Park Han-sol reports on Korea's financial regulators, along with fintech and insurance. She previously wrote about the art world, from biennales and exhibitions to fairs and auctions, with a focus on Seoul and the figures shaping the scene. Before joining The Korea Times, she spent a year at ABC News' Seoul bureau, contributing to coverage of major Asia-Pacific events.
Kim Whanki's 1971 painting fetches W7.8 bil. at HK auction
Kim Whanki's "9-XII-71 #216" (1971) / Courtesy of Christie's
By Park Han-sol
A 1971 all-over dot painting by Korea’s modern abstract master Kim Whanki (1913-74) fetched 7.8 billion won ($5.9 million) at a Hong Kong auction, making it the third-most expensive Korean artwork ever sold.
Titled “9-XII-71 #216,” the piece went under the hammer during Christie’s 20th and 21st Century Art evening sale at its new Asia Pacific headquarters, The Henderson, in Hong Kong, Thursday.
This 2.51-meter-long canvas has been in a private collection since 2006, marking its first appearance at auction. With fewer than 20 of Kim’s blue-shaded dot paintings from the early 1970s ever having been on the block, this makes for a rare occasion.
The piece achieved the third-highest price for modern Korean art, following Kim’s 1971 diptych “05-IV-71 #200 (Universe),” which sold for 13.2 billion won at Christie’s Hong Kong in 2019, and his 1972 red-toned “3-II-72 #220,” which fetched 8.53 billion won at Seoul Auction’s Hong Kong sale in 2018.
In fact, all of the top 10 most expensive Korean artworks ever auctioned are by the renowned abstractionist.
Filled with a constellation of cell-like dots arranged in a semi-circular spiral pattern, “9-XII-71 #216” represents “the pivotal point for both spiritual and technical maturity of Kim’s all-over dot aesthetics in his iconic blue palette,” according to Christie’s.
“(It) affirms the artist’s virtuoso control of the variation in tonality and washes in generating an arresting sense of infinite space and depth through the elemental form.”