• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.198-216
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• 2024

This article reevaluates the National Museum of Korea's pivotal actions during the Korean War in the 1950s and its aftermath. It argues that the evacuation of the museum's collection to Busan and the subsequent exhibition "Masterpieces of Korean Art" in the United States in 1957 were not isolated events, but rather interconnected facets of a larger narrative shaping the museum's trajectory. With newly discovered archival evidence, this study unravels the intricate relationship between these episodes, revealing how the initial Busan evacuation evolved into a strategic U.S.-led touring exhibition. Traditionally, the Busan evacuation has been understood solely as a four-stage relocation of the museum's collections between December 1950 and May 1951. However, this overlooks the broader context, particularly the subsequent U.S. journey. Driven by the war's initial retreat of the war, the Busan evacuation served as a stepping stone for evacuation to Honolulu Museum of Art. The path of evacuation took an unexpected turn when the government redirected the collections to the Honolulu Museum of Art. Initially conceived as a storage solution, public opposition led to a remarkable transformation: the U.S. exhibition. To address public concerns, the evacuation plan was canceled. This shift transformed the planned introduction into a full-fledged traveling exhibition. Subsequently approved by the National Assembly, the U.S. Department of State spearheaded development of the exhibition, marking a distinct strategic cultural policy shift for Korea. Therefore, the Busan evacuation, initially envisioned as a temporary introduction to the U.S., ultimately metamorphosed into a multi-stage U.S. touring exhibition orchestrated by the U.S. Department of State. This reframed narrative sheds new light on the museum's crucial role in navigating a complex postwar landscape, revealing the intricate interplay between cultural preservation, public diplomacy, and strategic national interests.

• MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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• v.96
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• pp.239-260
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• 2019

