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| Kim Whan-ki's 'March of April' (1961) / Courtesy of Seoul Auction |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
As COVID-19 is shaking up the world's art market, many art fairs and exhibitions are being canceled or rescheduled. Despite the low number of people going to museums and art fairs, Korean auction houses decided to continue their spring auctions, with some online extras.
Seoul Auction will put up 127 art pieces, collectively worth around 10 billion won, for their 155th auction at the Seoul Auction Gangnam Center on March 24, which was postponed from the original date of March 11.
The auction house is taking extra care to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by offering an e-book version of the auction catalogue and a virtual reality preview exhibition for those who want to take a closer look at auction lots but cannot attend the preview event.
The highlight of this auction will be a special section featuring paintings of people by Korean master painters.
"March of April" (1961) by Kim Whan-ki, the most expensive Korean artist, is not one of the artist's signature abstract dot paintings, but a more figurative one. Inspired by the April 19 Revolution, which happened the year before the painting was created, Kim used blue paint to depict a group of demonstrators marching together.
A similar version of the painting was created by the artist as an illustration for magazine Sasanggye right after the April 19 Revolution in 1960, a year before the oil painting was created.
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| Lee Ung-no's 'People' (1987) / Courtesy of Seoul Auction |
Lee Ung-no's "People" (1987) was created two years before the artist passed away. The piece is a "hanji" (Korean paper) collage featuring a group of anonymous human figures, Lee's unique style developed from calligraphy.
Suh Se-ok's "People" (1929), Oh Yoon's "No Sowing in the Spring, No Harvesting in the Fall" (1985) and Yoon Jung-sik's "Acrobat" are also featured in the section.
Other notable works to be auctioned are a series of waterdrop paintings by Kim Tschang-yeul, including an early abstract painting "Composition" (1967), which hints how the artist developed his iconic "Waterdrops" series.
Among the featured international artists, Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama's "Pumpkin" and "Infinity-Nets (OWTTY)" will be put up for sale.
A 14th century "Amitabha Platform Painting" from Goryeo Kingdom (918-1392) has the highest estimate among the antiques, ranging around 400 to 600 million won.
While pushing ahead with their spring event, the auction house will take extra measures to avoid gatherings of many people to avoid the spread of the novel coronavirus.
"We will limit the number of visitors to the preview exhibition and the auction to ensure social distancing. We will also suggest written and phone bidding for those who want to make a bid," a Seoul Auction official said.
However, the Seoul-based auction house's Hong Kong sales have been suspended indefinitely due to international travel restrictions.
