A dive into 55 years of Korean modern art at Gallery Hyundai

Installation view of Gallery Hyundai's exhibition "55 Years: A Legacy of Modern & Contemporary Korean Art," which features a video sculpture by Nam June Paik on the left / Courtesy of Gallery Hyundai

On April 4, 1970, in the heart of Seoul’s Insa-dong, a neighborhood of winding alleys then lined with antique shops, a new kind of space quietly opened its doors — an art gallery under the name Hyundai Hwarang.

In a country still finding its footing after the 1950-53 Korean War, the idea of selling and buying contemporary paintings felt unfamiliar, even indulgent, to many people. A commercial gallery was a rarity that turned more than a few heads. At its helm stood an unexpected figure: a 27-year-old woman named Park Myung-ja.

Park first stepped into the art world fresh out of high school through a job at Bando Art Gallery, a now-vanished space that opened in 1956 in the lobby of the Bando Hotel, catering to diplomats and foreign travelers. After more than seven years there she felt an idea start to take root, with the desire to create a space more focused and more her own.

Her gallery turned toward the homegrown and the overlooked — Korean artists charting new paths with brush and canvas, many of them oil painters working far away from mainstream recognition.

Fifty-five years on, much has changed. Hyundai Hwarang became Gallery Hyundai and moved to its current home in Samcheong-dong. More importantly, the artists it championed have come to define the very landscape of modern Korean art — Kim Whanki, Park Soo-keun, Lee Jung-seop, Chang Ucchin, Chun Kyung-ja, Lee Seung-taek, Lee Kun-yong, Sung Neung-kyung and more.

Installation view of Gallery Hyundai's exhibition "55 Years: A Legacy of Modern & Contemporary Korean Art" / Courtesy of Gallery Hyundai

Now the oldest art dealer in the country, Gallery Hyundai is marking its half-century legacy this spring with a two-part exhibition, titled “55 Years: A Legacy of Modern & Contemporary Korean Art.”

In the show’s first installment, currently on view, there are 230 works from the hands of 36 masters who all have worked with the gallery through the years. The result is a rare and sweeping constellation of creative icons assembled under one roof.

The exhibition spans the gallery’s two buildings, old and new, each echoing a different era — one dedicated to its earliest decades, the other to its more recent chapters.

Park Soo-keun's "On the Street" / Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Hyundai

On the walls of the old building hang works by first-generation modernists and abstractionists with a distinctly Korean sensibility, who forged close bonds with the gallerist.

Among them is Park Soo-keun, best known for capturing the humble resilience of Korean people in a war-torn land, his signature rugged textures echoing the grit of daily life.

The two Parks first crossed paths at Bando Art Gallery in the 1960s, where his pieces were often shown and sold to foreign dignitaries. The artist would tell the young Park that one day, when she got married, he would give her one of his paintings as a wedding present.

That promise went unfulfilled due to his unexpected passing at age 51. But his widow Kim Bok-sun remembered his words. In his stead, she gave her a painting of two dried yellow corvina (“gulbi” in Korean), a delicacy once reserved for only the most special of occasions. It was a symbolic blessing: May you eat well, live well and be well together.

Years later, when the Park Soo Keun Museum opened in Gangwon Province in 2002, the gallerist donated that very work, returning the gift to a broader audience.

Lee Jung-seop's "Family with Chickens" (1954-55) / Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Hyundai

Another artist that caught Park’s eye was Lee Jung-seop — a name still unfamiliar to the public at the time, in part due to his untimely death at 40.

In 1972, Park scoured the country, tracking down and selecting 100 of Lee’s pieces to stage a landmark retrospective. It marked the first time the poetic, quietly radiant works of this ill-fated genius were assembled for such a large display.

The show was a resounding success. Despite the gallery charging an admission fee of 100 won, long lines formed outside. With the proceeds, Park purchased Lee’s “A Couple” and donated it to the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea.

She would go on to organize two more solo exhibitions for Lee, helping usher the painter out of obscurity and into the hearts of the Korean public.

Installation view of Lee Seung-taek's "non-art" sculptures and wall-mounted objects at Gallery Hyundai / Courtesy of Gallery Hyundai

Meanwhile, in Gallery Hyundai’s new building, the next chapter of the art dealer’s story unfolds. The artists on view here have close ties with Do Hyung-teh, Park’s son, who joined the family business in 2000 and now serves as its president.

Under Do’s vision, the gallery has broadened its horizon to embrace both Korean diasporic artists and experimental pioneers. The latter — represented by figures like Quac In-sik, Lee Kun-yong, Sung Neung-kyung and Lee Seung-taek — were among the standouts in the Guggenheim Museum’s 2023 exhibition “Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s-1970s,” which cast an overdue spotlight on Korea’s formative avant-garde movement.

Installation view of Kwak Duck-jun's "President and Kwak" photographic series at Gallery Hyundai / Courtesy of Gallery Hyundai

Also featured is Shin Sung-hy, who brought three-dimensionality to flat surfaces through “couturage,” where the canvas is cut and sewn, and “nouage,” where painted strips are knotted into textured compositions. These series were recently brought into the global light through an official collateral exhibition at the 2024 Venice Biennale.

Part I of Gallery Hyundai’s “55 Years” continues through May 15. Part II, set to open on May 22, will turn its focus to Korean artists who settled in France starting in the late 1970s, along with domestic abstractionists who emerged in the mid-1980s.