This paper examines the circulation and dissemination of painting during and after the nineteenth century through a case study on the One Hundred Fans paintings produced as decorative folding screens at the time. One Hundred Fans paintings refer to depictions of layers of fans in various shapes on which pictures of diverse themes are drawn. Fans and paintings on fans were depicted on paintings before the nineteenth century. However, it was in the nineteenth century that they began to be applied as subject matter for decorative paintings. Reflecting the trend of enjoying extravagant hobbies, fans and paintings on fans were mainly produced as folding screens. The folding screen of One Hundred Fans from the collection of the Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt (hereafter Rothenbaum Museum) in Germany was first introduced to Korean in the exhibition The City in Art, Art in the City held at the National Museum of Korea in 2016. Each panel in this six-panel folding screen features more than five different fans painted with diverse topics. This folding screen is of particular significance since the National Museum of Korea holds the original drawings. In the nineteenth century, calligraphy and painting that had formerly been enjoyed by Joseon royal family members and the nobility in private spaces began to spread among common people and was distributed through markets. In accordance with the trend of adorning households, colorful decorative paintings were preferred, leading to the popularization of the production of One Hundred Fans folding screens with pictures in different shapes and themes. A majority of the Korean collection in the Rothenbaum Museum belonged to Heinrich Constantin Eduard Meyer(1841~1926), a German businessman who served as the Joseon consul general in Germany. From the late 1890s until 1905, Meyer traveled back and forth between Joseon and Germany and collected a wide range of Korean artifacts. After returning to Germany, he sequentially donated his collections, including One Hundred Fans, to the Rothenbaum Museum. Folding screens like One Hundred Fans with their fresh and decorative beauty may have attracted the attention of foreigners living in Joseon. The One Hundred Fans at the Rothenbaum Museum is an intriguing work in that during its treatment, a piece of paper with the inscription of the place name "Donghyeon" was found pasted upside down on the back of the second panel. Donghyeon was situated in between Euljiro 1-ga and Euljiro 2-ga in present-day Seoul. During the Joseon Dynasty, a domestic handicraft industry boomed in the area based on licensed shops and government offices, including the Dohwaseo (Royal Bureau of Painting), Hyeminseo (Royal Bureau of Public Dispensary), and Jangagwon (Royal Bureau of Music). In fact, in the early 1900s, shops selling calligraphy and painting existed in Donghyeon. Thus, it is very likely that the shops where Meyer purchased his collection of calligraphy and painting were located in Donghyeon. The six-panel folding screen One Hundred Fans in the collection of the Rothenbaum Museum is thought to have acquired its present form during a process of restoring Korean artifacts works in the 1980s. The original drawings of One Hundred Fans currently housed in the National Museum of Korea was acquired by the National Folk Museum of Korea between 1945 and 1950. Among the seven drawings of the painting, six indicate the order of their panels in the margins, which relates that the painting was originally an eight-panel folding screen. Each drawing shows more than five different fans. The details of these fans, including small decorations and patterns on the ribs, are realistically depicted. The names of the colors to be applied, including 'red ocher', 'red', 'ink', and 'blue', are written on most of the fans, while some are left empty or 'oil' is indicated on them. Ten fans have sketches of flowers, plants, and insects or historical figures. A comparison between these drawings and the folding screen of One Hundred Fans at the Rothenbaum Museum has revealed that their size and proportion are identical. This shows that the Rothenbaum Museum painting follows the directions set forth in the original drawings. The fans on the folding screen of One Hundred Fans at the Rothenbaum Museum are painted with images on diverse themes, including landscapes, narrative figures, birds and flowers, birds and animals, plants and insects, and fish and crabs. In particular, flowers and butterflies and fish and crabs were popular themes favored by nineteenth century Joseon painters. It is noteworthy that the folding screen One Hundred Fans at the Rothenbaum Museum includes several scenes recalling the typical painting style of Kim Hong-do, unlike other folding screens of One Hundred Fans or Various Paintings and Calligraphy. As a case in point, the theme of "Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden" is depicted in the Rothenbaum folding screen even though it is not commonly included in folding screens of One Hundred Fans or One Hundred Paintings due to spatial limitations. The scene of "Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden" in the Rothenbaum folding screen bears a resemblance to Kim Hong-do's folding screen of Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden at the National Museum of Korea in terms of its composition and style. Moreover, a few scenes on the Rothenbaum folding screen are similar to examples in the Painting Album of Byeongjin Year produced by Kim Hong-do in 1796. The painter who drew the fan paintings on the Rothenbaum folding screen is presumed to have been influenced by Kim Hong-do since the fan paintings of a landscape similar to Sainsam Rock, an Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden, and a Pair of Pheasants are all reminiscent of Kim's style. These paintings in the style of Kim Hong-do are reproduced on the fans left empty in the original drawings. The figure who produced both the original drawings and fan paintings appears to have been a professional painter influenced by Kim Hong-do. He might have appreciated Kim's Painting Album of Byeongjin Year or created duplicates of Painting Album of Byeongjin Year for circulation in the art market. We have so far identified about ten folding screens remaining with the One Hundred Fans. The composition of these folding screens are similar each other except for a slight difference in the number and proportion of the fans or reversed left and right sides of the fans. Such uniform composition can be also found in the paintings of scholar's accoutrements in the nineteenth century. This suggests that the increasing demand for calligraphy and painting in the nineteenth century led to the application of manuals for the mass production of decorative paintings. As the demand for colorful decorative folding screens with intricate designs increased from the nineteenth century, original drawings began to be used as models for producing various paintings. These were fully utilized when making large-scale folding screens with images such as Guo Ziyi's Enjoyment-of-Life Banquet, Banquet of the Queen Mother of the West, One Hundred Children, and the Sun, Cranes and Heavenly Peaches, all of which entailed complicated patterns. In fact, several designs repeatedly emerge in the extant folding screens, suggesting the use of original drawings as models. A tendency toward using original drawings as models for producing folding screens in large quantities in accordance with market demand is reflected in the production of the folding screens of One Hundred Fans filled with fans in different shapes and fan paintings on diverse themes. In the case of the folding screens of One Hundred Paintings, bordering frames are drawn first and then various paintings are executed inside the frames. In folding screens of One Hundred Fans, however, fans in diverse forms were drawn first. Accordingly, it must have been difficult to produce them in bulk. Existing examples are relatively fewer than other folding screens. As discussed above, the folding screen of One Hundred Fans at the Rothenbaum Museum and its original drawings at the National Museum of Korea aptly demonstrate the late Joseon painting trend of embracing and employing new painting styles. Further in-depth research into the Rothenbaum painting is required in that it is a rare example exhibiting the influence of Kim Hong-do compared to other paintings on the theme of One Hundred Fans whose composition and painting style are more similar to those found in the work of Bak Gi-jun.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.107-112
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• 2020

