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Reconstruction on based on an eighteenth‐century painting. Ramie, silk, and polyester. Arumjigi Culture Keepers Foundation. Photograph © Arumjigi Culture Keepers
Foundation.
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The Asian Art Museum, in collaboration with the
Arumjigi Culture Keepers Foundation in Seoul, is hosting a show on Korean couture, with fashions ranging from re-creations of
Joseon Dynasty ceremonial clothing (dynasty that ruled Korea 1392 to 1910) to Korean fashions of the 21st century. For audiences to grasp the fine points of this age-old system, the
exhibition opens with an overview of the Confucian customs and
principles that ruled aristocratic dress in Joseon-dynasty Korea. The exhibit is the history of Korea, told through clothing.
The fashions in the show are the antithesis of what many now think of as Korean culture. This is the traditional, non-flashy, non glitzy Korea, in existence decades before K-Pop. For those who think that Korean culture is K-Pop, the show is a revelation but they will have to put aside their expectations of boy bands with dyed blonde hair, loud music, synchronized dancing and skin tight pants on skinny bodies.
For Hyonjeong Kim Han, the museum’s associate curator of Korean art,
the real signature of Korean fashion isn’t any one particular technique
or garment: It’s the overall sense of subtlety and restraint that
distinguishes it from other cultures’ traditions of dress. The aesthetic
on view is of subtle elegance, compelling in its simplicity and muted
colors.
Korean society was ruled by their version of
Neo-Confucianism,
an attempt to create a more rationalist and secular form of
Confucianism by rejecting superstitious and mystical elements of Taoism
and Buddhism. Rank and status were all, with the society ranged in a rigid hierarchy with the monarch on top and workers on the bottom. Women were second class, if considered at all, again
nothing new if one is familiar with the position of women in traditional
Asian societies. However, by watching Korean traditional soap operas,
it is possible to get a sense of how aristocratic women welded power
behind the scenes but showing nothing but restraint and modesty in
public.
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King Yeongjo's outer robe (dopo), 2015.
Reconstruction on based on a pre‐1740 garment. Silk.
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The work is exquisite, with clothing ranging from a re-creation of King Yeongjo’s pre-1740 dopo
(robe), various 18th-century women’s ensembles and layers of silk
undergarments, alongside contemporary clothing stitched from
hardworking denim and even high-tech neoprene. Re-creations of Joseon
dynasty (1392–1910) garments using handmade fabrics are showcased in the
first gallery, This gallery, for me the most interesting, is built
around displaying the
hanbok, a traditional Korean ensemble that Han says is “probably the most familiar piece of Korean dress.” For women,
hanbok includes a high, full chima (skirt) over a longer jeogori (blouse). For men, the
hanbok includes the addition of
baji (pants) and an outer
po
(robe). Most of the garments in the first gallery have been reproduced
based on historic relics and representations of fashion in the art of
the period and everything sewn by hand with amazing precision and skill.
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Man's coat (gu'ui), 2015.
Reconstruction based on a late sixteenth‐ to early seventeenth‐century garment.
Sheepskin. Arumjigi Culture Keepers Foundation. Photograph © Arumjigi Culture
Keepers Foundation
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Laws governed which classes could wear certain colors, combinations of
garments, materials (such as silk, cotton, and ramie — a fine linen-like
fiber) and even accessories like scholars’ stiff horsehair hats.
Viewers accustomed to the brighter colors of Japanese kinomos will be
surprised at the prevalence of white garments, but as Han explained,
“Koreans have highly revered the beauty of the color white, and that of
the unadorned, the pure, the plain,” Han added “That concept and
reverence relate to the Korean people’s love for white-ware pottery,
like the traditional Moon Jar we have on view in our gallery.” The
bright colors are reserved for children's clothing, for infant mortality
was high in pre-20th century Korea and it was a cause for celebration
when a child reached his first birthday.
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Based on a nineteenth‐century photograph. