For Immediate Release
press contact: Ji Lee
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
(212)759-9550

Traditional Korean Crafts

Now – August 27th
at the United Nations’ Headquarters
General Assembly Visitors’ Lobby Gallery
(1st Avenue & 46th Street)
 
Gallery Hours:
Monday – Sunday, 9:00am – 5:00pm

The exhibition, Traditional Korean Crafts, as the exhibition is being held at the United Nations’ Headquarters’ General Assembly Visitors’ Lobby from July 19 to August 27, has been receiving an overwhelming response from the general public. This exhibition features 150 traditional craft works by master craft-makers from the Republic of Korea.
 
The theme of the exhibition is to explore the 18th century literati culture—the contemporary source of traditional craft—and to represent the different functional areas from the traditional Korean house (Han-Ok) reconstructed from the Joseon Dynasty’s cultural heritage.  The art works are arranged in accordance with the space where daily life was carried out. On exhibition will be crafts from traditional Korean households—inside actual modeled Sarangbang (Traditional Korean Scholar’s Quarters)—such as Dojaki (ceramics), Gaat (traditional hat for noblemen), lacquer-wares, Binyeo (Ornamental hairpin, see attached picture), and many more.  
 
This exhibition is the first time where Korea’s Important Intangible Cultural Properties title holders—the beholders of extremely rare and precious skills passed on from generation-to-generation—have gathered together for an exhibition of this proportion outside of Korea.  In the Work and Play room, displays the crafts by Jung, Gwanchae (Important Intangible Cultural Properties 115 Yeomsaekjang-dyeing).  Sarangbang (Scholar’s Quarters) room displays the crafts by Park Changyeong (Important Intangible Cultural Properties 4 Gannil - Making Horsehair Hat.  Anbang (Lady’s Quarters) displays the crafts by Kim Huijin (Important Intangible Cultural Properties 22 Maedeupjang - Maedeup decorative knot making).  Kitchen will display the crafts by Lee Inse (Important Intangible Cultural Properties 99 Sobanjang - Tray table carpentry). Religion and Ritual room will contain the crafts by Park Chansoo (Important Intangible Cultural Properties 108 Mokjogakjang - Wood sculpture).

Also, there are demonstrations on traditional Korean Printing Press called Jikji (which is a collection of Buddhist treatises printed in July 1377 A.D., and known to be printed with the oldest movable metal type in the world), Fan drawing, Knot making (audience members will be able to participate in the art of knot making called Maedup) at the United Nations Visitors’ Lobby on Fridays and Saturdays.
 
For more information about Traditional Korean Crafts exhibition, please visit the website http://koreancraft.kcpf.or.kr/index.do?act=index or contact Mr. Ji Lee ( This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it ), International Relations Manager with the Korean Cultural Service New York at (212) 759-9550.  The United Nations’ Headquarters is located on 1st Avenue and 46th Street.

Please click this link for more pictures from Traditional Korean Crafts:
http://www.koreanculture.org/kcs/craft_photo.zip

Few craft works from the Traditional Korean Crafts exhibition:


Kim Cheolju, Round box with inlaid silver in dragon shape, 285x100mm


Kim Yeonghui, Binyeo (Ornamental hairpin). Length: 140~230mm


Park Changyeong, Jeonlip, (Military officer’s hat). 500mm X 175mm

“Korean Traditional Crafts”
Expressions in Crafts: Eighteenth Century Joseon Literati Culture
Special Exhibition at the UN Headquarters, New York USA

From the earliest days in the history of human development, traditional crafts have been considered as important elements in establishing a single culture. Beautifully crafted works often serve the practical needs of human beings, becoming an integral part of daily life. For this factor, one is able to compare the role of crafts similarly to a flower seed planted in fertile soil, which we refer to as culture, and it is just this that enables the seed to blossom, giving pleasure to everyone. The different traditions in crafts are deeply embedded in the history of culture again like a plant having the ability to continually renew as generations pass by. Furthermore, different craft skills required for making are handed down from one generation to another. Therefore the tradition of crafts, with its essential materials and highly specialized techniques, acts as symbols and sources of pride representing a nation’s culture. The value of crafts is timeless, expressing universal aspirations and dreams, and those who create them are often recognized as living human treasures.

In traditional Korean crafts, there exists a harmony between technology and environment that embraces Korea’s nature and life, a style made uniquely by the Korean people.

