Date:
Location:
International Conference at the Leeum Museum of Art (Seoul) and Harvard University (Cambridge)
For more information, please visit conference website here.
Co-sponsored by the Art History Association of Korea (AHAK); Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University; Harvard-Yenching Institute; Korea Institute, Harvard University; and Leeum Museum of Art
Organizers: Sun-ah Choi, Professor, Myongji University; Youn-mi Kim, Associate Professor in Asian Art at Ewha Womans University; Seunghye Lee, Curator at Leeum Museum of Art; and Melissa McCormick, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Japanese Art and Culture at Harvard University
Abstract:
In recent years, a growing number of scholars have begun to examine Korean artifacts from all historical eras through the critical lens of gender to understand an array of previously neglected issues. This two-day international conference aims to encourage this relatively nascent movement in the field of Korean art history by convening scholars engaged in these new discursive frameworks whose research is providing a fuller picture of cultural production in Korea. The speakers include many early career scholars based in Korea as well as those working in the United States to promote intellectual exchange across disciplines and geographical and intergenerational borders. Presentations will cover a wide range of themes arising from Joseon-period paintings, textiles, and embroideries to the modern metaphysical abstractions of Seundja Rhee (1918-2009) and the contemporary portrait practice of Yun Suknam (b. 1939).
The conference has been conceived in partnership with the Leeum Museum of Art and in anticipation of a special international loan exhibition Women and Buddhism in East Asian Art (working title) to be held at the Hoam Museum of Art from March-June 2024. This will be the first major exhibition to focus exclusively on the role and depiction of women in the Buddhist art of Korea, China, and Japan, providing an urgent corrective to the male-centered narrative that has dominated the discourse. Diverse artifacts including Buddhist paintings, sculptures, sutra transcriptions, embroidery, and metal crafts will be used to examine the importance of women as patrons and producers of Buddhist art of the pre-modern period. In exploring the history of how women navigated discriminatory Buddhist institutions and society at large, the exhibition will illuminate the important socio-cultural implications of religious art as well as contemporary issues that will resonate with audiences today.
Day 1
-Location (In-person only): Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
*Pre-registration is required through the Leeum website
*Recordings of the symposium will be uploaded to the Youtube channel of the Art History Association of Korea shortly after
Date & Time (Time zone for Day 1 schedule listed below is Korean Standard Time)
- Friday, September 22, 2023 9:30am – 5:20pm (Korean Standard Time)
- Thursday, September 21, 2023 8:30pm - Friday, September 22, 2023 4:20am (EST)
Opening Session
Chair, Jiyoon Jo (Leeum Museum of Art)
9:30am-9:50am
Welcome Remarks
Sungwon Kim (Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Leeum Museum of Art)
Soyoung Lee (Chief Curator, Harvard Art Museums)
Opening Remarks
Namwon Jang (President of Art History Association of Korea, Ewha Womans University)
Session 1: Representation and Images 9:50am-10:30am
Chair, Jiyoon Jo (Leeum Museum of Art)
Kwanghee Shin (Central Sangha University)
“Female Images in the Narrative Paintings of the Buddha’s Biographies from Early Joseon ”
Myounghee Jeong (National Museum of Korea)
“Women Illustrated in Joseon-period Sweet Dew Paintings and Their Meaning”
Session 2: Medium and Functions 10:30am-11:10am
Chair, Jiyoon Jo (Leeum Museum of Art)
Boyeon An (National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage)
“Commission and Making of the Embroidered Kāṣāya, the Treasure of Korea: the Monk Haebung and Lady Pak”
Dahee Jeong (Seoul Museum of History)
“From Embroidery to Painting: Imperial Noble Consort Eom and the Kāṣāya Painting (1902) at Hangnimam”
Break 11:10am-11:30am
Roundtable and Discussion 11:30am-12:30pm
