On December 31, a study revealed that approximately 1,120 pieces of Korean contemporary art are housed in 20 major North American art museums. However, these collections are largely limited to works by a small number of artists with experience working in the United States.

According to the study titled Current Status and Expansion Strategies for Korean Contemporary Art in International Museums by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, 20 North American museums—including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art—collectively hold 1,118 works by 235 Korean artists.

The study found that North American museums began actively collecting Korean works in the 2000s. Of the total, 366 works were acquired in the 2000s, followed by 401 in the 2010s. The most commonly collected medium was photography, accounting for 33% of the total, followed by painting (23%), printmaking (15%), and sculpture and media art (each 8%).

Nam June Paik was the most represented artist, with his works comprising 14.6% (164 pieces) of the total collection. He was followed by Haegue Yang with 4% (45 pieces) and Kim Ki Chan with 3.6% (41 pieces). Among the museums surveyed, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, had the largest collection of Korean works, with 153 pieces, including 27 works by Haegue Yang and 11 by Gimhongsok.

MoMA, which holds a total collection of 200,000 pieces, was found to house 107 Korean works, including 39 by Nam June Paik, 13 by Kim Beom, 6 each by Haegue Yang and SEO, and 4 by Lee Ufan. Additionally, the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden holds 34 Korean artworks, of which 14 are photographic works by Nikki S. Lee.

The report highlighted that, like Korean museums, many North American museums are increasingly inclined to collect affordable works by emerging artists due to budget constraints. However, the report also noted a significant lack of well-organized information on Korean artists.

Errors and omissions in artist data were common, and inconsistent English name transliterations often made it difficult to accurately identify artists. The report further stated, “Despite being less well-known than Western art, the relatively high prices of Korean artworks make them difficult to justify for acquisition.”

To expand the presence of Korean artworks in overseas museums, the report suggested several strategies. These included creating a Korean art database (DB) to support research on Korean works already in international collections, funding research staff, standardizing information on Korean artists and their works, establishing an art promotion agency (tentative name) to facilitate donations, forming a Korean art joint acquisition fund (tentative name), and supporting a network of Korean curators in North America.

References

• 연합뉴스, 북미미술관 20곳 韓현대미술소장품 1천120점…"소수작가 집중", 2024.12.31
• 한국문화관광연구원 (Korea Culture & Tourism Institute) 

Ji Yeon Lee has been working as an editor for the media art and culture channel AliceOn since 2021 and worked as an exhibition coordinator at samuso (now Space for Contemporary Art) from 2021 to 2023.