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The must-see event for Korean Americans at LACMA

June 23, 2014

The largest-ever exhibition of traditional Korean art in Southern California
June 29 to Sept. 28

The largest-ever exhibition of traditional Korean art in Southern California is showing at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art starting June 29.

In preparation of “Treasures from Korea: Arts and Culture of the Joseon Dynasty,” LACMA’s Korean art exhibition recently went under renovation for a new interior and displays to make way for the 150 pieces of work that it will soon house.

The exhibit will be the first U.S. showing for some pieces, many of them national treasures on loan from the National Museum of Korea (NMK).

The Joseon dynasty, which dates from 1392 to 1910, spanned 518 years and 27 kings and was the longest-ruling Confucian dynasty in history.

Sponsored by The Korea Times, the exhibit is open for general admission and will illustrate five themes — the king and his court, Joseon society, ancestral rituals and Confucian values, continuity and change in Joseon Buddhism and Joseon in modern times — and showcase the dynasty’s artistic and cultural progression.

Highlights include “Peonies,” a 10-fold screen from the late 19th century; the illustrated 19th century book “Royal Protocol for the Funeral of Crown Princess Heongyeonghyebin”; and “Box with Ox-Horn Decoration,” a prime example made with “hwagak,” the method of flattening ox horns to make thin sheets.

Yale University Press printed an illustrated catalogue for the exhibition, featuring 200 images in a survey of Joseon artwork.

LACMA, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the NMK co-organized “Treasures from Korea.”

The exhibition, located on level 2 of the Hammer Building, will go on to show in Houston after its L.A. run ends on Sept. 28.

General admission is $15, $10 for students with ID and for seniors over 62 and free for teens and children under age 17. For more information, visit LACMA online or call 323-857-6000.