The Korea Foundation recently organized the 2018 Korean Art Workshop for Doctoral Students on the “Arts of the Joseon Dynasty” in Korea from July 15 through 22.

The Korea Foundation has hosted the Korean Art Workshop for Overseas Curators annually since 1999. With the growing international interest in Korean art, people from increasingly diverse backgrounds have applied for the Workshop for Korean Art Curators. Responding to this demand, this year the Korea Foundation organized a Korean art workshop for doctoral students in Korean/East Asian art planning to work as curators in the future.

Under the theme of the Arts of the Joseon Dynasty, the workshop featured various lectures on culture, fine arts, painting, folk painting and ceramics of Joseon and additional special on-site lectures.

During the workshop period, the participants visited the National Palace Museum of Korea, Leeum - Samsung Museum of Art, the Korea Furniture Museum, the Gyeomjae Jeong Seon Art Museum and the National Museum of Korea, and had a chance to get first-hand experience of the art of the Joseon period.

They also visited Gwangju in Gyeonggi Province, the home of royal kilns that had produced ceramics for the royal court for 500 years during the Joseon period. Visiting the kiln site of Bunwon and the Gyeonggi Ceramic Museum, they reviewed the meaning and value of Joseon white porcelain.

In addition, they visited Andong where the traditional Confucian culture of the Joseon period is still being kept. Visiting Hahoe Village, Buyongdae Cliff, Bongjeong Buddhist Temple, and such Confucian academies as Byeongsan Seowon and Dosan Seowon, they saw various architectural styles found in folk houses, Confucian architecture and other old houses of Joseon.

The workshop was attended by those majoring in Chinese, Japanese and Korean art, thereby contributing to deepening and spreading understanding of Korean art in the international art community.

It is hoped that the workshop served as an occasion to help doctoral students of Korean/East Asian art strengthen friendly relations among themselves, while contributing to more active research and education on Korean art at overseas universities.