Above image: Courtier’s Official Robes, late 19th century (Photo by Jung- youp Han, Han Studio)
by TONY KIM
At the exhibition’s entrance, an enormous video projection of brightly shaded animated figures marching in King Yeongjo’s majestic royal procession fills the blue wall, as traditional Korean stringed and horned instruments herald the event. The splendor only continues, with intricately patterned hanboks and painted screens imbued with beautiful nature scenes greeting viewers in each exhibition room.
In aesthetic contrast to these magnificent masterpieces, commonplace artifacts like eyeglass cases and buttons add to the comprehensive look into the history, philosophy and culture of the Joseon Dynasty, Korea’s longest ruling unitary dynasty. The diverse objects of history are all part of Treasures from Korea, an exhibition on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art until Sept. 28. The collection of objects, many of which are designated national treasures in Korea and are being shown in the U.S. for the first time, is on the second leg of a three-part U.S. tour.
Virginia Moon, LACMA’s assistant curator who oversees the exhibition, says that the show is the result of a cultural exchange between Korean and American art museums. Last year, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, LACMA, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Terra Foundation of American Art sent American art to Korea.
Moon believes that the importance of this exhibition cannot be overstated: “I think it’s really meaningful to have such a broad, comprehensive survey of the Joseon Dynasty because, really, the social and cultural values found in Joseon Dynasty can also be found in modern Korea today,” she said.
Indeed, the line of 27 monarchs who ruled the peninsula for more than 500 years, between 1392 and 1910, left a hefty legacy, in the way of ceramics, metalwork, lacquer, textiles and illustrated books, for modern Korea.
Kim Youngna, the director of the National Museum of Korea, said she feels deeply proud to be able to bring “this astonishing culture of Joseon across a whole new, broad ocean” to share with not only the largest Korean population outside of Korea, but with all Americans.
Treasures From Korea is organized around five key themes: court life, society, ancestral rituals and Confucianism, Joseon Buddhism, and Joseon in modern times. In the first room, titled “The King and His Court,” Kim began explaining the adaptability of the austere oval-shaped moon jar to fit the aesthetics of any room to Michael Govan, the director of LACMA. Laughter erupted as he suggested he put one in his living room.
This room also holds one of Moon’s favorite objects: a bottle with a rope design. “It’s been one of my favorites, since the design is actually a visual pun because this rice bottle, which carried wine, would’ve been carried by using a rope,” she explained. “The halting brush strokes on the design mimic the actual texture of the rope, so I think it’s a remarkable design of a three-dimensional object on a two-dimensional plane.”
In the next room, a museum visitor motions with her hands as if to tie up her hair with the dragon hairpins on display, trying to show her friend how they were used to stop their hair from bouncing. “That’s so cool,” the friend whispered, as she pressed up against the glass case to inspect the hairpin with a bamboo design. A beautifully adorned ceremonial coronet and pendants with a wide spectrum of colors were also behind the case to give a sense of what normal citizens wore during that period.
In the same section, two middle-aged women exclaimed in astonishment and awe as they pored over the painfully meticulous calligraphy. They seemed to study the marks of each brush in a fruitless effort to catch an error or two on the achromatic scroll. “Not even a single mistake!” one of them finally declared.
Most of the viewers stopped for several minutes in front of the fear-inspiring Three of the Kings of Hell. Korean Buddhists’ beliefs state that, after death, “10 Kings of Hell” judge and punish sinners in the “Court of the Next World.” Three of these kings, on three different painted panels, wear ex- pressionless smiles as demonic-looking servants perform various forms of torture on the sinners. It could take viewers hours to examine all the painting’s details, from an attendant burning two handcuffed sinners to the bloody spearing of a visibly upset sinner tied to a wooden plank.
In the final room, a woman edged uncomfortably closer to me as I viewed the red, white and silver, egg-shaped light bulbs. Minutes passed, as she stood just an elbow’s length away, absolutely mesmerized by the simple yet oddly shaped items.
“Isn’t it just so beautiful?” she asked breathlessly in Korean, not taking her eyes off the objects. “They just don’t make them like this anymore.”
Treasures From Korea will conclude its U.S. tour in Houston, with an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, running from Nov. 2, 2014 to Jan. 11, 2015.
Below is Treasures from Korea‘s LACMA program schedule for the remainder of the month:
Korean Scholars Day
September 17 | 10a.m.-5.pm.
Scholar’s Day is a one-day symposium held in conjunction with the current exhibition Treasures from Korea: Arts and Culture of the Joseon Dynasty, 1392–1910. The symposium focuses on the functions of visual art in the Joseon period and examines specific achievements within a broader social, religious, and historical context. Featured scholars include Insoo Cho (Korea National University of Arts), Kyung Moon Hwang (University of Southern California), Burglind Jungmann (University of California, Los Angeles), and Sunglim Kim (Dartmouth College).
Note: Attendees of the Korean Scholars Day will receive free admission to Treasures from Korea from 12-5 p.m.; the rest of the museum will be closed.
Korea Day
September 27 | 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Celebrate the exhibition with a day of Korean art, music, and tea. A schedule for the day is below:
Lecture: Symbolism and Functions of Korean Palace Screen Paintings
11 a.m. | Brown Auditorium | Free and open to the public.
Concert: An Afternoon with the Ahn Sook Sun Ensemble
1 p.m. | Bing Theater | Free, tickets required
Korean Tea Ceremony
3 p.m. | Los Angeles Times Central Court | Free and open to the public
Community Bojagi
10 a.m.-5 p.m. | Los Angeles Time Central Court | Free and open to the public
This article was published in the August/September 2014 issue of KoreAm. Subscribe today! To purchase a single issue copy of the August/Sept. issue, click the “Buy Now” button below. (U.S. customers only. Expect delivery in 5-7 business days).
