Detail: The Power and Pleasure of Possessions in Korean Painted Screens explores the genre of Korean still-life painting known as chaekgeori 冊巨里 (loosely translated as “books and things”). Chaekgeori was one of the most enduring and prolific art forms of Korea’s Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), and it depicts books and other material commodities as symbolic embodiments of knowledge, power, and social reform.

For the first time in United States, more than 20 screen paintings dating from the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) will be on view at the Charles B. Wang Center. A diverse body of artists continues this genre tradition into the twenty-first century, coming together to examine contemporary Korean society and its social, cultural, and political attitudes and ideals. By drawing a long artistic and historical lineage, as well as by making contrasts and comparisons to the traditional forms and objectives of chaekgeori, modern examples by Stephanie S. Lee, Seongmin Ahn, Kyoungtack Hong, Patrick Hughes, Sungpa, Young-Shik Kim and Airan Kang shine a light on Korea’s diverse contemporary society, a society that, from the Confucian Joseon era to the hypermaterialistic culture of today, is in constant flux.

All of the screens paintings are on loan from both private collections and Korean national institutions, including the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art; the Seoul Museum; the Korean Folk Village; the Chosun Minhwa Museum; and the Sungok Memorial Hall.

Admission: Free to the Public