimdang never looked beyond the walls surrounding her own house. Her paintings are the result of strolling in the way she had dreamed within the walls around her home, where flowers and vegetables grew and insects flew about. The painter Jeong Seon, penname Gyeomjae, transformed our mountains and rivers from conceptual material phenomenon into the walking paths that our bodies are familiar with. Under the troubled responsibility of artisans, it would have been impossible to produce Joseon white porcelain (baekja) without the broad-minded potter who accepted unspecified moments of change brought about by chance through the meeting of fire and soil. Furthermore, the famous calligrapher Kim Jeonghui, penname Chusa, directly substituted the form and shape of his writing into the rhythm of his body and life. The artistic consciousness of these artists did not come from a specified moment in life but from strolling, following the flow of unspecified moments in life, and the repetition and continuation of this act. To support the continuity of such consciousness and speed it up or slow it down in unspecified everyday life, which is tantamount to a stroll, what is needed is objet petit a (unattainable object of desire), the parenthetical object and matter that can be seen as the noematic momentum, or the thing that is thought about. This can be likened to a koan (riddle) that one contemplates in seon 禪 practice. In movies, this role is fulfilled by the take before it is edited, that is, the plan that is confined to the eye of the camera which is neither objective nor subjective. The dotting methods of Eastern painting and the touches of color added in the form of pointillist stipples by the Impressionists and Cubists in Western painting are not analytical elements for creating form. Like a koan, where
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The Pot89160 Copper wire 160.0 × 160.0 × 160.0 cm 2008
The Flower89205 Copper wire 205.0 × 205.0 × 10.0 cm 2008
The Pot8288 Copper wire 88.0 × 88.0 × 90.0 cm 2008
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a long stream of questions and answers follow each other and the meanings that must be presented and found in the process protected, they should be seen as the pre-individual and impersonal hands and eyes that cannot be figured out by the artist seeking the meaning of material-motion as fine perceptions and unspecified moments of everyday life, which are embedded in the flow of the material, intersect each other. It is a precarious and fierce battleground that, if we are careless for a moment, leads only to sensitivities hardened as perceptions at the upper stratum and the network of sensitivities. That is the logic of sense. Sense belongs to the object and also to the artist but is not the possession of the object nor the artist, symbolizing the distribution of singular points of endlessly open time and space that is the universe. Going beyond the perceptions of self, the artist must now create objects with touches that are material as well as sense. No artist would have explored this issue as deeply as Cezanne. The touches of his paintbrush as the input of sense that diversifies according to position and changes according to
The Letters910174 Brass 174.0 × 93.0 × 8.0 cm 2009
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time like the fumbling of a blind person, combined with the latent peculiarities of material and unspecified moments of the artist’s existential life, spread before us the process in which objects are given birth. I also needed a koan of my own. As a sculptor, before I held the material koan of “copper wire” in my hand, I was tempted by the abstract mediating concepts and means that hovered around the upper stratum to first relieve the feeling of urgency that came rushing toward me. However, coming down from the highest place one step at a time, from god-like reason that hides its inborn nature to human intellect, from human intellect to bodily perception, from bodily perception to sense itself, all that is left are the retinas, eardrums, and skin that surround the empty body, which material comes and runs into. Moreover, descending from the reason and ideology of the upper stratum which is always retreating backwards the closer one comes to the idea, from the idea to the concept, from the concept to the sign, and from the sign to the image, my noema leaves only pure
parentheses expressed as the function of material=motion=time. Copper wire is a material but at the same time a material-fold that expresses the motion of material, while the way the wires repeated stretch out, joint, and connect become time-material. My sense now rides this copper wire (mesure) and cuts across the surface. To get to their destination a lot of people take the train. But Alice from Alice in Wonderland takes the train to find her destination. To move upward Alice first had to go back down, and to go to the future she had to run to the past. The superficial world only extends to the left and right, there is no separation of top and bottom, past and future, outside and inside. On the surface, only the capacity of repetition can cover the whole distance and reveal the productive stance of the universe. Just as when x multiplied by itself equals the natural number 2, that x reveals the dimension of irrational numbers, the dimension of 1.414213456… the infinite world of the square root of two.
The Leaf105180 Copper wire 180.0 × 270.0 cm 2010
THE Fish68198 Copper wire 196.0 × 9 6.0 × 15.0 cm 2006
Jeong Kwangho Made with a series of thin copper wires welded together, Jeong Kwangho’s works are sculptures but at the same time are visually perceived as flat paintings. Debuting as an artist in 1979 at the Geumgang Modern Art Festival, over the past fourty years he has exhibited actively in Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore, New York, Amsterdam, Basel, and Paris. Jeong is presently serving as a professor at Kongju National University and his works can be found in the collections of Korea’s most prestigious museums, including the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Seoul Museum of Art, and Ho-Am Art Museum. His work titled “The Pot84130” was featured in Earth, Fire, Soul—Masterpieces of Korean Ceramics, a special overseas exhibition organized by the National Museum of Korea held in July 2016 at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. 07
ACADEMIC HERITAGE
By Lee Jungeun, Curator of the Asian Arts Division, National Museum of Korea
Study of Black-glazed Ware Recovered from the Sinan Shipwreck
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Black-glazed Bowl
Black-glazed Bowl
Southern Song Dynasty, China H. 5.2 cm, D. 10.5 cm (mouth), D. 3.1 cm (bottom)
Southern Song Dynasty, China H. 6.4 cm, D. 12.2 cm (mouth), D. 3.8 cm (bottom)
A ship left the Chinese port of Qingyuan (present-day Ningbo) in 1323, during the Yuan Dynasty, heading for the Japanese port of Hakata (present-day Fukuoka). The vessel sank for some unknown reason and was not discovered until 1975, when a fisherman working in the waters off Sinan, Jeollanam-do caught six cultural works in his net, including a ceramic bottle. A total of eleven underwater surveys were conducted on the shipwreck over nine years, from 1976 through 1984, and they yielded more than 20,000 pieces of pottery. These finds indicated that the vessel had been a merchant ship.* * The total number of cultural artifacts brought up from the shipwreck exceeds 24,000, including pottery as well as 28 tons of coins and more than 1,000 pieces of red sandalwood, some 400 pieces of the ship’s hull and about 720 other parts of the ship.
Black-glazed Bowl
Black-glazed Bowl
Yuan Dynasty, China H. 4.5 cm, D. 10.8 cm (mouth), D. 3.5 cm (bottom)
Yuan Dynasty, China H. 6.6 cm, D. 14.8 cm (mouth), D. 5.7 cm (bottom)
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Black-glazed Jar
Black-glazed Bottle, Yuhuchunping
Southern Song Dynasty, China H. 15.2 cm, D. 12.1 cm (mouth), D. 6.7 cm (bottom)
The National Museum of Korea opened a special exhibition, entitled Discoveries from the Sinan Shipwreck, in 2016 to mark the 40th anniversary of the finding of the vessel. In addition, a series of reports have been published to provide in-depth results of studies performed on the cultural works taken from the shipwreck site. Report I (2016) discusses unglazed pottery, while Report II (2016) covers metal crafts. In 2017, Report III came out on the blackglazed ware. A total of 832 pieces (including 128 fragments) of black-glazed ware, making up 726 different items, were salvaged from the shipwreck, which is not a large percentage of the total pottery haul. However, the black-glazed pottery was produced at various locations, and the production techniques are distinctive. 10
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Yuan Dynasty, China H. 29.4 cm, D. 6.8 cm (mouth), D. 8.6 cm (bottom)
Moreover, they reflect the elegant teadrinking practices of the ruling class. The report categorizes the black-glazed ware from the ship according to type: bowl, dish, jar, small jar, bottle, small bottle, lid, flowerpot, and lidded case. The special features of each piece were examined, and they were compared with data on Chinese kiln sites and the black-glazed pottery pieces excavated at them to determine the dates and locations of production of the pieces aboard the vessel that sunk at Sinan. Among these black-glazed pottery items, the tea bowls produced at the Jian kilns in Fujian reveal a story in themselves about pottery production trends in China during the Southern Song and Yuan periods as well as about Chinese-Japanese trade and Japanese tea-drinking practices
in the fourteenth century. Black-glazed tea bowls became famous after they were favored by the Chinese imperial family in Northern Song Dynasty, but their production ceased in Southern Song Dynasty. Around the fourteenth century, the Chinese increasingly preferred powdered tea over lump tea, and the use of black-glazed tea bowls from Jian gradually discontinued, as the kilns there switched over to bluish-white porcelain. Blackglazed tea bowls from Jian formerly used by the imperial family were put on the market for sale, and Japanese merchants bought them because lump tea remained popular in Japan, and these very items were on board the vessel that sank off the coast of Sinan. The inner bottoms of the cups show traces of wear from long-time use, attesting to the fact that they were
Black-glazed Bottle, Meiping
Black-glazed Jar
Southern Song Dynasty, China H. 29.3 cm, D. 5.3 cm (mouth), D. 9.2 cm (bottom)
Yuan Dynasty, China H. 10.8 cm, D. 7.6 cm (mouth), D. 6.1 cm (bottom)
being sold second-hand or as antiques. Of all the black-glazed tea bowls (449 items, 548 pieces) recovered from the Sinan shipwreck, 83 percent (361 items, 456 pieces) were from the Chayang kilns in Fujian. Interestingly, pieces produced at Chayang have only been uncovered in China near the ancient kiln sites or in the waters off Fuzhou. On the other hand, a large volume of black-glazed ware has been discovered at Shuri Castle and other fortress sites on Okinawa as well as at castle ruins, monasteries, and urban historic sites on the mainland Japan dating from the Muromachi 1336–1573 and Sengoku periods. The total number of pieces found in Japan is not known, but more than five hundred fragments of Chayang black-glazed tea bowls have been unearthed at Shuri Castle alone. Thus,
black-glazed tea bowls were most likely produced at Chayang kilns as substitutes for the discontinued Jian black-glazed tea bowls in order to satisfy demand for these items in Okinawa and mainland Japan. Conspicuously, one of the tea bowls found at the Sinan shipwreck bears a gardenia image, produced from a paper cut-out, on the inner bottom. The practice of Chan (Kr. Seon; Jp. Zen) Buddhism was common in China during the Southern Song period, and the tea-drinking practices associated with it became widespread. The gardenia was praised as a “friend of Chan” in poetry. In addition to the black-glazed pottery, the sunken vessel at Sinan yielded incense burners, bottles, and candleholders for use in Buddhist ceremonies as well as flower vases for tea ceremonies and tea parties.
Such items were not commonly used in Japan, the presumed destination of this shipment. The report surmises the cargo was sent to supply Buddhist monasteries and that Tofuku Temple in Kyoto was one of the purchasers.
Sinan Shipwreck Collection in the National Museum of Korea III Black-glazed Ware ISBN : 979-89-8164-177-1 Language : Korean
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INTERVIEW
By the Editorial Team / With Yoo Young-eun, E-business planner and Koo Heejung, Fashion merchandiser
Refresh and Time Travel Sometimes Alone, Sometimes Urged on by a Friend
A CONSTANTLY SUPPORTIVE FRIEND
The two young women are university alumnae and inseparable friends who work in the same field. Yoo Young-eun plans UI, UX, and contents on the e-business team at a domestic fashion brand, while Koo Heejung is a product planner and buyer for a global fashion brand. With one friend working in product planning and the other in marketing and planning, whenever they meet they naturally start talking about their work. They talk up a storm, showing curiosity about each other’s field and empathizing with each other’s work experiences, discussing their current projects, the things that they are interested in these days, new hobbies, future plans, and confessing everything that is on their minds. It has been twenty years now since they have been each other’s strongest supporter.
held at the two venues. But the third most popular answer was to find an escape from everyday life, suggesting that a surprisingly large number of people found a sense of spatial stability in the two places. REFRESH YOUR LIFE
For Yoo Young-eun, visiting exhibitions at the gallery is a way to refresh her life. As she looks at the beautiful, finely made items all bad feelings and fatigue are washed away. Work in the conference room or in front of the computer is always intense but when she faces objects in the gallery or museum,
she grows calm and finds peace of mind. When she goes to see an exhibition, she likes to take her time and spends around two hours there. At the National Museum of Korea, the exhibition spaces are divided into varied sections, which makes the museum a good place to come when she wants to look around quietly and clear her head. In the galleries, sometimes she finds inspiration for her work. She may start wondering how to reproduce online some of interactive technologies used in the galleries, or discover which elements motivate young viewers.
