Where did all the Korean art go?
If you’ve been on the museum’s second floor lately to enjoy our new installation of contemporary Korean art, you may have noticed a corresponding sudden lack of traditional Korean art in the adjacent galleries. Where did it all go?
In preparation for the exhibition Poetry in Clay: Korean Buncheong Ceramics from Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, museum staff have removed all of the permanent collection artwork from the Korean galleries and tucked them away in storage.
With the empty gallery as their canvas, curators from both museums took the time to lay out Poetry in Clay, finalizing the placement and orientation of each object. This is important because the earthquake mounts that stabilize each artwork are specific to both the artwork and its display position.
Once the layout was finalized, museum mountmakers jumped into action. Because we are located in an active seismic zone, the museum must make sure that every artwork is able to withstand some serious shaking. For many three-dimensional works, this means creating a seismic mount that secures the object to its display case.
Each mount is hand formed to fit the exact contours of the artwork, and crafted from conservation safe materials. It may take a skilled mountmaker an entire day to make a single mount. Once all the mounts are completed, we’ll be back upstairs installing these very special works.
Poetry in Clay opens to the public on September 16, 2011 and will remain on view until January 8, 2012.
8 Responses to “Where did all the Korean art go?”
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Michael Strickland on August 30th, 2011 at 7:49 pm
Thanks for the update. I took some photos myself last Sunday of the empty yet annotated display windows for my Civic Center blog and was going to accuse you of getting all meta and postmodern with your Korean wing.
cristina on August 31st, 2011 at 9:35 am
Someone suggested to me that the empty gallery could be part of the “unfinished” soap vessel and crate installation on the loggia. Empty crates, empty gallery, why not?
Even if you were disappointed to miss out on our Korean collection, I hope that you enjoyed a glimpse of our process — it does in fact involve lots of scribbles and blue tape!
Michael Strickland on August 31st, 2011 at 7:36 pm
Dear cristina: No disappointment involved since I’m not a big fan of the ancient, nearly colorless Korean pottery that usually resides there. And what “soap vessel and crate installation on the loggia” are you talking about? I’ll have to go back and see.
idit on September 1st, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Hey, those ewers and bowls ain’t so ancient!
Some folks even get confused, thinking they’re actually contemporary works, and are quite surprised to find out they’re about a thousand years old. Celadon ceramics are timeless; if you stand in front of them long enough, I swear they can see into your soul… I like to call this their “aggressive serenity”.
DO check out the contemporary installation on the loggia, though – even if the traditional ceramics aren’t arresting your attention, the soap will certainly charm you.
Nancy on September 2nd, 2011 at 5:43 pm
I love Korean ceramics, of whatever era – the simplicity and rougher surfaces, the more “honest” but certainly not simplistic glazes and shapes. For me, the best Korean ceramics are timeless. That’s one that I think was supposed to hold wine (?), a large, slightly irregular jar with an off white glaze with touches of iridescent green when the light hits it just right.
Michael Strickland on September 4th, 2011 at 5:47 pm
@idit: A thousand years old is ancient in my lexicon. The contemporary ceramics on the other side of the Korean wing that are currently installed are extraordinary, but the older minimalist celadon ceramics are rather like a Robert Ryman painting. You either get it or you don’t, and I’m afraid I am one of the uninitiated.
Cheddar on September 13th, 2011 at 11:57 pm
Whether the ceremics pottery is ancient or not, I still believe that it was a good idea of making sure by those in charge at the museum that in case of an earthquake nothing from that gallery wing gets destroyed. It is best to say that for the moment to enjoy what is there to view regardless if it is ancient or contemporary.
Dale Keller on February 14th, 2012 at 11:31 am
PLease keep up the good work you are doing.
Truly appreciated for someone like me who is now home bound.
Dale Keller