SEOUL, April 4 (Korea Bizwire) — In celebration of its 55th anniversary, Gallery Hyundai, one of South Korea’s most iconic art institutions, has launched a sweeping exhibition titled “55th Anniversary: Narrative of Korean Modern Art,” bringing together landmark works from artists deeply intertwined with the gallery’s storied history.
Founded on April 4, 1970, by art dealer Park Myung-ja, Gallery Hyundai was born out of Park’s experience at the country’s first commercial art space, Bando Gallery. At a time when Eastern-style paintings dominated the domestic market and Western-style works were considered novelties, Park foresaw a cultural shift toward modernism and began showcasing contemporary Western-style art in Seoul’s Insadong district.
The anniversary exhibition unfolds in two parts across the gallery’s main and annex buildings in Sagan-dong. Part I features 24 artists who helped shape the early identity of the gallery, including revered national figures such as Lee Jung-seop, Park Soo-keun, and Chang Ucchin, as well as seminal modernists Kim Whanki, Do Sang-bong, Park Rae-hyun, and Lee Dae-won. More than 50 works highlight the evolution of Korean figurative and modern painting prior to 1941.
One of Gallery Hyundai’s most memorable milestones came in 1972 with its solo exhibition of Lee Jung-seop’s works, which drew massive crowds and led the gallery to donate Lee’s 1953 piece Couple to the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Park would later donate 54 additional Lee works to the Lee Jung-seop Art Museum in Seogwipo, Jeju in 2004.
Her connection to Park Soo-keun is equally notable. In the 1960s, Park Soo-keun had promised Park Myung-ja a wedding gift of one of his paintings. After his passing in 1965, his wife honored that promise in 1966 with the gift of Dried Fish. The work was later donated, along with 50 others, to the Park Soo-keun Art Museum in Yanggu in 2002.
The second part of the exhibition, housed in the gallery’s annex, showcases 12 artists associated with Vice President Do Hyung-tae, who now oversees the gallery. This section highlights contemporary and diaspora artists, including those connected to Do’s “Rediscovering Korea’s Experimental Artists” program and others he encountered during his studies abroad.
Featured are conceptual and performance pioneers such as Kwak Duck-jun, whose 1960s paintings and famed President and Kwak series—juxtaposing his image with Time magazine covers of U.S. presidents—are on display. Media art trailblazer Park Hyun-ki’s 1981 urban performance Passing Through Downtown Daegu is presented via video and photography. Seong Neung-kyung’s influential 1976 piece Reading a Newspaper—where he read daily papers aloud, cut out the text, and exhibited the remnants—is also revisited.
On the second floor of the annex, the show features experimental works including Kim Cha-seop’s mathematically inspired art using the symbol π, Kim Myung-hee’s blackboard paintings, and diaspora contributions from Shin Sung-hee (France) and Lim Chung-sub (New York), culminating with recent works from avant-garde figures Lee Seung-taek, Lee Kun-yong, and Lee Kang-so.
The first segment of the exhibition runs through April 15, followed by a second rotation beginning April 22 that will spotlight French-based artists and abstract painters.
Originally slated to open April 4, aligning with the gallery’s founding date, the exhibition’s start was delayed to April 8 to avoid coinciding with the Constitutional Court’s ruling on the presidential impeachment case.
As it honors its legacy, Gallery Hyundai’s 55th anniversary show also reflects on the evolution of Korean modern and experimental art—bridging generations, styles, and continents in one of its most ambitious retrospectives to date.
Image credit: Gallery Hyundai, Yonhap / photonews@koreabizwire.com
