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Text Review 2018-04-30

The Diamond Mountains as Backdrop to the Historic Korean Summit — Curator's Essay by Soyoung Lee (The Met Perspectives) (2018)

Related work (3)
[Related work] Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam
Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam
2001
[Related work] Light of Mt. Geumgang Cheonhwadae
Light of Mt. Geumgang Cheonhwadae
2014
[Related work] Manmulsang in the Rain, Mt. Geumgang
Manmulsang in the Rain, Mt. Geumgang
2014
Exhibition
[Exhibition poster] 〈Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art〉 The Metropolitan Museum of Art Special Exhibition poster
〈Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art〉 The Metropolitan Museum of Art Special Exhibition
Dates
2018-02-07 — 2018-05-20
Venue
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Korean Gallery, New York(168 m²)

Summary

On the occasion of the April 27, 2018 inter-Korean summit—where Shin Jang-sik's Mt. Geumgang from appeared as the backdrop—Soyoung Lee, curator of Korean art at The Met, introduces the museum's exhibition : Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art (Feb 7 – May 20, 2018) and Shin's practice. The essay analyzes two works featured in the show—The Light at Peaks (2014, from the series Twelve Scenes of Mount Geumgang) and Raining on Rocks (2014)—contrasting the brilliant acrylic luminosity with the muted ink-painting effect, and traces the (jingyeong sansuhwa) tradition back to the 18th-century master Jeong Seon, who anchors the exhibition. Published on The Met Perspectives, April 30, 2018.

Info
Source
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Author
Soyoung Lee (Curator of Korean Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Body

Soyoung Lee (Curator of Korean Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art) · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · 2018-04-30

At the historic summit held in the of the Korean Demilitarized Zone on Friday, April 27, the leaders of North and South Korea appeared before a monumental, panoramic painting of the iconic (Mount Geumgang). These mountains, located in present-day North Korea and inaccessible for much of the post-war period, are the subject of the landmark exhibition Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art, on view at The Met Fifth Avenue through May 20, 2018.

The artist whose painting appeared at the summit, Shin Jang-sik, is among the painters featured in the show. Shin has almost exclusively devoted his energy to the subject of the since the early 1990s, before he ever visited them. When the Diamond Mountains reopened to tourism in 1998, he was on the first ship sailing for Geumgang. Since then, he has journeyed multiple times, through different routes and locations and at all times of the year.

In 2014 he painted a series of twelve scenes depicting various sites within the mountains in the four seasons. The Light at captures the brilliant sunlight reflected off the snowcapped peaks. Shin, who trained in Western techniques, typically uses acrylic on canvas (or on Korean mulberry paper over canvas), capturing the effervescence and luminosity of the landscape in bright colors.

Another work in the Twelve Scenes of series, Raining on Rocks, finds the artist deliberately recreating the effect of traditional ink painting in acrylic. The muted and haunting impact offers an unexpected counterpoint to the vividness of the rest of the paintings in this series.

The tradition of creating visual imagery of the based on actual travel can be traced back to the eighteenth century, with the master painter Jeong Seon, whose important paintings have inspired generations of artists since and anchor The Met's exhibition.

I invite you to The Met's Arts of Korea Gallery to experience the breathtaking landscapes of these mountains, here in New York.

#Criticism #Curator #The Metropolitan Museum #Mt. Geumgang #Cheonhwadae #Manmulsang #12 Scenes #Peace House #Inter-Korean Summit #Sangpaldam #Gyeomjae Jeong Seon #Lee So-young #Soyoung Lee #Museum Official

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