A new genus Parkiana Cho, gen. nov., belonging to Torodorinae of Lecithoceridae, is described from Madagascar, with two new species: P. matutinalis Cho & Agassiz, sp. nov. and P. andasibensis Cho & Agassiz, sp. nov. Although superficially similar to Thubdora Park, 2018, some of their morphological characters, such as wing venation, are unique and the species of the genus are grouped apart from Thubdora in a preliminary phylogenetic analysis based on COI barcode sequences. In addition to the specific descriptions, adults and genitalia for the two new species are illustrated.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.277-284
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• 2020

Four new species of genus Scalarispongia (Demospongiae: Dictyoceratida: Thorectidae) are described from Jejudo Island, Korea. These new species of Scalarispongia are compared with 14 reported species of the genus by the skeletal structure. Scalarispongia songakensis n. sp. is similar to S. lenis in sponge shape but differs in skeletal structure and meshes are not divided into two sections. The length of secondary fibres between primary fibres of this new species is much longer than S. lenis'. Scalarispongia radicula n. sp. is resembles S. songakensis in sponge shape, but this new species has pseudo-tertiary fibres at the sponge base. Scalarispongia maraensis n. sp. is very similar to S. subjiensis in sponge shape but primary fibres of this new species are not simple because fibres have wide webbing. Scalarispongia massa n. sp. is characterized by the large mass sponge shape and numerous open oscules form a long ling on the ridge of the sponge.

• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.13-32
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• 2023

Both the late 15th-century Unicorn Tapestries now at the Cloisters Museum in New York and Daesoon Jinrihoe's Simudo Paintings present a religious narrative through the symbol of the search for an animal that is then subdued. This is now the prevailing scholarly interpretation of the New York Unicorn Tapestries, with the unicorn representing Jesus Christ, although a concurrent reading alluding to human love cannot be excluded. The article examines the New York Unicorn Tapestries according to their Christological interpretation, rooted in traditions about the unicorn popularized by the German medieval mystic Hildegard of Bingen, although in fact much older. It then discusses the Buddhist iconographic tradition of ox-herding paintings that represents an antecedent for the Simudo Paintings and notes the latter's differences and similarities with the New York Unicorn Tapestries.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.274-275
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• 2020

Recently, the new genus Parkiana (Lecithoceridae) and its two new species, Parkiana matutinalis and Parkiana andasibensis, were described by the authors from Andasibe, Madagascar. Although the morphological descriptions and figures fully characterized the new genus with two new species in that paper, the journal issue in which the description appeared was published online-only, and the ZooBank LSID, required for validation of new names in electronic-only publications, was not included. Therefore, the present note serves to validate the names of the new genus and species, Parkiana, Parkiana matutinalis and Parkiana andasibensis, by fulfilling Code conditions for nomenclatural availability.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.168-183
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• 2021

Ten new species of two families (Suberitidae and Polymastidae) are described from Korea. Six new species in Suberitidae: Plicatellopsis ramosa n. sp., Pseudosuberites anheungensis n. sp. P. youngilensis n. sp., Suberites hwasunensis n. sp., S. chujaensis n. sp. and S. rugosa n. sp. are compared with other similar reported species. All new species differ from previously reported species in morphology, texture, color, skeletal structure, and spicule type. Four new species in Polymastidae: Polymastia fistula n. sp., P. sasuensis n. sp., P. viridis n. sp., and Weberella haengwonensis n. sp. are different from previously reported species in the growth form of papillaes and fistules, color and spicule types. For example, Weberella haengwonensis is similar to Weberella verrucosa in shape, but differs based on surface papillaes and spicule sizes.

• MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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• v.96
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• pp.209-223
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• 2019

