University Seminar

“Thieves, Monks, and “Artwork”: The Changing Fate of Icons at Local Monastery in Modernizing Korea”

Youn-mi Kim, Associate Professor
Ewha Womans University

6:00 PM  – 7:30 PM
Friday, October 25, 2019

Faculty House, 64 Morningside Drive
*Please check the announcement board in the first floor lobby for the room assignment

Co-sponsored by
The Columbia University Seminars, Columbia University; The Weatherhead East Asian Institute; The Academy of Korean Studies, Seoul Korea; Columbia Alumni Association, Korea; the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, The University Seminars at Columbia University

Abstract:

Together with the modernization movement, the western notion of misul 美術 (fine art) and the museum system was transmitted from the West to Korea from the early 20th century. Recently, the modern period has been recognized as a new field of study for Korea art history. As part of that new work, scholars have begun to examine the ways in which the imperial family founded and operated major museums during the Korean Empire (1897-1910), not to mention the activities of the Japanese colonial government after annexation. A large number of Buddhist icons were transformed into “artwork” and entered the collection of the new modern museums, such as the Yi Royal-Family Museum and the Government-General Museum of Korea. What has evaded the scholarly attention, however, is the different pathways taken by local Buddhist monasteries. In those monasteries, as this paper will show, notions of monastic “treasures” and the practice of public “exhibition” did exist before the 19^th century. At the same time, those traditional notions shared by monks were radically different. The bathing shoes of the eminent monk Chinul 知訥 (1158-1210), for example, were regarded as precious treasures and publicly displayed at a local monastery until the early 20^th century, and most of the monks did not treat Buddhist paintings and statues as “artworks” until recent times. Focusing on the local monastery Songgwangsa in Sunch’ŏn (South Kyŏngsang Province), this paper explores the slow and century-long process in which modern museum systems were introduced into local monasteries, replacing traditional monastery “treasures” with Buddhist statues and paintings that have now become priceless artworks. Focusing on a prolonged process that spanned the colonial period and postwar era, I highlight the frequent theft, loss, and redemption of Buddhist images.