Koo inspiring a desire to make a product based on some exhibits
BECOMING TIME TRAVELERS
The two friends are always on the lookout for productive activities. They both love good exhibitions and concerts and happily go in quest of them. When she goes to an art gallery or museum, Koo Heejung says she feels like she is traveling back in time and gets excited about seeing things that have existed from times far past. For her, opening the door to the museum feels like escaping everyday life and entering a new world, which is why she likes to sit on a bench or on the stairs and takes pleasure in the exhibition space itself. For the same reason, when she was a student in London she would go to the Tate Modern and Southbank Centre whenever she could. She enjoyed the exhibitions and concerts the two places offered but it was the energy that she gained from the buildings, the space itself, that really attracted her. Wondering what it was that drew other people to the two places, Koo once wrote a paper on the subject. In a survey of sixty people, she found that naturally the main attraction was the exhibitions and concerts 13
THE JOY OF FINDING INSPIRATION AT THE MUSEUM
There’s a work that Yoo Young-eun particularly wants to see at the museum in real life. Pictures of a Man’s Ideal Life is an eight-panel folding screen by the Joseon Dynasty painter Kim Hongdo that depicts the most joyous occasions in a man’s life. Yoo especially wanted to see the seventh panel, the scene of the man’s sixtieth wedding anniversary banquet. She saw it by chance online and it brought up memories of her grandparents’ sixtieth wedding anniversary celebrations, which
she attended as a child. The sight of the old couple in the painting surrounded by their family and friends overlapped exactly with her memories of her grandparents. It is said the scenes of all the important rites in the life of a scholar and his appointment to government posts reflect the ancient people’s view of life and career success, which is not so different to the way Koreans think today, hundreds of years later. Koo Heejung takes a picture of a bronze Buddhist niche she saw in the Buddhist Sculpture Gallery. Beautiful
in shape and with doors that open and close, it has inspired a desire to make a product based on it. It also touches on her interest in architecture. What she really wants to do is to make a miniature using the architectural elements of the niche. She examines the structure all the more carefully with the thought of giving a modern interpretation to the traditional elements. The doors on this niche in the shape of a traditional temple hall give rise to all sorts of thoughts and fires up her desire to create. WORK-LIFE BALANCE, EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE
Yoo finding peace of mind in the galleries
Falling in love with the beauty of ceramic works, Koo began taking classes at a pottery workshop two years ago. The three or four hours she spends there on weekends are a blissful time of healing. When she looked at traditional ceramic works in the past she didn’t know exactly what she liked about them but since taking up pottery as a hobby she has become entranced by the beautiful varied forms that ceramic works can take. Experiencing objects by imagining how they were made and used, she has become curious as to what approach to take if she were to make it herself and it is now her habit to pick apart all the details one by one. If Koo is the type who actively seeks out the things she likes, Yoo is the type with wide-ranging interests. She exercises regularly with the aim of taking part in a running competition that takes place every spring and autumn and has been playing the violin for four years now, after taking it up rather late in life at the age of thirty-two. Busy with work, she is taking a break now but one day dreams of holding a small concert for a group of friends with Koo. It would be interesting to trace the changes over the next few years in these two women who are always open to new challenges and determined to achieve the things they set their minds to.
FROM THE COLLECTION
Myeonggyeongdae, from the Album of Paintings of the Sea and Mountains
This painting of Myeonggyeongdae is part of the Album of Paintings of the Sea and Mountains. The artist has captured a close-up look at the 90-meter rock formation, emphasizing its special features. This famous natural sight in Baekcheondong, which is part of Inner Geumgangsan Mountain, towers straight up and consists of a type of granite, with a surface that is both reddish and yellow. The artist, Kim Hajong, first drew an outline of the rock in rapid, angular brushstrokes, and then skillfully shaded the scene in blue-green, brown, and yellow hues to provide density.
Joseon Dynasty, 1816 Painted by Kim Hajong, written by Yi Gwangmun Ink and color on silk 27.2 × 41.8 cm (painting) 37.9 × 53.4 cm (album)
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CURRUNT
By Y i Yangsu, Curator and Yoon Onsik, Associate Curator of the Archaeology and History Division, National Museum of Korea
Gaya Spirit—Iron and Tune DECEMBER 3, 2019 – MARCH 1, 2020 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREA
The National Museum of Korea held an exhibition in 1991 titled, The Mysterious Ancient Kingdom of Gaya. Now we are revisiting to present a reconstructed story supported by more data and research findings, providing visitors with an opportunity to learn new things about Gaya.
Vertical plate armors and helmets on display
Pasa Stone Pagoda moving in the special exhibition gallery
Belt Ornaments 4th century L. 8.0 cm (far right) Daeseong-dong Tombs Museum
“Gaya” refers to a federation of states that existed in the southeast coast of the Korean Peninsula for 520 years, from around 42 to 562. This was during the Three Kingdoms period, but Gaya was unfortunately left out of the group of Three Kingdoms, namely Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla. Gaya did not merge multiple small states to create a centralized government. Instead several small states came together to coexist as a federation. 18
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Similar polities from history include Etruria on the Italian Peninsula, which was introduced in a special exhibition by the National Museum of Korea in 2019, as well as Athens and Sparta in ancient Greece. Why should we pay attention to such a small confederacy, which was not even comparable with the Three Kingdoms in Korea? Is it simply because Gaya is also a part of Korean history? Gaya is important
because, although small, its culture was every bit as sophisticated as that of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla. Moreover, the Gaya culture carries a message that is relevant for Koreans today. First, Gaya was cosmopolitan. Koreans all know that King Suro, who founded Gaya, married Princess Heo Hwang-ok, who traveled across the sea from Aruguk. The incident is recorded in the History of the Three Kingdoms (Samguksagi), and represents Korea’s oldest extant documentation of an international marriage, and thus the start of a multicultural family. The wedding is said to have taken place in 48, meaning the multicultural roots of Korean society date back at least two millennia. Second, the Gaya member-states enjoyed individual autonomy, respected one another, and lived in harmony. This was a federation of different kingdoms
A display showing the burial of living persons with the deceased customs
comparable to the autonomous local governments in Korea today. This exhibition is titled “Iron and Tune” to represent the dichotomies of military strength and culture as well as power and harmony. Of course Garakguk, based in the present-day Gimhae area and also known as Geumgwangaya; Araguk, based in the present-day Haman area and also known as Aragaya; and Gara-guk, based in the present-day Goryeong area and also known as Daegaya, were described in the historical record as being more powerful than the other three Gaya states, and the cultural artifacts from these larger three are more extravagant. However, considerable cultural evidence has also been discovered for the smaller three— namely Gojaguk, based in the presentday Goseong area and also known as Sogaya; Bisabeol, based in the presentday Changnyeong area and also known as
Bisabeolgaya; and Gimunguk, based in the present-day Namwon area and also known as Gimungaya. In other words, each of the six Gaya states was independently governed by its own ruler and had its own diplomatic rights. Gaya existed in the southern coast of Korea. Its territory was long believed to have been confined within Gyeongsang-do, east of the Seomjingang River and south of Jirisan Mountain, but recent archaeological excavations have unearthed Gaya relics in Namwon, on the Unbong Plateau, which is north of Jirisan Mountain, as well as in Yeosu, which is on the west side of the Seomjingang River. Perhaps the people in these locations were attracted to the independence and harmony of Gaya society and did not wish to be under the control of either Baekje or Silla. This may be a classic example of balanced development, where individual regions advanced in their own way.
