KOREA FOUNDATION

First Endowed Curatorship for Korean Art at The Met

On September 20, the KF and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York held a ceremony to celebrate the establishment of The Met’s first Endowed Curatorship for Korean Art. The museum was selected as the first institution to receive the grant for the special curatorship in 2019. At that time, the KF had established its project for supporting Korean art curatorships at international museums, hoping to assist them in exerting greater efforts to promote Korean culture.

Under the project, the KF and the selected museum run a joint fund for some five years, mutually investing a matched sum of money to permanently operate a curatorship devoted to Korean art. During the September 20 ceremony, the KF and The Met named the curatorship “The Korea Foundation and Samsung Foundation of Culture Curatorship for Korean Art” and appointed Eleanor Soo-ah Hyun as the first recipient of the curatorship.

The KF and the Samsung Foundation of Culture supported the opening of the Arts of Korea gallery at The Met in 1998, and for the past 25 years the KF has jointly worked with the institutions to bring Korean art to the heart of America. The establishment of the endowed curatorship is expected to invigorate the museum’s exhibitions on Korean art and related educational programs.

The KF is preparing to establish similar curatorships at The Cleveland Museum of Art and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art and plans to continue its efforts in building the infrastructure needed to secure Korean art specialists at global museums.

Moon-Hyung Lyu, CEO of the Samsung Foundation of Culture; Kim Gheewhan, President of The Korea Foundation; Eleanor Soo-ah Hyun, The Korea Foundation and Samsung Foundation of Culture Associate Curator for Korean Art; Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and CEO; and Mike Hearn, Douglas Dillon Chairman of The Met’s Department of Asian Art. Photo by Filip Wolak

Metropolitan Museum of Artproject for supporting Korean art curatorshipsEleanor Hyun