Kansong Art Museum at the DDP

Selected priceless artifacts from the Kansong Art Museum are currently on display at the DDP, Dongdaemun Plaza or Dream Design Play. The Kansong Art Museum was first opened in 1938 as Bohwagak, the first private art museum in Korea. The collector "Kansong" Jeon Hyeong-pil, born 1906, died in 1962 and so the museum name was changed to Kansong Art Museum and since 1971 has only opened twice a year for a brief time in the spring and again briefly in the fall. "Gansong" Jeon Hyeong-pil (1906-1962), a young wealthy landowner during the colonial period, collected the art treasures of Korea's past to keep them within Korea rather than see them be taken most notably to Japan, the then colonizing country of Korea.

The Kansong Art Museum is the home to 12 national treasures, 10 treasures, and 4 Seoul tangible cultural assets, and according to the Joongang Daily, the Kansong Art Museum since January 2014 has posted a few of its treasures online to share the glorious history of the Korea's rich past. If one clicks on the pictured art treasures at the Kansong Art Museum and Culture Foundation site, one can read about the treasure, and in many cases even learn what Jeon Hyeong-pil paid for the artifact.

To give a little background to Jeon Hyeong-pil, before the age of 25 he inherited a huge fortune, and being a man of leisure and having what can be regarded as a keen interest in art, he began to collect art treasures. During the 1930s and 1940s is when he collected the majority. Legendary stories evolved from his purchases, one in particular in 1935 concerns the now famous National Treasure No. 68, the Celadon Prunus Vase with inlaid Cloud and Crane Design, which was in the process of being sold to a Japanese. Jeon Hyeong-pil paid a huge sum (according to the museum web site: 20,000 won) which was equivalent to 20 decent houses of the time!

National Treasure No. 68, the Celadon Prunus Vase with inlaid Cloud and Crane Design

"Kansong", Jeon Hyeong-pil's pen-name, is also known as promoting the Korean language when the Japanese colonial rulers decreed that all Koreans must speak Japanese and the Japanese language became the language of education in the limited number of schools. Jeon Hyeong-pil purchases and supported Posung High School, the first private school established by a Korean citizen. It was through this high school and another purchase, the Hannam printing press that Mr. Jeon promoted great resistance against the colonial rulers. 

1906 July 29 - born
1921 March - graduated from Eouidong Primary School (now Hyojae Elem Sch)
1926 March - graduated from Whimoon High School
1930 March - graduated from law school, Waseda University, Japan
1934 - opened Bukdanjang in Seongbuk-dong and set up Geosan Stupa
1935 - purchased Celedon Prunus vase with inlaid cloud and crane design (Nat'l Treasure No 58) from Maeda Sayichiro
1936 - Hannam Bookstore and Publishing Company
1936 - purchased Blue and White Porcelain Bottle with Chrysanthemum Design in Underglaze Iron and Copper (Nat'l Treasure No. 294) at Gyeongseong Art Club, the Mori Koichi's collection auction

Blue-and-white Porcelain Bottle with Chrysanthemum Design in Underglaze Iron and Copper (Nat'l Treasure No. 294)

"The elongated neck of this elegant bottle and the globular body reflect the spirit of the age. The body is painted in blue, brown, and red by using cobalt, iron and copper oxides as pigments. This extremely rare bottle, painted in three different pigments, is recognized for its exceptional quality utilizing every color pigment and carving technique of the era.

Kansong purchased this masterpiece through heated bidding battle against Japanese art dealers in Gyeongseong Art Club in 1936. The final bidding price was record breaking, 14,580 won!

1937 - purchased Nat'l Treasure No. 65, 66, 74, 270, and Treasure No. 238, 286, 349, 1955, 1954
1938 - opened the first private art museum, Museum Bohwagak, in Bukdanjang
1940 - established the school foundation Dongsung, taking over the Posung Middle School
1940 - collected the Huminjeongeum Hyeraebon (Nat'l Treasure No. 70)
1945 Oct - 1946 Sept - worked as principal of Posung Middle School
1947 - selected as member of Historic Assets Preservation Committee
1950 June 25 - outbreak of the Korean War
1954 - delegated to first and second subcommittee member of the Cultural Properties Protection Committee
1956 - awarded with Education Service Commendation
1960 January - established the Art and Archaeology Society
1962 Jan 26 - "Kansong" passed away
1962 Aug 15 - posthumous honors of Order of Cultural Merit conferred on "Kansong"
1964 Nov 13 - posthumous honors of Order of Civil Merit Republic of Korea on "Kansong"
1965 - establishment of The Center for the Study of Korean Arts
1971 - Bohwagak renamed Kansong Art Museum, and project exhibition opened to the public every spring and autumn

Kansong Art Museum opens every May and October for a brief time. Be sure to visit this museum with exceptional masterpieces!