Korean Arts of the Eighteenth Century: Splendour and Simplicity

Book by Kim, Hongnam

In celebration of the traveling exhibition "Festival of Korea," this volume offers a breathtaking look at art and artifacts from the later part of the Choson period of Korean history. Essays serve to illuminate the historical context and to clarify the meaning and significance of religious and cultural symbolism, but the objects and painted images themselves convey a great deal about this golden age of Korean art even without benefit of curatorial theses. A striking portfolio represents the wealth of artwork: Featured are paintings (portraiture, scrolls, and screens); ceramics (vessels and epitaph tablets); furniture, boxes, and carved objects of wood and stone; and exquisitely crafted and printed books and fine textiles. The organizers--the Asia Society of New York and Korea's national museum--have succeeded in gathering rare and radiant examples of Korean art to share with U.S. viewers. Alice Joyce