Inked in history: MMCA, China's national museum collaborate on sumuk art exhibition
Published: 09 Dec. 2024, 13:36
Updated: 09 Dec. 2024, 17:31
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- SHIN MIN-HEE
- [email protected]
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![″Early Winter″ (1926) by Lee Sang-beom [MMCA]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/12/09/6c0d7dff-c64f-4d79-b2fb-95cc7d42810b.jpg)
″Early Winter″ (1926) by Lee Sang-beom [MMCA]
Among everything Korea and its neighbor China have in common, which is quite a lot given the countries' deeply intertwined history, ink art is one of them. For over three decades since forming diplomatic relations, the two nations have co-organized multiple exhibitions on the likes of ceramics, Buddhist paintings and contemporary art.
But it’s only now that the world is seeing their sumuk (ink) paintings, a genre that goes back many centuries, arranged together in one setting, at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s (MMCA) Deoksu Palace branch in central Seoul.
![″A Village in Jiangnan″ (2008) by Fang Jun [NAMOC]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/12/09/0be8805f-6307-40c8-8aad-61741325f67f.jpg)
″A Village in Jiangnan″ (2008) by Fang Jun [NAMOC]
The exhibition was initially planned to take place in 2022 but had to be postponed due to the pandemic.
On view are some 150 modern and contemporary ink and color paintings from the collections of MMCA and the National Art Museum of China (Namoc), the largest art museums in each nation. The exhibition will travel to China next year.
Divided into four sections, two each on Korea and China, the exhibition presents an overview of how the sumuk painting genre developed throughout history.
The 75 paintings from Namoc’s collection include 32 state-classified relics by the Chinese National Cultural Heritage Administration, unprecedentedly now being shown in Korea. These nationally valuable works are comprised of five designated first-grade works, 21 that are second grade and six that are third grade.
![″Ogin-dong″ (1978) by Kim Ah-young [MMCA]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/12/09/35c48dce-35f6-45d2-8d0b-e27076f4a355.jpg)
″Ogin-dong″ (1978) by Kim Ah-young [MMCA]
The Korean sumuk art sections explore paintings from the early 20th century to present day. The early 1900s in Korea saw a shift in painting styles, from seohwa (calligraphy and painting) to dongyanghwa (East Asian painting). This was when paintings made from brushstrokes of ink on paper became mainstream, and calligraphy, which used to be combined with painting, became a separate genre.
As artists incorporated modern art movements like Cubism and Art Informel with Korean themes, the unique hangukhwa (Korean painting) was then established in the 1980s, blurring the distinctions between materials, genres and forms. Artists like Lee Ung-no, Yoo Geun-taek and Lee Jin-ju are notable artists that opened new chapters in the ink and color painting scene.
![″Mandarin Ducks by Red Lotus″ (1955) by Qi Baishi [NAMOC]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/12/09/9cd29023-4e2c-465f-b56f-065783e67bbd.jpg)
″Mandarin Ducks by Red Lotus″ (1955) by Qi Baishi [NAMOC]
The primary mediums used in the paintings of both Korea and China may be ink and paper, but the details show the differences in each nations’ preferences. For example, Chinese ink paintings tended to actively use red hues, like in “Mandarin Ducks by Red Lotus” (1995) by Qi Baishi. Featuring a brightly red lotus flower standing out among dark-colored leaves, the emphasis on that particular shade, rarely found in Korean ink paintings from the similar period, symbolizes the nation’s socialist ideologies, curator Bae Won-jung said.
Even the two nations’ definitions of sumuk paintings were different. In Korea, watercolors were not considered to be part of the ink painting category because of their roots in Europe. China, on the other hand, thought the opposite, viewing watercolors as still being colored fluids brushed onto paper.
The exhibition, titled “The Modern and the Contemporary Ink Art of the Republic of Korea and the People’s Republic of China,” continues until Feb. 16 next year. MMCA is open every day except Mondays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with hours extending until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Tickets are 4,000 won ($2.80), requiring a separate admission to Deoksu Palace.
BY SHIN MIN-HEE [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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