Exhibition and conference on painted Korean screens

Conference: April 14–15, 2017
Exhibition: April 15–June 11

Spencer Museum of Art
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS

www.spencerart.ku.edu

The Spencer Museum of Art is one of three US institutions to host the international exhibition The Power and Pleasure of Possessions in Korean Painted Screens, which will be on view April 15 to June 11. The opening of the exhibition is accompanied by a two-day conference “Paintings in Brilliant Colors: Korean Chaekgeori Screens of the Joseon Dynasty” on April 14 to 15.

This exhibition of 13 screens from 18th and 19th century Korea features a genre of still-life painting known as chaekgeori, loosely translated as “books and things.” Although several types of chaekgeori were popular over time, most screens include sumptuous arrangements of books, ceramics, bronze vessels, flowers, plants, and other precious and foreign objects displayed on multi-shelved structures. Power and Pleasure is the first major exhibition to include chaekgeori screens from private collections and various Korean institutions, many of which are on view for the first time in the United States.

Additionally, the Spencer’s installation of the exhibition will include selections of Korean and Chinese decorative objects and paintings from the Museum’s permanent collection, including the Joseon Dynasty screen Guo Ziyi’s Enjoyment-of-Life Banquet, which was recently conserved in Korea.

The “Paintings in Brilliant Colors” conference will open with a keynote lecture by renowned scholar of Korean art Burglind Jungmann (UCLA) and will bring together 14 art historians and curators from the United States, Great Britain, and Korea to discuss the significance of color painting traditions in Korea during the late Joseon dynasty (1392–10). The conference is free and open to the public but registration is required.

The exhibition is made possible by the Korea Foundation, Gallery Hyundai, and the City of Lawrence.