Chair, Jaeho Bae (Yong In University)
Maya Stiller (University of Kansas)
Ksenia Chizhova (Princeton University)
Lunch 12:30pm-2:00pm
Session 3: Belief and Status 2:00pm-2:40pm
Chair, Jung-yon Hwang (The Academy of Korean Studies)
Joungho Han (Dongguk University-WISE)
“Silla Buddhist Art and Women”
Soyeon Shin (National Museum of Korea)
“Gendering a Bodhisattva : Images of Avalokitesvara in Medieval and Early Modern Korea”
Break 2:40pm-3:00pm
Session 4: Patronage and the Royal Court 3:00pm-3:40pm
Chair, Jung-yon Hwang (The Academy of Korean Studies)
Ah Yeon Park (Gyeongju National Museum)
“Women in the Joseon Royal Family: Buddhist Art Commissioned by Royal Noble Consort Myeongbin from the Kim Clan”
Geun-Ja Yoo (Dongguk University)
“The Role and Characteristics of Royal Female Patrons in the Creation of Buddhist Statues during the Reign of King Sukjong in Joseon Dynasty”
Break 3:40pm-4:10pm
Roundtable and Discussion 4:10pm-5:20pm
Chair, Jaeho Bae (Yong In University)
Seunghye Lee (Leeum Museum of Art)
Joowan Shim (Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism Office)
Day 2
Hybrid
-Location: S010 (Tsai Auditorium), CGIS South, Harvard University
-Online: Zoom (Register here)
*Recordings of the symposium will be uploaded to the Youtube channel of the Art History Association of Korea shortly after
Date & Time (Time zone for Day 2 schedule listed below is Eastern Standard Time)
- Saturday, September 23, 2023 11:00pm – Sunday, September 24, 2023, 7:00am (Korean Standard Time)
- Saturday, September 23, 2023 10:00am – 6:00pm (U.S. EST)
Registration 9:30am-10:00am
Opening Remarks 10:00am-10:15am
Melissa McCormick (Harvard University)
Youn-mi Kim (Art History Association of Korea, Ewha Womans University)
Session 1: Textile and Practice 10:15am-11:00am
Chair, Sun Joo Kim (Harvard University)
Sooa Im McCormick (Cleveland Museum of Art)
“Gender Politics and Sumptuary Laws in 18th-century Korean Textile Art”
Hyesung Park (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea)
“Rethinking Korean Modern Art and Embroidery from Gender Perspectives”
Discussion 11:00am-11:35am
Youn-mi Kim (Ewha Womans University)
Lunch 11:35am-1:00pm
Session 2: Desire and Borders 1:00pm-1:45pm
Chair, Si Nae Park (Harvard University)
Ja Won Lee (California State University, East Bay)
“Cultural Encounter: Embroideries, Chinese Antiquities, and Royal Court Women in Late Chosŏn Korea”
Byungmo Chung (Formerly Gyeongju University)
“Representation of Gender in paintings of books and things in the Folk Art”
Discussion 1:45pm-2:20pm
Eleanor Soo-ah Hyun (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Break 2:20pm-2:40pm
Session 3: Modernity and Body 2:40pm-3:50pm
Chair, Chan Yong Bu (Harvard University)
Sunglim Kim (Dartmouth College)
“Seundja Rhee: The Aesthetic Journey from Earth to Cosmos”
Yisoon Kim (Formerly Hongik University)
“Obsession with 'Subjectivity': The Signification Process of the 'Naked' Male Body in Korean Modern and Contemporary Art”
Hyeonjoo Kim (Chugye University for The Arts)
“Friendship of Yun Suknam and the Expansion of Feminist Artists Network”
Discussion 3:50pm-4:40pm
Jiyeon Kim (Peabody Essex Museum)
Break 4:40pm-5:00pm
Roundtable 5:00pm-6:00pm
Jinah Kim (Harvard University)
Yukio Lippit (Harvard University)
Melissa McCormick (Harvard University)
Generously supported by the Jeffrey D. and Jean K. Lee Fund at the Harvard Korea Institute
Shakyamuni Triad (조선전기 석가삼존도, 朝鮮前期 釋迦三尊圖)
Joseon dynasty (1392–1910); dated 1565.
Hanging scroll; color and gold on silk; 60.5 × 32 cm.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015; Accession Number: 2015.300.298.
This painting’s dedicatory inscription in gold documents its commission by Queen Dowager Munjeong (d. 1565) making it an integral part of the history of women and Buddhism in Korea. It was one of the four hundred such paintings that Queen Munjeong commissioned, “to pray for the health of her son, King Myeongjong (r. 1546–67), and to celebrate the birth of the crown prince and the restoration of Hoeam Temple, a major Seon Buddhist (Chinese: Chan; Japanese: Zen) monastery located near the capital and an influential royal temple of the early Joseon.” –Metropolitan Museum of Art