The Iron Seated Buddha sculpture in the National Museum of Korea had long sat unregistered in storage at the museum. However, a new accession number "bon9976" has recently been assigned to it. This sculpture was excavated from the neighborhood of Heungnyongsa Temple in Baekun-ri, Yidong-myeon, Pocheon-gun, Gyeonggi-do Province together with another Iron Seated Buddha sculpture(bon9975) called "Iron Buddha from Pocheon." A comparison and examination of Gelatin Dry Plate and official documents from the Joseon Government-General Museum during the Japanese occupation period have revealed that these two Iron Buddha sculptures were transferred to the Museum of the Government-General of Korea on December 17, 1925. The Iron Seated Buddha sculpture(bon9976) has a height of 105 centimeters, width at the shoulders of 57 centimeters, and width at the knee of 77 centimeters. The Buddha is wearing a robe with rippling drapery folds and the right shoulder exposed. He is seated in the position called gilsangjwa(the seat of good fortune) in which the left foot is placed over the right thigh. The features of the Buddha's oval face are prominently sculpted. The voluminous cheeks, eye sockets in a large oval shape, slanted eyes, short nose, and plump lips can also be found in other ninth-century Iron Seated Buddha sculptures at Silsangsa Temple in Namwon, Jeollanam-do Province, Hancheonsa Temple in Yecheon, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, and Samhwasa Temple in Donghae-si, Gangwon-do Province. Moreover, its crossed legs, robe exposing the right shoulder, and rippling drapery folds suggest that this sculpture might have been modeled after the main Buddha sculpture of the Seokguram Grotto from the eighth century. The identity of this Iron Seated Buddha can be determined using the Gelatin Dry Plate(M442-2, M442-7). In them, the Buddha has its right palm facing upwards and holds a medicine jar on its left palm. Until now, the Iron Seated Bhaiṣajyagura(Medicine) Buddha(bon1970) excavated from Wonju has been considered the sole example of an iron Medicine Buddha sculpture. However, this newly registered Iron Seated Buddha turns out to be a Medicine Buddha holding a medicine jar. Furthermore, it serves as valuable material since traces of gilding and lacquering clearly remain on its surface. This Iron Seated Buddha sculpture (bon9976) is presumed to have been produced around the ninth century under the influence of Esoteric Buddhism by the Monk Doseon(827~898), a disciple of the Monk Hyecheol, to protect the temple and help the country overcome geographical shortcomings. According to the records stored at Naewonsa Temple(later Heungnyongsa Temple), Doseon selected three significant sites, including Baegunsan Mountain, built "protector" temples, created the Bhaisajyagura Buddha triad, and enshrined them at the temples. Moreover, the inscription on the stele on the restoration of Seonamsa Temple states that Doseon constructed temples and produced iron Buddha sculptures to help the country surmount certain geographical shortcomings. Heungnyongsa Temple is located in Dopyeong-ri, Yidong-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do Province. This region appears to have been related to rituals directed to the Medicine Buddha since Yaksa Temple(literally, "the temple of medicine") was built here during the Goryeo Dynasty, and the Yaksa Temple site with its three-story stone pagoda and Yaksadong Valley still exist in Dopyeong-ri.

• Conservation Science in Museum
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• v.3
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• pp.43-50
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• 2001

This article is about a joint project carried out by the National Museum of Korea and the Tokyo Cultural Properties Research Institute for the conservation of central Asia Wall painting that has been selected for the exhibition at the new Seoul National Museum of Korea at Yongsan. The investigation of the wall painting revealed very useful information. This includes the condition of the object, and the identification of evident damage, such as cracks, loss of pigment, plus materials and methods employed during the object's creation, as well as previous conservation treatment. The object was mainly made by applying plaster to the body (wall) that consisted of a mixture of soils and rice straws. Then, on the surface of the wall-painting, pigments were used to draw and to colour it. As a part of the investigation, radiocarbon dating was conducted using straw samples taken from the object. The result indicates that the object is probably dated form between the end of the 10th Century and the beginning of the 13th Century. The result of X-ray diffraction also revealed the composition of the pigments used on the surface. These are 1. gypsom [Ca(SO₄)·2H₂O], CaSO₄ and Calcite (CaCO₃) and Calcite (CaCO₃) that were used for the white background. 2. Pb₃O₄ and led Arsenate [Pb(As₂O₆) that were used for the red colouring. 3. Cuprite (Cu₂O), Arsenolite (As₂O₃) and Arsenic Oxide (As₂O₄) that were used for the green colouring.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.208-211
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• 2012

Caminus jejuensis n. sp was collected from depth of 20 m at Geomeunyeo, Seogwipo, Jejudo Island by a SCUBA diving from April 2004 to December 2008. This new species is similar to C. chinensis from China in the composition of spicules except for the spherasters and they differ in spicule size and growth form. This species has longer orthotriaenes and spherules, smaller sterrasters and oxyasters than those of C. chinensis. This species also has many spherasters in choanosome, but C. chinensis lacks. Morever, the new species is a massive shape with wrinkles, whereas C. chinensis is a club shape with smooth surface. Description and figures of the new species are provided.