With such a contemporary phenomenon taking place in civilization it is not surprising that over the recent years people from every corner of this earth are going through a process of re-examining themselves. Perhaps we can look upon this metaphorically, if the sun’s ray is too bright then the shadow it produces can only be darker too. Similarly to the achievements that we have attained in modern civilization, in the process of numerous conflict and confrontation between tradition and contemporary, we have also adopted new issues. Cultural identity and pluralism are but single issues deriving from many in our discourses. For this reason it is important to re-understand and reflect on the value of a culture’s original form before the modern times.

The Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) on the Korean Peninsular was one of the longest monarchies in the history of the world.  During the 1700s, the educated class of scholars known as “literati” introduced new forms to historic Korean cultural ideas. It was in this period that Korea reached its pinnacle of artistic developments presenting its excellence. The literati of the Joseon period enhanced the refinement of Korean culture and made it more essentially Korean. No other period in the history of Korea created such a strong Korean authenticity, particularly in the field of crafts, which was the main form of artistic creation during this period.

The living human treasures of today’s Korean crafts demonstrate the finesse of the 18th-century Joseon period through the works made specifically for this exhibition simultaneously as continuing the skills handed down to them by the Joseon ancestors. Additionally, to present the lifestyle, refined tastes, joy and sorrow of the period, the exhibition space resembles a traditional literati household with a male quarter, a female quarter, living area, kitchen, shrine, space for working and recreation, and others that are found in a literati’s house. The layout of the exhibition has been intentionally planned in this method for viewers to better understand the works on display and how they were integrated in everyday life.

Sarangbang (Scholar’s Quarters)
The household goods in the scholar’s quarters reveal the character, tastes, and interests of the head of the family. Furnishings and accessories in this space would have been carefully selected to signify that the literati scholar who used them was more refined and educated than the common people. Every piece in the scholar’s room was created according to the philosophy of a true literati scholar, who pursued the beauty of simplicity and frugality and respected the virtues of a true gentleman.  “Indulging in materials damages one’s will” was a teaching that guided the literati in everyday life.  Thus the presence of luxury goods in a scholar’s quarters would indicate that the owner was not from a noble literati family.  Paper, a brush, an ink stick, a few pieces of wooden furniture, and a geomungo, a traditional Korean stringed musical instrument, all indicate that the scholar was an art lover.  There might have been a folding screen or a hanging scroll in such a room, but no more than one or two.  And, if a branch of a flowering plum tree had been chosen for display, this alone might sufficiently symbolize the scholar’s moral learning.  Restraint and understatement were the essential attributes of any literati.

Anbang (Lady’s Quarters)
The anbang, or lady’s quarters, is the place from which the wife ran the household.  It was important as the center of family life and the place for raising children, doing needlework, and serving guests.  The lady’s quarters reflected feminine warmth and coziness, and the items there reflect the tastes and wisdom of the wife while providing us with clues to everyday life.  Clothing chests, a workbox, jewelry and other goods in the lady’s quarters reveal another aspect of the elegance of crafts for daily living; these designs can express the joys, sorrows and desires of a woman as the center of family life.

Kitchen
The phrase “members of my family” has a very special meaning for Koreans.  No other expression refers more earnestly to the Korean community.  The kitchen was within the lady’s quarters, where men were not allowed, but it was here that the bonds between all family members were forged and given warmth.  White porcelain bowls were used in summer, brassware in winter to serve seasonal foods.  Earthenware (called onggi in Korean) breathes, while lacquerware retards decay.  Both were used for the storage of fermented foods, which were essential to Korean cuisine.  As kitchen furniture and utensils reflect the wisdom learned from everyday living, it is natural that a kitchen should be filled with functional goods and vessels that communicate feelings of warmth.

Religion and Ritual
Folk and religious beliefs long gave emotional succor and relief to the Korean people as they struggled through the daily grind of life, and they found comfort in rituals by which they paid their sincerest respects to their ancestors.  Rites of passage for a family, including coming of age, marriages, funerals and ancestor worship, played an important role in life, as did traditional celebrations, big and small, throughout the year.  The crafts used for rituals are of extraordinary elegance.  The shape and quality of ritual vessels, as well as details such as the materials used and the height of their feet, clearly distinguish ritual vessels from their everyday cousins.

Work and Play
The artisanal spirit is crucial to the working process of a craftsman.  This spirit is unyielding in pursuit of perfection, without being worldly, and can be said to encapsulate all of the talent given to an artisan from birth and honed through training under a master for many years.  The artisanal spirit is prominent in this exhibition, where the production processes and their results are shown together.  Items displayed include silk, cotton, ramie cloth and hemp clothes woven on a loom by hand and dyed with natural sky-blue dye, world-famous horn bows, and a wide array of traditional Korean musical instruments made of paulownia that grew from rocks, and bamboo pipes.