Foreword (to) "Symbols of Identity: Korean Ceramics from the Collection of Chester and Wanda Chang" (original) (raw)
Related papers
Symbols of Identity Korean Ceramics from the Collection of Chester and Wanda Chang
2011
[By Christopher Lotis and Michel D. Lee; Foreword by P.M. Taylor. This full book is uploaded here while the Smithsonian website, where it was published online, is being revised.] An important theme of this volume is the relationship between ceramics and cultural identity, especially as it relates to a particular family’s collection, and also to the broader study of the personal and social aspects of collecting. The book thus forms a contribution not only to the study of Korea’s material heritage but also to Korean-American or Asian-American studies, and to the history of collecting. It will surely be of interest to art as well as social historians, and to all those who appreciate the aesthetic quality of Korea’s ceramic art. The authors’ “behind-the-scenes” study of this private collection included the creation of an extensive research database about it, not only the ceramics included in this volume but also paintings, costumes, bronze works, and many other objects that could form the basis for subsequent studies. The collection includes some important twentieth-century ceramics that have not been included within this volume; these await study alongside other works by contemporary artists in this wide-ranging collection. As the authors emphasize, the component of the Chang collection selected for publication here has been extensively tested using thermoluminescence testing. For this reason, these objects constitute an important “type collection” of tested pieces for this type of materials analysis, against which other ceramic works may be compared. This book should therefore serve as an important reference for work on its topic, as a unique and well-illustrated introduction to this private collection and its significance; and hopefully also as a stimulus for other studies within this and related private collections. [NOTE: 2 photos, available in the print edition (p. 12), have been extracted from this online book because the copyright holder disallows online publication of those photos.]
Carolyn Kyongshin Koh Choo, Traditional Korean Ceramics: A Look by a Scientist
Seoul Journal of Korean Studies, 2017
As can be surmised from its title, this book is a comprehensive survey of traditional Korean ceramics written by a scientist. Its author, Carolyn Kyongshin Koh Choo, is a scientist who has taken an unusual career path. Trained as a physical chemist at MIT, she turned her research focus to traditional Korean ceramics in the early 1990s, establishing the Department of Science of Cultural Properties at Chung-Ang University as the institutional base for her extraordinary project to "understand the beauty of [Korean] ceramic wares from a scientific point of view" (9). The guiding motive of this book is not especially different from that of the prominent 20th-century connoisseurs of Korean ceramic arts. Like Yanagi Muneyoshi, Ko Yusȏp, and other modern art historians, Koh Choo also searches for the uniqueness of the Korean ceramic tradition by identifying its subtle differences from the grossly similar but technically more sophisticated Chinese tradition. To this common search for Korean uniqueness, she adds her own "scientific point of view." She presents the microscopic and chemical analysis of ceramic shards excavated from major kiln sites as a new way to investigate the unique technical and aesthetic characteristics of Korean ceramics. Reflecting the author's self-positioning as a scientific connoisseur of Korean ceramic art, this book takes a different approach from that of ordinary art history works. Rather than following the conventional historical succession of the main ceramic types, from Koryȏ celadon to Chosȏn white porcelain, she Book Notes
Yanagi, Ceramics and the Craft Values of Korean Aesthetics
Slovak Journal of Aesthetics, 2022
The long Japanese tradition of Korean ceramics appreciation, closely associated with the Zen tea ceremony (chanoyu), has played an important role in the development of Korean aesthetics in the twentieth century. The art critic and philosopher Yanagi S6etsu was instrumental in this process during the occupation period, since, continuing in this tradition, he particularly valued Joseon ceramics for their aesthetic qualities-such as naturalness, nonchalance, and simplicity-akin to praised values in Zen Buddhism. Yanagi's pioneering writings might have been influential in the prevalence of those traits when defining Korean art and aesthetics in general. After a brief presentation of key expressions defining Korean art and aesthetics, the paper focuses on Yanagi's aesthetic assessment of Joseon ceramics and particularly on his proposal of its appreciation beyond the modern Western division between art and craft. I
Studies in Conservation
In-depth studies of the manufacture and composition of late nineteenth century Korean lacquerware from the Joseon dynasty are underrepresented in the English-language literature. This article, the first to offer a comprehensive layer-by-layer analysis of late Joseon dynasty lacquerware, shows that these objects are made using a mixture of traditional lacquerware techniques and materials together with new materials and methods. Through conservation and analysis of four lacquerware objects from the exhibition Mother-of-Pearl Lacquerware from Korea at the Asian Art Museum (29 April-23 October 2016), we identify the materials and techniques used in manufacture and present a new technique to allow conservators to compensate for losses of ray skin inlay. Our discovery that artists used shellac at multiple stages during manufacture calls into question the assumption that shellac was used only as a surface coating. Our findings demonstrate the material and technological complexity of Korean lacquerware from this period and can inform efforts at conservation and analysis of similar objects.