Samsung Cultural Foundation to Unveil Leeum Archive on the 21st
The Leeum Museum of Art, operated by the Samsung Foundation of Culture (Chairman Kim Hwang-sik), unveiled the 'Leeum Archive' system on the 21st, which houses and organizes previously unreleased materials related to modern and contemporary Korean art.
Materials donated by Mr. Lee Gu-yeol, available at the 'Leeum Archive.' The original first issue of Korea's first art magazine, 'Misul,' is also included. [Photo by Samsung Foundation of Culture]
The 'Leeum Archive' consists of 'art records'?approximately 85,000 items collected from the 'Korean Art Archive,' the nation's first art-specialized archive established by the foundation in 1999, as well as donations from artists, acquaintances, and their families?and 'museum records,' which are exhibition archives from art spaces operated by the foundation, including Leeum Museum of Art, Hoam Art Museum, Hoam Gallery, Rodin Gallery, and Platoon.
First, the 'art records' include over 40,000 items related to modern and contemporary Korean art donated by the late Lee Gu-yeol, a first-generation art journalist and critic, in December 1998, as well as about 45,000 donated materials from modern and contemporary artists such as Choi Wook-kyung, Kwon Young-woo, Jang Woo-sung, Lee Se-deuk, and Do Sang-bong. These form the collection and research materials of the 'Korean Art Archive,' the country's first art-specialized archive established by the foundation in 1999.
The 'Lee Gu-yeol donation materials' include many valuable historical documents, such as the original first issue of 'Misul' (Art), Korea's first art magazine launched in September 1947 after liberation. The magazine 'Misul' holds special significance as it was never published again after the inaugural issue.
Notably, the archive contains historically valuable and fascinating materials that shed light on the lives and artistic worlds of artists, including handwritten letters exchanged between Kim Whanki and Park Seok-ho, the exhibition catalog for the special retrospective of Kim Whanki at the 1975 S?o Paulo Biennale shortly after his passing, and related documents from Bando Gallery and the Asia Foundation, which connected Park Soo-keun with foreign patrons.
Old exhibition posters of Leeum and Hoam Art Museums. [Photo courtesy of Samsung Foundation of Culture]
The 'modern and contemporary artist donation materials' house records donated by various domestic artists and their families and acquaintances, ranging from Na Hye-sok and Do Sang-bong to Kim Ki-chang, Lee Yu-tae, Lee Sung-ja, Choi Wook-kyung, Park Seo-bo, and Nam June Paik.
These include personal documents such as newspaper articles and photographs related to the artists, school records from their study abroad periods, resumes, notebooks, letters, and exhibition catalogs, providing detailed documentation about the individual artists.
The 'Korean Art Archive's collection and research materials' also include oral history recordings from the 'Oral History Senior Artist Project,' which interviewed over 100 key modern and contemporary artists between 1998 and 2007.
The 'museum records' allow access to records related to exhibitions, programs, event posters, and photographs associated with the museums, from the 1982 opening exhibition 'Henry Moore' at the Hoam Art Museum to current exhibitions at the Leeum Museum of Art.
Record of the interview site for the 'Oral History Senior Writer Project'. [Photo by Samsung Cultural Foundation]
In addition to Leeum and Hoam, the archive also includes exhibition and photographic materials from major art spaces previously operated by the foundation, such as Hoam Gallery, Rodin Gallery, and Platoon, offering insights into the foundation's history and development.
Goo Jeong-yeon, head of the Education and Research Department at Leeum Museum of Art, said, "We hope that the public release of the Leeum Archive materials will greatly assist domestic and international researchers conducting studies on modern and contemporary Korean art," adding, "Next year, we plan to hold art archive research forums and academic research support projects that utilize these materials in various ways."
The lists of 'art records' and 'museum records' can be viewed in the archive section on the Leeum website. Through reservation applications on the website, visitors can also access the actual materials at Leeum Museum of Art every Friday.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