The gayageum is a world-class legacy that preserves values treasured by Gaya society and the Gaya diaspora, namely coexistence and harmony. King Gasil of Garaguk had his music master Ureuk create this 12-stringed zither in the sixth century and write music for it that could bring the various Gaya states closer together. Twelve songs are known to have been created, but unfortunately, their melodies have been lost. The social cohesion of Gaya ended when the federation states fell to their larger neighbors, but the harmonyinspiring sounds of the gayageum have been handed down to the present day. This was possible because Ureuk, a gayageum master, brought the instrument with him when he surrendered to Silla, and Silla kept the original name while further developing the zither’s musical potential. King Jinheung of Silla understood the true value of the gayageum and promoted its
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Various weapons for the Gaya troops on display
Gaya’s iron products for horses on display
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music throughout his kingdom. Finally, Gaya boasted some of the most advanced ironworking expertise of its day. This was a small polity in the southeastern corner of the Korean Peninsula, but it produced outstanding armor, swords, and other iron weapons. Lumps of iron in standardized sizes were used as currency, and Gaya’s iron products were sold in Japan and even as far away as China. The Republic of Korea today is also a small country on the Korean Peninsula that has managed to enrich itself by developing information technologies and other state-of-the-art know-how. The nation sells its advanced products around the globe. Gaya, too, accumulated riches through its technological expertise and exports, and evidence of this wealth has been uncovered in Gaya royal tombs dating to around the fourth century: tubeshaped bronze implements and starfishshaped bronze shield accessories from Japan; gilt-bronze buckles and bronze bowls from the Western Jin Dynasty in China; elaborate horse-riding equipment
from the three Yan Kingdoms established by northern nomadic tribes; and glass vessels from the distant Western Region (Central Asia). Gaya was a cosmopolitan society with advanced know-how, but in the end, the federation could not endure the might of its larger neighbors. Gaya’s strength steadily waned in the face of a southern expedition led by King Gwanggaeto the Great of powerful Goguryeo in the fourth century as well as by incursions by both Baekje and Silla. In 562 Garaguk, the last of the kingdoms, was annexed by Silla. Gaya may have fallen, but the Gaya spirit is now resurfacing, because the world’s nations today seek coexistence over control. World War II was fought over an attempt at world domination, and that monumental event forced people to realize the value of living together in peace. Coexistence and harmony represent, along with the gayageum, important parts of the Gaya spirit that has been handed down to this day.
Cylinder-shaped Vessel Stand 5th century H. 6 4.0 cm Daegu National Museum
Clay ship figurines and jars featuring an aspect of Gaya’s internationality
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ESSAY
By Kim Dongwoo, Curator of the Archaeology and History Division, National Museum of Korea
Memories of Gaya: Myths, iron, trade, warriors, gayageum, collapse…
Twenty eight high-mound tombs at the Hapcheon Okjeon Tumuli
Many people might have only a fragmentary notion of Gaya. The history textbooks I studied in school described Gaya as a country of iron. Chinese historical sources refer to it as one of several “small states,” the ancient Korean records History of the Three Kingdoms (Samguksagi) and Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms (Samgungnyusa) describe the marriage of King Suro of Geumgwangaya and Queen Heo, and the contemporary novelist Kim Hoon tells of the gayageum master Ureuk and Gaya’s gradual collapse in his novel Song of Strings. There is not a great deal of information about the ancient kingdoms of the Korean Peninsula and there are even fewer records about Gaya in particular. As a result, we may be concerned that our understanding of Gaya will only be based 22
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on its representation in popular literature. These concerns, however, can be eased by the fact that many archaeological artifacts from Jisan-dong in Goryeong and Okjeon in Hapcheon as well as the tomb of Marisan Mountain in Haman and other famous sites provide additional insight into Gaya culture and history. Located in the south of the Korean Peninsula where iron was plentiful, Gaya developed rapidly through trading with other ancient kingdoms. Since Gaya was made up of a federation of smaller states, it was not able to grow into a major power like Silla or Baekje, and was eventually absorbed into the Silla Kingdom. This is the extent of my memories of Gaya. Although, Gaya disappeared from history, fragmentary records of the federation can still be found in the
Various types of pottery from the tomb of Marisan Mountain in Haman
histories from the victorious kingdoms. While there was certainly competition among the neighboring states, the member of the Gaya confederacy did not unite into a single entity. Isn’t it because they shared a culture of mutual respect and maintained cooperative relations? What if we were to remember Gaya in its own right: a federation particularly adept at extracting precious iron resources, skillful in the production of beautiful earthenware pottery and competent in defending itself through the production of advanced weaponry and extensive military training? History is always in a process of transformation from within and without. If we do not actively address these transformations, we risk adopting false memories of ancient societies. This is what
has happened to Gaya. In preparing for the special exhibition, Gaya Spirit—Iron and Tune, we sought to revise the image of Gaya formulated by the victorious kingdoms and examine physical traces left by the Gaya people themselves. History does not address assumptions about what Gaya should have done in order to be successful or whether it could have avoided destruction by centralizing power like Baekje and Silla. Rather, it only provides a historical perspective on the objective reality of the Gaya Confederacy. Since Gaya relied on trade with neighboring regions for its development, it did not seek to incorporate these regions but pursued a policy of symbiotic partnerships. Within this context of interregional cooperation, Gaya developed a unique regional identity and diverse
cultural practices. In the twenty-first century, increased cultural diversity is accompanied by a growing interest in regional identity. Long-held animosities between the North and South and the East and West of the Korean Peninsula feel stronger than ever before. Interactions with neighboring countries are similarly highly fraught with concerns. At times like these, it is more important than ever to remember the cooperative practices of the Gaya Confederacy.
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CURRENT
By Baik Seungmi, Associate Curator of the Exhibition Division, National Museum of Korea
Man, Matter, Metamorphosis —10 000 Years of Design DECEMBER 21, 2019 – APRIL 5, 2020 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREA
Gallery for the things showing how the past continues to exert influence on the future
We are accustomed to thinking of history in a linear way: past—present—future. But what if we stop to observe the collection that results from these artificial time periods as a single and dynamic entity? We will then begin to notice how the distant past is in fact very much present and how it continues to influence the future. We will begin to see how the Things that comprise our material cultural history are in fact the result of various discoveries and innovations placed in dialogue. Taking a closer look, we may discover that one-Thing is the convergence of many-Things, re-elaborated and recomposed. The exhibition attempts to provide a kaleidoscopic overview of material, cultural, and technological development in the area of present-day Finland during the past 10 000 years. The analysis is non-linear. It is also nontaxonomic and non-conventional. The purpose of this approach is to make the familiar unfamiliar with the ultimate intent to enable the introduction of alternative perspectives. Man—Matter— Metamorphosis is the constant equation of this study. It refers to a dialectic behaviour between the three terms, which embodies a fundamental variable of how Things come to be. This unprecedented collection begins from a primal origin: the end of the ice age, the arrival of man, and first material interactions. MAN MAKES THINGS AND THINGS MAKE MAN
When you use something, where is the limit between you and it? How have Things influenced your work, social relations, and leisure time? Research suggests that human biological and cultural evolution is closely linked to technological innovations. Exploration of material properties through intuitive manipulation—the use of all senses— was the starting point for an inherent dialogue between mind, body, and 25
Part 3 under the theme “The Ecology of Things”
Armchair 41 Chair seat Form pressed birch veneer Alvar Aalto, Artek 1932 © Artek Oy
matter. Technical know-how of toolmaking has constituted man’s first most important possession and basis for survival. Language was in this process a fundamental medium for technology transfer. From the multiplication of force to the enhancement of various task operations, human performance has achieved an ever-increasing network of prosthetic assistance. MATTER IS NOT INERT
Matter has had for man multiple fundamental meanings and roles throughout history. Cultural developments have been named after the predominant use of materials: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. From the construction of world views, belief and value systems, to survival means, the relationship of man with matter has been one of constant research, discovery, and exploitation. Since the occupation during the Neolithic period of areas situated within the borders of 26
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contemporary Finland, the exploration of territory resulted in the discovery of new material resources. Man’s engagement with the territory’s specific terrain and ecosystem has resulted in unique technical and material manifestations, the characteristics of which have often remained valid up to this day.
