Gansong Art Museum (간송미술관), II
Back in October of last year I paid a visit to the Gansong Art Musem (간송미술관) in Seongbuk-gu, northern Seoul. For those not familiar with the museum and who are too lazy to read the older entry, it's arguably the greatest private museum in the country; it features several national treasures, including one of the original books designed to promulgate the use of Hangul in Korea.
However, despite the centuries of history contained inside the museum, it's only open for four weeks out of the year -- making it a special treat to see the pieces within. Taking advantage of its two week opening to the public last month I made the trip down into the capital on the first day of its Spring 2009 run. Once there, I was surprised to find a small crowd milling around the exhibits inside the museum instead of spilling out into the street and around the block as had been the case last fall. That wasn't the only unexpected development from my visit, though.
The highlight last fall had been the famous works from Shin Yun-bok (신윤복, pen-name Hyewon), Kim Hong-do (김홍도, pen-name Danwon), and Jang Seong-eop (장승업, pen-name Owon). The first two lived in the last half of the 18th century while Jang Seong-eop was popular at the end of the 19th century; all are known for portraying aspects of everyday life in a style known as 풍속학 ('genre painting'). This spring, however, the museum displayed a large collection from Jeongseon (정선) and Shim Sajeong (심사정) who are known for their landscape paintings (풍경학). Different, but by no means bad. I mean, hey, they had paintings of insects.
1. 정안연우 by 정선 (1676-1759)
2. 삼일포 by 심사정 (1707-1769)
3. 등룽웅계 by 정선
4. 하마가자 by 정선
5. 추일한묘 by 정선
6. 수박과 도둑쥐 by 정선
7. ??? by 정선
* Note: The museum has a no-photo policy. All of the images above came from internet searches that led here, here, here, and here.
The second landscape piece above was a really interesting find, as the damage to the painting actually makes me think of fireflies floating in front of the viewer's gaze. (On that subject, this may be a good time to mention the Muju Firefly Festival, 무주반딧불축제, that's coming to a close on Monday.) I bought another book in order to get the names of the paintings in this season's exhibits and it looks like there were one hundred pieces on display -- of course, if that wasn't enough there were also albino white peacocks, pagodas, and statues to occupy one's time when they weren't indoors.
I posted directions to the museum at my earlier entry and the distance from Hanseong University Station (한성여대입구역) to the Gansong Art Museum takes approximately 15-20 minutes to cover by foot. It's also possible to take a bus, but it's well worth taking the 'slow' route to enjoy the surroundings.