Park’s Painting Breaks Local Price Record
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
The masterpiece ``A Wash Place’’ by the late painter Park Soo-keun (1914-1965) was sold at auction Tuesday for 4.52 billion won, an all-time high among Korean artworks.
The record-high bid broke the previous record set by another of Park’s paintings, ``Women at the Market’’ which was sold for 2.5 billion won at the Korea Premier Auction, or K Auction, in March.
The auction was the 106th organized by Seoul Auction Space in Pyeongchang-dong.
Bidding for ``A Wash Place,'' which was reportedly painted in the late 1950s, began at 3.3 billion won, but surpassed the estimated price of between 3.5 billion to 4.5 billion won.
The painting is 37 cm in height and 72 cm in width, and is regarded as one of Park’s biggest paintings. It features six women washing alongside the banks of a stream.
``Flower and Jar,'' a 1957 work by famed painter Kim Whan-ki (1913-1974) was also sold at the auction fetching a price 3.05 billion won.
``Sun, Moon and Five Peaks,'' a historical painted folding screen that used to stand behind the king’s throne during the Joseon Kingdom period as a symbol of royal authority, was sold for 1.28 billion won.