Pot Clay from: Virrat, Stone Age CombWare culture © Finnish Heritage AgencyArchaeological Collections
THE ECOLOGY OF THINGS
Human occupation—as well as wildlife— is recorded to have begun within the borders of present-day Finland during the end of the glacial period around 8500 BCE. The ancestral in-depth knowledge, as well as worship, of the diverse properties of this distinct ecosystem provided the basis for a singular material-cultural manifestation as well as unique dietary practices. Colonisation was a process through which new natural environments were incorporated to become part of the livelihood systems: hunter-gathering, deer herding, or cultivation. Each system operated through either a nomadic or permanent settlement. The annual cycle of activities was determined by knowledge of the seasons and the multiple processes taking place within nature. At present, Finland may be divided into 10% water, 69% forest, 8% cultivated land, and 13% other. The human occupation of territories within the boundaries of present-day Finnish could be—historically and at present—described as a symbiosis between man and nature.
Leuku-type Knife Wood-leather-steel 40 cm from: Enontekiö, Sámi culture © National Museum of FinlandEthnological Collections
Stool Tree branch-wood from: Savitaipale © National Museum of FinlandEthnological Collections
FROM ARCHETYPES TO TYPES
The design and form-making fields have expanded and so their range of practitioners and audiences. Craftsmanship is a concept that includes nowadays science and technology. The advent of industrial processes and automation introduced alongside new challenges in relation to the judgment of values and standards. From expanding computer applications to digital 27
fabrication, fab-labs, do-it-yourself, new material resources, and online commercial platforms, practice has become a garden of forking paths. Nevertheless, a balance is fundamental between analog and digital approaches. In an era where new products are introduced to the market at an increasing speed, deep rooted archetypes continue to assert the validity of certain essential attributes. Hand-embodied know-how never goes out of date. FROM SUPERNATURAL TO SUPER NATURAL
Polaris Chair Eero Aarnio Chrome plated tubular steel legs-injected moulded plastic seat © Asko Oy 1966
Laitinen SS2010 Men’s suit Digitally printed cotton Tuomas Laitinen “Tech Grid” print in collaboration with Chris Vidal Tenomaa © Finnish Heritage Agency 2009
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Since the initial settlements, within the boundaries of present-day Finland, material engagement was mediated through a supernatural bond between man and ecosystem. The symbolic character of man’s environment motivated intensified attention and sensory enlightenment. The discovery of resources provoked new understandings of reality, which led simultaneously to developments in material culture and symbolic expression. Belief systems were integrated to the logic of subsistence. Magic was a technique. Magic was pragmatic. Things had meaning. Rituals, figures, and symbols were an organic presence for survival and a harmonious coexistence with the natural world. “Bio” is a Greek prefix that means “life.” At present, we exist in a context defined by bioenergy, biochemicals, biosynthesis, biomanufacturing, biotechnology, and bionic. Advances in biomimesis are providing new material contexts. Bio Intelligence is expanded through Artificial Intelligence. New technologies could be considered adaptive channels that expand the abilities to understand and interact with the environment. But which elements and practices may be interpreted as technology? From the analog to the digital, we are again interacting with commands. From proto- to information technology, our material and immaterial
environment has stemmed a superlative nature. OBJECT NETWORK
Things do not exist in isolation but within a network. Things originate and function within specific contexts. The behaviour between Things may be, for instance, complementary, interactive, cooperative, or integrative. Things make other Things. The nature and speed with which Things originate relates to a large number of factors, perhaps most importantly cultural. The multiple networks between man and Things establish a specific form of society. The value system that exists within a social group projects meanings on Things. These meanings, technical or spiritual, are configured into a variety of structures, the logics of which make up the operating
systems. This is the social life of Things. Man, Matter, Metamorphosis—10 000 Years of Design, this is a primal and constant aspect of human-ecosystem interaction. The universe of artifacts that results from this equation is a constitutive element of societies. It reflects on localised and global approaches. Through an edition of content spanning 10 000 years, these themes on this exhibition examine the unique engagement of society towards ecosystem, energy sources, and matter. This timeless view presents the legacy of values and logic that has proven relevant to the material and technological culture of Finland. This article is based on the texts for the exhibition at the National Museum of Finland (12 October 2018 – 24 February 2019).
A display showing the things make other things within a network
Axe/hammer Diabase stone 17.4 × 6.2 × 4.1 cm from: Rusko, Stone AgeCorded Ware culture/ Battle-axe culture © Finnish Heritage Agency-Archaeological Collections
ISSUE
By Hwang Jihyun, Curator of the Exhibition Division, National Museum of Korea
The current state of Korean galleries in overseas museums and future projects THE ROLE OF KOREAN GALLERIES IN OVERSEAS MUSEUMS
According to the Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation, as of April 2019, 182,080 Korean cultural heritage materials are known to exist outside Korea across twenty-three different countries. Even though they are not in Korean collections, such precious artifacts serve an important role in raising awareness of Korean traditional culture and history in their local areas. In various museums throughout the world, Korean galleries provide an appropriate environment for effectively showcasing these cultural materials. In other words, these places not only help to preserve Korean cultural heritage but also function to broaden understanding and interest in Korean culture through exhibitions, educational and cultural events, and other related programs. THE CURRENT STATE OF KOREAN GALLERIES
As of June 2019, sixty-eight Korean 30
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Korean gallery in the Cleveland Museum of Art after renovation
galleries have been established in overseas museums in twenty-three different countries according to a 2019 report by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The majority of these galleries are concentrated in the continents of North America and Europe/Russia with thirty-four and twenty, respectively. Twelve galleries can be found in Asia and two in Oceania. There is no Korean gallery currently operating in South America, Africa, and the Middle East. Korean galleries are generally established in one of the following three ways: 1. An existing museum decides to establish their own gallery; 2. The gallery is sponsored by the Korean government, private organization, or a group of Koreans residing overseas; 3. The gallery is formed in cooperation between the Korean government, the National Museum of Korea, and the relevant local museum. In practice, the establishment of a Korean gallery and provision of support have been centered around institutions already possessing Korean collection.
