Contemporary Korean Art: New Directions since the 1960s by Mina Kim
Reaktion Books, to be published 1 November
Korea has changed dramatically in the past 60 years and so has its art. This book will be a comprehensive guide to Korea’s art movements of the 1960s and 70s and how they have laid the context for today. With 130 illustrations, the book will showcase a collection of the most visually captivating, socially intriguing and often overlooked examples of Korean art. Through themes including performance art, gender and identity, the evolution of multimedia art and the interplay of global and local, it promises to shine new light on the role of Korean art in worldwide visual culture. Mina Kim is an assistant professor of art history at the University of Alabama and specialises in contemporary Korean art.
Korean Art since 1945: Challenges and Changes by Youngna Kim
Brill Academic Publishing, out now
This is an authoritative account of Korean art since the Second World War, including a chapter on North Korea. Drawing on primary sources, it aims to provide a unified account of the development of Korean contemporary art. Key themes include modernist vs political art, tradition and national identity and the ideological factors that affected the art world. The author Youngna Kim is professor emerita of art history at Seoul National University. She was previously the director of the National Museum of Korea (2011-16) and her books include 20th Century Korean Art (Laurence King, 2005).
Korean Feminist Artists: Confront and Deconstruct by Kim Hong-hee
Phaidon Press, to be published October 2024
Like their peers around the world, female artists in Korea faced an uphill struggle for acceptance in the 1960s and 1970s, before achieving wider renown in the 1990s. This book is the first to explore the rich heritage of Korean feminist artists and their impact on the East Asian cultural landscape. It celebrates the work of 42 contemporary artists, including Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Kyungah Ham, Kimsooja, Lee Bul, Mire Lee, Minouk Lim, siren eun young jung, Ayoung Kim, Haegue Yang and Yun Suknam. The author, Dr Kim Hong-hee, is a critic and art historian who specialises in video and feminist art. She was director of the Seoul Museum of Art, 2012-16.
The Making of Modern Korean Art 1957-83: Kim Tschang-Yeul, Kim Whanki, Lee Ufan and Park Seo-Bo, edited by Doryun Chong and Yeon Shim Chung
Gregory R. Miller, to be published winter 2024
The minimalist abstract paintings of the Korean Informel movement are probably the best known examples of modern Korean art in the West. This promises to be the first book to survey Korean abstract modern art, focusing on the practices of Lee Ufan, Park Seo-Bo, Kim Tschang-Yeul and Kim Whanki. It covers three decades, from the birth of Korean Informel in the 1950s to the foundation of dansaekhwa—“monochrome painting”—in the 1970s. Out in winter 2024, the book is edited by Doryun Chong, chief curator of Hong Kong’s M+, and Yeon Shim Chung, associate professor of art theory and criticism at Hongik University in Seoul.