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Curating Korean Treasures: An Online Conversation with Curators Yeonsoo Chee and Sunwoo Hwang
Tuesday, April 14, 3:30 - 4:50 PM
Webinar registration required:
https://uci.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_knQhpLGeRSWNiwq3Id6d8Q#/registration
The National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, DC, and the Art Institute of Chicago have joined forces to present highlights from the Lee Kun-hee Collection, donated to the Korean nation by the late chairman of the Samsung Group. According to ARTnews, the National Museum’s Korean Treasures: Collected, Cherished, Shared, “Rather than romanticizing connoisseurship, the show recast[ed] collecting as a formative cultural force, shaping taste, legacy, and the very terms of Korean nationhood.” Following its successful debut in Washington, DC, the collection has now traveled in Chicago. Korean National Treasures: 2000 Years of Art, which opened on March 7, will run through July 5, 2026. Yu Hong-jun, an esteemed art historian and director of the National Museum of Korea, remarked: “I hope that in Chicago, where Joseon first introduced its culture to the international community, we can now properly present present Korea’s traditional culture as the origin of K-culture and reaffirm the country’s new national stature and standing.” In this online conversation, curators Yeonsoo Chee and Sunwoo Hwang introduce their respective exhibitions, featuring a dazzling constellation of works spanning sixth-century gilt-bronze Buddhist sculptures, Joseon dynasty painting and white porcelain, and contemporary art and reflect on the curatorial process behind the exhibitions.