However, there are now examples of institutions that do not have strong holdings of Korean cultural heritage but have established Korean galleries with a view to purchasing or loaning objects. Furthermore, there is also a trend towards purchasing artworks by Korean contemporary artists in order to broaden the temporal scope of exhibitions in the Korean galleries. Of course it is preferable to have a curator who specializes in Korean culture take charge of the operation of Korean galleries. However, among the sixty-eight institutions with Korean galleries, only ten have designated curators overseeing the Korean galleries. In most cases, the curator of Asian culture oversees a number of East Asian galleries including Japanese and Chinese galleries in addition to Korean galleries. SUPPORT PROGRAMS
Beginning around the 2000s, Korea moved beyond simply expanding the number of Korean galleries and began focusing on the quality of the gallery
experience. Additional investment was provided to ensure the preservation and efficient use of Korean cultural heritage. In addition to providing support for basic facilities including the hiring of specialist personnel, new funding was devoted to a great variety of projects including research on collection materials, scholarship resources, Korean cultural heritage conservation facilities, public online information sources on Korean cultural heritage, catalog publishing as well as educational and cultural programs. Although, the government provides the majority of financial backing for this enterprise, slowly but surely, there is increasing support from the private sector. CURRENT AND FUTURE PROJECTS
From 2009 to 2018, the NMK helped to establish no fewer than thirty-nine sponsored projects in twenty-seven institutions across eight countries. This assistance covers seven different types of projects including gallery renovation, conservation treatment, academic consultation, catalog publication, educational programs, special exhibitions, and online database service on Korean cultural heritage. While funding and assistance are most frequently provided for gallery renovations, overseas museums are primarily interested in obtaining conservation support. The conservation of Asian artifacts such as traditional paintings and lacquerware objects pose a particular problem for European and American museums since they often do not have the necessary experience and the pool of specialists is relatively small. As a result, the experienced team in the Conservation Science Division at the NMK receives an ever-increasing list of requests for conservation assistance. These days, however, there are new challenges for Korean galleries. Overseas museums are moving away from exhibitions that focus on a single country or region, opting instead for
thematic exhibitions or inter-regional exhibitions that cross temporal and geographical boundaries. As individual national and regional galleries merge together, it is more and more common to find museums that avoid the concept of distinct galleries (e.g., Korean gallery, Chinese Gallery) altogether. Additionally, it is difficult for overseas museums with limited Korean collections to significantly modify the exhibition themes within the Korean galleries. Such institutions with relatively small Korean galleries and only a modest collection of Korean artifacts have raised concerns about how to make the best use of their limited resources. Support projects centered around the limited contents of Korean galleries force us to re-evaluate our basic notions of how exhibitions function within a Korean gallery. Various exhibition proposals for Korean galleries include expanding the scope of the exhibitions to include more contemporary artworks in addition to traditional objects, loaning plentiful exhibition materials such as ancient earthenware pottery, and developing special travelling exhibitions focused on a central theme. In addition, plans have been put in place to establish connections between museums so that they can loan objects that are not on display to other institutions. Together with these efforts, it is also essential to develop a strategy for establishing Korean galleries in regions such as the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and South America where interest in Korean culture is rapidly growing. While the success of Korean galleries in overseas museums certainly depends on the motivations of the individual institutions, interest and support on the part of Korea are also indispensable factors. Our present endeavors and the future of this project not only depend on providing financial backing but also on assisting with customized support that seeks to make better use of the Korean galleries and promote Korean culture to a wider viewership.
Catalog of the Korean collection from the Newark Museum of Art, New Jersey
Part of the NMK’s conservation treatment for the collection of the Museum of Ethnology, Hamburg
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CURRENT
By the Editorial Team / With Oh Younsook, Associate Curator, Jeju National Museum
A Journey to a Strange Place: A Story of Jeju Exiles NOVEMBER 26, 2019 – MARCH 1, 2020 JEJU NATIONAL MUSEUM The Jeju National Museum is making concerted efforts to shed light on various aspects of Jeju’s distinctive island culture through its exhibitions. The latest special exhibition aims to show from a new perspective a unique aspect of Jeju’s culture as a place of exile.
These days an increasing number of people are taking voluntary exile, departing from their homes to settle in a place where they have no connections at all. They hope to leave as soon as possible to a remote place as far away as possible for a duration of at least one month up to several years. In such cases, a place with clean air and beautiful scenery is everybody’s desired destination, and Jejudo Island is always on the top of the list. For people today, “exile” is a positive concept that means rest and healing gained through escape from everyday life. 32
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But during the Joseon Dynasty, “Jejudo Island” was a name that put fear into the heart. Of the five types of punishment meted out in those days—execution, exile, hard labor, flogging, and whipping— exile was the second heaviest sentence that could be received. When a criminal was exiled, he or she was sent to a faraway place, never to return. Jejudo Island was the place of exile farthest from Hanyang (present-day Seoul), the capital. To be sent there was the most serious sentence for it meant forging out a life in the isolation and harsh conditions of an island so hard
to reach from the mainland. Through a special exhibition highlighting the culture of the exiles, a unique aspect of Jejudo Island, the Jeju National Museum introduces the lives of people sentenced to live out their days in a strange land far from home. Featuring some 100 items that easily conjure up images of the island landscape, the exhibition is an opportunity to explore the lives, loves, and learning of the exiles as well as their relations with the local people. The exhibition is divided into three parts. Part 1 titled, “Journey to a Distant
Hoyeongeumseo from the Panorama of Jejudo Island Joseon Dynasty, 1702 56.7 × 36.0 cm Treasure No. 652-6 Jeju World Natural Heritage Center
A display featuring a number of works related to Kim Jeonghui
Land: A Look at the Exile to Jeju,” gives a history of exile, including the various people who came to Jeju as exiles and their reasons for being sent to the island. Jeju was adopted as a place of exile during the Goryeo Dynasty and during the following Joseon Dynasty, the island had more exiles than any other place in Korea. They came from all classes of society, from royal family members and scholar officials to technical workers called jungin people and bonded servants, and were exiled for all sorts of reasons, including political conflict, thieving, and cheating
in the state civil service exams. On display in this part of the exhibition are items not only connected to famous scholars and artists who have been known as the major exiles of Jeju, but also Family Register, a record covering the years in 1783 and 1843 that shows a surprisingly large number of ordinary people who were banished to the island. Also on display are items that shed light on the treacherous journey to the island and the destitute lives of the exiles, giving visitors an idea of the feelings of the 260 people whose names are recorded as exiles to Jeju.
