Over the past decades, Korea has gradually risen to become one of the global representatives of Asian culture. Korean artists have been increasingly active at an international level, with many being invited for residencies and exhibitions all over the world. Nonetheless, for various reasons, the general understanding of Korean contemporary art remains insufficient. Although a few overviews of Korean contemporary art do exist, they typically focus on the history of art groups and movements. In addition, several anthologies have been published with articles on a range of topics, offering multiple perspectives. However, there have been few attempts to provide a unified synopsis of Korean contemporary art. Presenting a comprehensive, engaging survey that covers the full spectrum of Korean contemporary art, Korean Art since 1945: Challenges and Changes seeks to fill this lacuna. Drawing on primary sources, it discusses the main issues, including the ideological stakes that affected the art world, modernist art vs. political art, and the fluidity of concepts such as tradition and national identity. Moreover, the book also has a chapter on the art of North Korea. Korean Art since 1945: Challenges and Changes is an invaluable tool for those intent on grasping the entire scope of modern art in Asia.

Korean Art since 1945: Challenges and Changes provides a comprehensive, engaging survey of Korean contemporary art. It draws on primary sources and is filled with facts and ideas that are new to foreign readers. The book is an invaluable study to grasp the entire scope of modern art in Asia.

Through the perspective of the ‘conformed body’, this groundbreaking book examines the role in art of everyday conformist practices in the People’s Republic of China, such as mass assemblies and bodily trainings and exercises, as well as their impact on people’s perceptions and collective memories. It identifies related artworks, reassesses artistic interpretations with critical reflections, and explores a key origin of artistic productions in post-Mao China. Featuring 200 colour illustrations, the book discusses works by more than 30 internationally acclaimed Chinese contemporary artists, including Ai Weiwei, Geng Jianyi, Song Dong, Xu Bing, Zhang Peili and Zhang Xiaogang.

Transposed Memory explores the visual culture of national recollection in modern and contemporary East Asia by emphasizing memories that are under the continuous process of construction, reinforcement, alteration, resistance, and contestation. Expanding the discussion of memory into visual culture by exploring various visual sites of recollection, and the diverse ways commemoration is represented in visual, cultural, and material forms, this book produces cross-cultural and interdisciplinary conversations on memory and site by bringing together international scholars from the fields of art history, history, architecture, and theater and dance, examining intercultural relationships in East Asia through geopolitical conditions and visual culture. With contributions of Rika Iezumi Hiro, Ruo Jia, Burglind Jungmann, Hong Kal, Stephen McDowall, Alison J. Miller, Jessica Nakamura, Eunyoung Park, Travis Seifman, and Linh D. Vu.

This book examines the development of national emblems, photographic portraiture, oil painting, world expositions, modern spaces for art exhibitions, university programs of visual arts, and other agencies of modern art in Korea. With few books on modern art in Korea available in English, this book is an authoritative volume on the topic and provides a comparative perspective on Asian modernism including Japan, China, and India. In turn, these essays also shed a light on Asian reception of and response to the Orientalism and exoticism popular in Europe and North America in the early twentieth century. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, the history of Asia, Asian studies, colonialism, nationalism, and cultural identity.

Built upon the works at a 2012 symposium, this book explores some of the canonical attributes of Korean art and the challenges in collecting this art. Contemporary, traditional, and modern Korean art collections are explored, along with the continuing research in iconography and aesthetics that define Korean art.

While mainly focusing on the Kim Dae Jung era, the essays in this book examine persistent problems and new opportunities in Korean politics, economy, and culture. In 1997, Kim Ae Jung was elected to head the government of the Seventh Republic, after 30 years in opposition.

In our age of globalization and multiculturalism, it has never been more important to understand and appreciate all cultures across the world. The four volumes take a step forward in this endeavour by presenting concise information on those regions least well-known to students across Europe: the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The volumes convey what daily life is like for people in these selected regions. Entries will aid readers in understanding the importance of cultural sociology, to appreciate the effects of cultural forces around the world, and to learn the history of countries and cultures within these important regions. Key Features -Topics are explored within historical context, in three broad historical periods: prehistory to 1250, 1250 to 1920 and 1920 to the present. -One volume each is devoted to the regions of the Middle East and Africa and then one volume to East and Southeast Asia and a final volume to West, Central and South Asia. The volumes include extensive use of photographs and maps to explain cultural and geographic content. -Each volume has its own volume editor with expertise in that particular region. Key Themes Arts, Culture and Science People, Society and Dynasties Religion and Law Family and Daily Life Conflicts and Wars Politics and Government Health and Education Economy, Trade and Industry National Geography and History.

Walk the galleries of any major contemporary art museum and you are sure to see a work by a Korean artist. Interest in modern and contemporary art from South—as well as North—Korea has grown in recent decades, and museums and individual collectors have been eager to tap into this rising market. But few books have helped us understand Korean art and its significance in the art world, and even fewer have told the story of the formation of Korea’s contemporary cultural scene and the role artists have played in it. This richly illustrated history tackles these issues, exploring Korean art from the late-nineteenth century to the present day—a period that has seen enormous political, social, and economic change. Charlotte Horlyck covers the critical and revolutionary period that stretches from Korean artists’ first encounters with oil paintings in the late nineteenth century to the varied and vibrant creative outputs of the twenty-first. She explores artists’ interpretations of new and traditional art forms ranging from oil and ink paintings to video art, multi-media installations, ready-mades, and performance art, showing how artists at every turn have questioned the role of art and artists within society. Opening up this fascinating world to general audiences, this book will appeal to anyone wanting to explore this rich and fascinating era in Korea’s cultural history.

"A gem to be consulted by all students of anthropology, history, ethnomusicology, and colonial studies." Hyung Il Pal, author of Constructing "Korean" Origins: A Critical Review of Archaeology, Historiography, and Racial Myth in Korean State Formation Theories --