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| Installation view of 'Artists in Their Times: Korean Moden and Contemporary Art' at Museum of Modern and Contermporary Art, Gwacheon / Courtesy of MMCA |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) has opened a comprehensive exhibition on Korea's modern art history.
Titled "Artists in Their Times: Korean Modern and Contemporary Art," the exhibition is an accompaniment to the museum's publication "MMCA Collection 300" released last year, and an upcoming book "Introduction to Korean Art," giving expositions on the 120 year history of modern art in Korea.
"MMCA has been collecting and preserving important artwork and archival materials exemplifying Korea's art history. This exhibition will provide an opportunity to take a step closer to Korea's modern and contemporary art and understand Korean art in relation to the times," MMCA director Youn Bum-mo said in a statement.
The exhibit presents some of the key works in the country's art history through historic and social contexts in the collection of nation's flagship art museum. Some 300 works from its collection and 200 pieces from its Art Research Center ― paintings, sculptures, architecture, craft, multimedia and more ― are on view in this exhibition.
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| Lee In-sung's 'Calla' (1932) / Courtesy of MMCA |
Korea's modern art was initiated in the early 20th century as a Western art style such as painting in oils that was introduced at the time. The turbulent history of Japanese colonial rule and the 1950-53 Korean War had a great impact on artists.
As abstract art emerged, artists experimented in various ways to express their individuality, and "Dansaekhwa" (Korean monochrome painting) was practiced by artists who blended spirituality and meditativeness into abstract art, beginning from the 1970s.
Along with the development of abstract art, Korean artists also practiced hyperrealism painting in the late '70s and Minjung Art in the '80s. Minjung Art, or the People's Art in English, was a type of socio-political art movement in Korea, provoked by the social situation such as the Gwangju Democratic Movement in 1980. In opposition to Dansaekhwa, which focused on the internal struggles and meditative aspects of the artist, Minjung Art reflected reality.
After the 1990s, the ideology of the Cold War faded away as the Soviet Union was demolished and Germany united. Instead, issues such as digital culture, the environment and gender emerged as topics of art.
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| Paik Nam-june's 'Rainbow Stripes I' (1996) / Courtesy of MMCA |
Korea constructed a national pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1995 and renowned Korean-born artists such as Paik Nam-june led the country into globalization in the field of art.
The exhibition also sheds light on contemporary artists who explore more individuality in diverse forms in multidisciplinary art.
The exhibit begins from the third floor, where artwork from the 1900s to 1970s is on view, followed by the fourth floor galleries where more contemporary works up to the 2000s are displayed, making the visitors travel through the time to understand how the social situation influenced art and the change of mediums.
Some of the works are on public view for the first time, including Lee Yong-woo's 1947 landscape painting "Endless Mountains and Rivers," acquired by the museum earlier this year.
The exhibition is a long-term project, scheduled to run until July 2022.
Currently the museum is operated on a reservation basis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, visit www.mmca.go.kr.
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| Installation view of 'Artists in Their Times: Korean Moden and Contemporary Art' at Museum of Modern and Contermporary Art, Gwacheon / Courtesy of MMCA |