Part 2, “A Time of Cruel and Earnest Waiting in a Strange Land,” tells the stories of men from distinguished families exiled as a result of political conflict or strife, a member of the scholar-official class who fell in love with Jeju women while serving their sentences, and artists and scholars who devoted themselves to their work while exiled on the island. Letters expressing longing for families and friends or disciples, poems written out of love and loyalty for the king, maps suggesting the appearance of the island at the time, and portraits of the exiles give a
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Maps and record books about the story of the Jeju exiles on display
detailed picture of life in those times and the political situation. A ten-minute video is screened featuring Jo Jeongcheol 1751–1831, one of the exiles who led the most tumultuous lives, to show how the exiles lived through the four seasons. Visitors will get a sense of what time meant to these banished souls, battling with their selves in the midst of loneliness, not knowing when or if they would ever be able to leave Jejudo Island and return home. One of Jeju’s most famous exiles was the calligrapher Kim Jeonghui, who perfected his script style, called chusache, during banishment on the island. The second part of the exhibition features a number of works related to him, including Kim’s Draft of Poems on a Narcissus; Autobiography of Mukso in Standard Script (Treasure No. 1685-1), calligraphed by Kim Jeonghui for his friend Kim Yugeun; and Portrait of Kim Jeonghui in the Image of Su Shi, painted by Kim’s disciple Heo Ryeon. The Jeju National Museum is also operating a special section called “Digital Sehando VR,” where visitors can get a feel for Kim 34
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Jeonghui’s solitary and lonely situation when he painted Wintry Days (Sehando) during his days as an exile on Jeju. Part 3 explores the theme “After Exile on Jeju.” Reputed Confucian scholars among the exiles provided learning opportunities for the island residents, who were unable to leave the island under a policy that forbade them from stepping on the mainland for 200 years. Exhibits include materials regarding the spread of Confucianism on Jeju, a wasteland as far as education was concerned, a list of candidates from Jeju who had passed
the state civil service exams, and the genealogies of the first members of the Kim clan from Gimhae and Han clan from Cheongju to marry and settle down on the island after being exiled there. These varied materials show the legacy left behind by the exiles and their relationships with the local people of Jejudo Island. Taking the exhibition as momentum, the Jeju National Museum plans to further develop content on the culture of the exiles and introduce stories that have not yet been told, continuing related research toward that end.
Hanging Signboard Joseon Dynasty, 19th century 31.0 × 98.0 cm Kim Man-duk Memorial Hall
MUSEUM SCENE
Visitors are fascinated by a new type of exhibition that explores fundamental and basic questions about Finnish design. In the special exhibition Man, Matter, Metamorphosis—10 000 Years of Design, a stone axe is presented next to a mobile phone, a wooden sled with modern skis, and the bones of a bear with contemporary chair. This display of seemingly odd combination of objects is an opportunity to observe and think about the mutual influence of human beings and material objects, objects and technology.
NEWS
250th Anniversary Exhibition of Shin Wi’s Calligraphy and Paintings
The literati of ancient times believed that poetry, calligraphy, and paintings were natural expressions of the inner being, and those distinguished in all three fields were lauded as samjeol, meaning “three absolutes.” Shin Wi 1769–1847 was one of the most famous samjeol in the cultural circle of the first half of the nineteenth century and the National Museum of Korea planned an exhibition celebrating the 250th anniversary of his birth. Shin Wi’s penname was Jaha, meaning “crimson dusk coloring the world of the immortals,” and his works aspiring to and dreaming of the lofty world of the immortals can be seen through March 8, 2020 in the Calligraphy and Painting Gallery on the second floor of the Permanent Exhibition Hall. The exhibition is a wonderful opportunity to learn about Shin Wi as a person and rediscover the value of classical works of art. From childhood Shin Wi studied under Kang Sehwang 1713–1791, the leading figure in the art world of the latter half of the Joseon Dynasty, and was an allround artist and forerunner of the later generation represented by Kim Jeonghui 1786–1856. He was recognized as a master in his lifetime, as people said, “learning the poems of Shin Wi as one learns the poems of Du Fu.” Going into the twentieth century, he was also described as “a master who flew high in a declining age” and revered as the last giant of classical Korean literature. Shin Wi’s poems are fresh and full of painterly qualities. Likewise, his calligraphy and paintings are imbued with poetic feeling. The current exhibition features the masterpiece of his later years A Poem on Water Pepper, as well as his ink paintings of bamboo. Shin Wi so excelled in ink bamboo paintings that he was considered one of the three greats in this field. The work catching the greatest attention of visitors is A Boat for Composing Poetry, a joint piece by Shin Wi and his two sons, Shin Myeongjun 1803–1842, who was a gifted writer and landscape painter, and Shin Myeongyeon 1809–1886, who was a leading artist of his generation renowned for his beautiful paintings of flowers. This work encapsulates the painting, poetry, and calligraphy world of father and sons.
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Bamboo Joseon Dynasty, early 19th century By Shin Wi Ink on silk
Wisteria Blossoms from the Painting of Landscape and Flowers Joseon Dynasty, early 19th century By Shin Myeongyeon 30.0 × 17.9 cm
Descendants of Yi Hangbok Donate Treasures Preserved for 400 Years
Portrait of Yi Hangbok Joseon Dynasty Granted by the king in 1604, copied in the 18th century Color on silk 166.1 × 89.3 cm
Copy of the Thousand Character Classic Joseon Dynasty, 1607 By Yi Hangbok Ink on paper 39.0 × 24.0 cm (each page)
The National Museum of Korea received a donation of seventeen items from the descendants of Yi Hangbok 1556–1618, a great premier of the Joseon Dynasty who with wisdom and valor helped the country through the Japanese invasions 1592–1598. In 1580, thirteenth year of the reign of King Seonjo, he passed the civil service exams at the age of twenty-five. For the next thirty-nine years he served in various government posts, including minister of military affairs five times, and was also a diplomat who looked after defense matters at home and outside took responsibility for Joseon’s missions to the Ming Dynasty. Among the recently donated items is Hoseong gongsin gyoseo, the royal edict naming Yi Hangbok a meritorious official for his services during the Japanese invasions. Gyoseo is the highest and most authoritative royal edict bestowed by the king to a meritorious official (gongsin) and contains the official’s merit name (gongsinho), an account of his achievements, and privileges granted. A portrait was also bestowed with the royal edict, and such portraits of meritorious officials were considered family treasures that were well preserved and handed down through the generations. When a portrait became worn with age, a copy of the original was often made for preservation. The two portraits of Yi Hangbok donated to the NMK are eighteenth-century copies of two portraits granted by the king in 1604 and 1613, respectively. Both the royal edict and portraits of Yi Hangbok are treasure-level cultural items that will make an important contribution to the study of Joseon’s system of managing meritorious officials during the seventeenth century. In addition, Copy of the Thousand Character Classic passed down through Yi’s descendants was hand-written by Yi Hangbok for his grandson. Written with care in thick, neat regular script, this book holds great value as the oldest extant handwritten copy of the ancient Chinese teaching primer handed down in Korea. The NMK plans to hold an exhibition of these newly donated works in March 2020, and it is hoped the event will inspire other distinguished families to donate their treasures also, enabling the museum to hold further exhibitions featuring the stories of varied families.
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NEWS
Glass Dry-plate Photos from the Japanese Colonial Period Made Open to the Public
Glass dry-plate photo of the Portrait of Yi Seong-gye, King Taejo, enshrined in Seonwonjeon Hall located in Hamgyongnamdo, North Korea
In addition to the online collection database available at emuseum (www.emuseum.go.kr), the National Museum of Korea has made open to the public around 38,000 images of high-resolution, glass dry-plate photographs taken during the Japanese colonial period. The NMK has been digitalizing modern-period photographs to make them available for diverse purposes. Glass dry-plate photography uses glass plates coated with photosensitive gelatin and dried to make a kind of film, a photography technique that was widely used in the early twentieth century. Using this technique, the Japanese Government-general took many photographs of Korea’s cultural heritage, folk customs, architecture, and other things for recording and research. These glass dry-plate photographs are valuable images featuring cultural heritage that has now disappeared and can no longer be seen, archaeological excavations, folk materials, and North Korean materials, and are hence important resources that are widely used. The glass dry-plate images made public this time can be used free of charge, and the images can be downloaded immediately after stating purpose of use. Without the need for taking complex procedures for use of images, more people will be able to have easier access to the glass dry-plate photographs at the NMK. Provided that the source is stated, the images can be used for commercial purposes or can be modified to produce derivative works.
