The British Museum in London has launched its new exhibition, "Korea," which aims to survey "2,000 years of creativity" from the Korean peninsula. The exhibition follows the recent success of the museum's Bayeux Tapestry display.
Early exhibits include an eighth-century bronze bell from a Buddhist monastery and intricate stoneware objects from as early as the fifth century. The exhibition also showcases courtly ceramics from the Goryeo kingdom (918-1392) and an 18th-century white moon jar from the Joseon dynasty (1392-1897).
The exhibition transitions into 20th-century Korean art, featuring modern pastiches and European and American-style modernism. This later section largely comprises the collection of Lee Kun-hee, the late chair of Samsung, who died in 2020. Several works from this collection are now owned by South Korea's leading museums and are considered national treasures.
The 20th century in Korea included Japanese colonisation from 1910 to 1945 and the Korean War, which reportedly killed three million people. The exhibition includes works such as a pastel by Lee Jung-seop depicting a fisher's unfulfilled dream of returning home and another roughly drawn work by him showing naked bodies, hinting at the era's horrors.
The exhibition concludes with Do Ho Suh’s 2019 self-portrait, owned by the British Museum, which depicts the artist as a small figure beneath a cascade of multicoloured threads from a traditional Korean house image.