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The Spirit of Chun Hyungpil:
The Cornerstone of a Cultural Renaissance

DirectorChoi Wansu


It was in 1934 that Chun Hyungpil (pen name Kansong; 1906–1962) began collecting Korean cultural artifacts in earnest. He was motivated by the sense that the Japanese Empire would attempt to stamp out Korean culture
 

Kansong was convinced that even if Korean culture was temporarily disrupted, that could be overcome through a cultural renaissance released once Koreans were liberated from Japanese rule and regained their sovereignty. Based on that conviction, he took the lead in collecting and preserving the country’s finest cultural properties—all at the age of 29.
 

Kansong soon set up a site in the Seongbuk-dong neighborhood of Seoul that he called Bukdanjang with an eye to housing a museum for storing and studying the materials he was collecting. In the following years, he steadily acquired some of Korea’s finest cultural products at high prices from Japanese collectors. His acquisitions included Celadon Prunus Vase with Inlaid Cloud and Crane Design  (National Treasure), a classic example of Goryeo celadon, in 1935.

 

Then in 1936, Kansong acquired Album of Genre Paintings by Hyewon,  which is National Treasure No. 135 as well as the best-known piece by Sin Yunbok (pen name Hyewon); Album for Capturing the Spirit of the Sea and Peaks by Jeong Seon, a classic painting album by Jeong Seon (pen name Gyeomjae); Road to Shu Scroll by Sim Sajeong, the definitive piece by Sim Sajeong (pen name Hyeonjae); and Blue-and-White Porcelain Bottle with Chrysanthemum Design in Underglaze Iron, and Copper, a gorgeous example of white porcelain from the Joseon Dynasty.
 

In 1937, a British lawyer by the name of Sir John Gadsby  was settling his affairs in Tokyo as he prepared to return home, worried about indications that Japan would soon launch an invasion of China. In the process, Gadsby sold to Chun his entire collection of Goryeo celadons, the finest such collection at the time that included no fewer than four National Treasures: Celadon Incense Burner with Girin-shaped Lid  (National Treasure No. 65), Celadon Kundika with Inlaid Willow, Lotus, Reed, and Mandarin Duck Design  (National Treasure No. 66), Celadon Duck-shaped Water Dropper (National Treasure No. 74), and Celadon Water Dropper in the Shape of Mother and Baby Monkeys  (National Treasure No. 270).
 

In March 1938, the Japanese colonial authorities announced a change to the educational regulations in Korea: Korean language and Chinese literature courses were to be eliminated in middle schools. In protest of this heinous attempt by the colonial authorities to stamp out Korean culture, Kansong hurried to establish Bohwagak on the grounds of Bukdanjang, in what would become the first private museum in Korea. Bohwagak (which today is called the Kansong Art Museum) was completed on July 5 (a leap month, under the lunar calendar), with Oh Sechang (pen name Wichang) inscribing a personal message on the cornerstone.
 

On February 11, 1940, Japan stepped up its campaign to crush Korean culture by ordering Koreans to adopt Japanese names and use Japanese as the official language. That motivated Kansong to make a costly purchase of an original copy of Hunminjeongeum (The Correct Sounds for the Instruction of the People) , which was a remarkable milestone in efforts to preserve the Korean language in both its written and spoken forms. The first-rate Korean cultural properties that Kansong went to such lengths to acquire each year were then stored at Bohwagak.
 

After Kansong’s death in 1962, the Center for the Study of Korean Arts was established in 1966 to publish research into the artwork in his collection. That research finally began to be published in a series of exhibitions launched in the fall of 1971, which is also when Bohwagak was renamed the Kansong Art Museum. Those exhibitions have been held regularly, and without fail, every spring and fall, with the 94th exhibition taking place in the spring of 2024. 
 

In line with the original reason for Kansong’s collection, this center is committed to a positive appraisal of Korean history through research into art history that focuses on the cultural properties Kansong collected for nearly a century so as to overcome historical attitudes spread by the Japanese colonial authorities. As a result, every exhibition we have held recently has drawn crowds of visitors with lines running for hundreds of meters. Seeing how many Koreans sympathize with our vision has inspired us to redouble our research so we can lay the foundation for a cultural renaissance.