MMCA publishes 'Korean Art 1900-2020' as overview of country's art history

Pages 38 and 39 of the new publication of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, “Korean Art 1900-2020” / Courtesy of MMCA

By Park Han-sol

The cover of “Korean Art 1900-2020” / Courtesy of MMCA

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) has released a new publication called “Korean Art 1900-2020” that sheds light on the country's modern and present-day art scene spanning 120 years.

As part of an ongoing research project into Korea's art history, the museum previously published “MMCA Collection 300,” a visual anthology of 300 selected works from its holdings, in Korean in 2019 and in English earlier this year.

To present diverse perspectives and interpretations of the country's century-old art history, “Korean Art 1900-2020” invited contributions from 34 experts, including the museum's curators and researchers, and featured around 400 archived images of artworks in their original colors.

The first section of the book focuses on the early 20th century marked by Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910, up to national liberation in 1945 ― a period marked by clashes between tradition and modernization which left an impact on Korean art circles as well as general visual culture.

The subsequent sections concentrate on the representative art movements and features of each era. These include the transformation of North Korean art during 1945-67, Dansaekhwa (“monochrome painting”) and other experimental movements of the 1970s, Minjung Art (“People's Art”) provoked by a series of socio-political, pro-democracy protests in the 1980s, feminist art movement and video and media art after the 1990s.

The book's English-language edition is scheduled for publication in the first half of next year. It will be distributed across major international art institutions and libraries, and will be available for purchase from the museum's online store.