10383 Bunche Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095
The fate of the National Museum of Korea is intimately connected to modern Korean history. Its collection was housed in various colonial buildings in Seoul during the twentieth century. Its last major location, the former seat of the Japanese Governor General, was demolished in 1997. The Museum was relocated in 2005 to its present new site on the “Dragon Mountain” (Yongsan) in Seoul (formerly the place of the Headquarters of the US Army and, during colonial times, of the Japanese Imperial Army) and is now the largest museum in Asia.
Kim Hongnam, who was appointed Director General of the National Museum of Korea in summer 2006, will talk about her experience with this important cultural institution, its past legacies and plans for the future. She will also share about her recent visit to Pyongyang and the National Museum in North Korea. She will answer any questions concerning both museums and other topics of Korean art history.
Kim Hongnam is the first female Director of the National Museum and the first person appointed from outside the Museum’s administration. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University and as Curator of the Rockefeller of Asian Art at the Asia Society, New York organized two important exhibitions in the United States, “The Story of a Painting: A Korean Buddhist Treasure from the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation” (1991) and “Eighteenth Century Korean Art: Splendor and Simplicity” (1993). In her own research she focuses on late Koryo and Choson painting and ceramics. As professor of Chinese and Korean art history at Ewha Women’s University and Director of the University’s Museum she engaged in the excavation of kiln sites and the building of a museum branch in the south. After being appointed Director of the National Folk Museum of Korea she redesigned the permanent exhibition halls and staged special exhibitions which evolved as a dialogue of Korea’s cultural traditions with modern life and contemporary design.
Open to the Public
Cost : Free
SejungKim
310-825-3284
www.international.ucla.edu/korea
koreanstudies@international.ucla.edu Sponsor(s): Center for Korean Studies
