The Hidden Chapter: Joseon Paintings Return After 500 Years at POSCO Museum Gwangyang
Creatrip Team
3 months ago
POSCO Museum Gwangyang is hosting “The Hidden Chapter – Joseon Paintings Returned After 500 Years,” on view through Feb 28. The show presents 38 works from the Yujunjae Collection (a private Japanese-held Korean art collection) that have been repatriated to Korea, spanning early Joseon to the modern period. Featured genres include landscape (sansuhwa), portrait and genre scenes, bird-and-flower and flower-and-bird paintings (hwajo/hwaga), court paintings, documentary works, and calligraphy. Highlights include Yeondam Kim Myeong-guk’s “Dharma Painting” (a piece linked to diplomatic missions) and Hong Jang-jung’s “Tiger in a Small Boat” (suhaho-do), which connects to renewed interest in folk painting tigers amid the recent “K-pop Demon Hunters” trend. This is the second public showing after the Seoul POSCO Museum special; items were recovered through private repatriation efforts and now allow the public to engage directly with restored cultural heritage. Free admission; guided tours require advance reservation via the park1538 website. The museum hopes the exhibition will make traditional Korean painting and calligraphy more accessible while emphasizing historical truth and national pride tied to cultural restitution.
