Special exhibition 'After Every Winter Comes Spring' opens at National Museum of Korea

14년만에 공개된 세한도와 미디어아트로 구현된 평안감사향연도

Everyone goes through hard times.
Celebrated Joseon era scholar Kim Jeonghui... was no exception.
The National Museum of Korea is displaying his 'Handscroll of Wintry Days'.
Kim Bo-kyoung provides a sneak peek.
The 'Handscroll of Wintry Days',... national treasure number 1-hundred-80.
The scroll is 14-meters long and made up of four parts, the second of which is 'Wintry Days'.
Kim Jeonghui drew this in order to express his gratitude to his student Yi Sangjeok for sending him books and letters while he was in exile on Jeju island.
As he endured a cold, harsh winter, he got to appreciate the firm and upright spirit of pine and cypress trees -- to which he likened to his student's steadfast loyalty, using simple brushstrokes of sparse ink on rough paper.
The artwork was donated by art collector Sohn Chang-kun, and is the centerpiece of a new exhibition at the National Museum of Korea.
The exhibition's curator says the handscroll also shows how scholars appreciated art at the time.
"Lots of visitors are surprised when they see long statements written next to the painting. Yi Sangjeok, who received the painting, showed it to 16 Qing Dynasty scholars who admired Kim's work and wrote the statements. Korean scholars too have written how they are overwhelmed by it, thus the scroll became more than 14 meters long."
After wintry days are over, spring always comes.
To show that, the museum came up with a media art exhibition presenting the 'Welcoming Banquets for the Governor of Pyeong-an'.
Media art technology is used so people can enjoy the details of three paintings showing a journey by the governor of Pyeongan-do Province, including jubilant banquets held at Yeongwangjeong and Bubyeongnu Pavilion and the Daedonggang riverside.
"A total of 2590 people appear in the paintings and normally it's hard to see the details of all those people. Through the different casts, drawings can be appreciated differently,... so we prepared a very big screen and nine monitors to show them in large scale."
The paintings are attributed to Kim Hong-do -- an exceptional Joseon Dynasty artist.
Visitors can enjoy the exhibition until the end of January.
Kim Bo-kyoung, Arirang News.

#Exhibition #National_Museum #culture

2020-11-27, 22:00 (KST)