Glass dry-plate photo of Earthenware Funerary Objects in the shape of a warrior on horseback excavated from Geumnyeongchong Tomb, Gyeongju
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Outdoor Display of Stone Lantern from Hyeonhwasa Temple Conservation treatment of the Stone Lantern from Hyeonhwasa Temple, carried out between November 2018 and May 2019 by the Conservation Science Division at the NMK, has been completed. The lantern was restored to its position in the museum’s outdoor exhibition and a ceremony was held to mark the occasion. The value of the stone lantern as cultural heritage and its conservation process were publicized, and the lantern was temporarily lit with an LED bulb, which does not produce heat, to recreate the aura of the structure when it would have lit up Hyeonhwasa Temple. The stone lantern, now returned to public display, is of a scale and presence that attest to the fame of Hyeonhwasa as a royal temple of the Goryeo Dynasty. The main section where the fire was lit, called hwasaseok, is composed of four stone pillars and thus open on all four sides, and is capped with a solid stone roof with a bead-shaped finial. Along with the stone lantern at Gwanchoksa Temple in Nonsan and another standing in front of the Myogilsang rock-carved Buddha on Geumgangsan Mountain, the Stone Lantern from Hyeonhwasa Temple is considered one of the finest works of the Goryeo Dynasty.
Works of Great Master Samyeong
Portrait of Great Master Samyeong Dongguk University Museum
Poem 1605 By the Great Master Samyeong Koshoji Temple, Japan
The National Museum of Korea, in cooperation with the Buddhist TV channel BTN, hosted a special exhibition of the writings and other works of the Great Master Samyeong 1544–1610, a revered Joseon Buddhist monk, preserved at Koshoji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. Great Master Samyeong, whose Buddhist name was Yujeong, is famous for leading a contingent of monks in the “righteous armies” who fought in the Japanese invasions 1592–1598, and as a diplomat who was instrumental in forging peace between Joseon and Japan. The exhibition of his works was planned as an opportunity to look back and think about the achievements of the Buddhist monk who devoted his life to saving the people and achieving peace while seeking true enlightenment. In a display cabinet at a corner of the Joseon Gallery is the Portrait of Great Master Samyeong, owned by the Dongguk University Museum, and collections from Koshoji Temple in Japan. As they looked at these items, visitors could ponder the life of Great Master Samyeong, who took the lead in saving the nation from crisis and served a crucial role in bringing an end to war with Japan.
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PLACE AND EVENT
By the Editorial Team / With Yoon Sang-deok, Curator of the Asian Arts Division, National Museum of Korea
Opening of the World Art Gallery
Coffin of Thothirdes including mummy on display
Ibis Coffin 305–30 BCE Wood, silver, gold leaf, gesso, rock crystal, pigment 42.5 x 20.3 x 55.9 cm Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.48a-b
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The World Art Gallery on the third floor of the Permanent Exhibition Hall, Asian Art section in the past, opened to the public last December. Until recently, the Asian Art section featured cultural artifacts from countries that were geographically close to Korea. However, in our increasingly interconnected global society it is becoming ever more important to focus our attention outside of Asia to the rest of the world. With this in mind, the National Museum of Korea inaugurated the World Art Gallery in the Permanent Exhibition Hall in order to make global culture more easily accessible to the public. The most significant change in the World Art Gallery is the installation of the Egyptian Gallery. This represents the major world culture planned exhibitions in the World Art Gallery covering the ancient
civilizations of Egypt, Greece, Rome, Mesopotamia, and Oceania etc.. The NMK has already hosted two exhibitions on Egyptian culture, Egypt, the Great Civilization (2009) and Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum (2016), but visitors were required to purchase tickets for these special exhibitions. By contrast, the newly opened Egyptian Gallery, featuring ninety-four artifacts including mummies, crowns, stones, and other grave goods on-loan from the Brooklyn Museum in the United States, will be on permanent display for two years and open for free to the public. Through the Egyptian cultural artifacts on display, visitors will be able to vividly experience the way of life and desires of the ancient Egyptians who dreamed of eternal life and developed the roots of western civilization. The original galleries have also been entirely renovated. The Central Asia Gallery features cultural artifacts imported from regions such as China, Western Asia, and India that passed through the vibrant southern and
northern trading routes in the far southern and northern regions of the Taklamakan desert. The India and Southeast Asia Gallery introduces characteristic examples of Southeast Asian art including realistic Buddhist sculptures from Gandara and carved images of Hindu deities as well as gentle Khmer sculptures that exude harmony and vitality. The China Gallery features a variety of artworks from the Neolithic period all the way to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Examples of Chinese ceramics are particularly effective in demonstrating stylistic changes over time. Exhibits differentiate between colorful ceramics produced at various kiln sites including Yue ware, Yaozhou ware, Longquan ware, Ding ware, Cizhou ware, and Jingdezhen ware, allowing visitors to experience diverse aspects of ancient Chinese ceramics in a single display. Renovation will continue in the newly inaugurated World Art Gallery in the latter half of this year with plans to re-organize
Ramses II circa 1279–1213 BCE Limestone and pigment 38.1 × 7.6 × 4 3.2 cm, 22 kg Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 11.670
the Japan Gallery and the Global Ceramic Gallery. When completed, the space will offer a unique opportunity for visitors to experience global culture in a systematic and approachable gallery setting.
A visitor looking at the Egyptian cultural artifacts exhibited on permanent display
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Treasures from the SOHN Collection of Calligraphy and Painting III November 12, 2019 – March 15, 2020 Under the theme of “Sharing anbok 眼福 ,” the NMK’s third exhibition of calligraphy and painting masterpieces is under way at the Sohn Seki and Sohn Changkun Gallery on the second floor of the Permanent Exhibition Hall. The term anbok refers to the pleasure gained from looking at beautiful works of painting and calligraphy. One of the most notable works is Old Pine Tree, painted by Heo Ryeon 1808–1893 in his later years, which depicts a lone pine spread across a ten-panel folding screen. The magnificent scale and grandeur of this work and the vigorous expression of the bark at the bottom of the tree trunk and the gnarled and twisted branches show the painter’s inimitable style. The pine tree standing alone in the snow-covered mountains exudes the dignity of a gracefully aging pine tree as well as the free, masterful force of the artist’s brushwork. This and other works on show reflect the diversity of the art world and new aesthetics of the nineteenth century as well as the individuality of the painters and calligraphers and their mutual influences.
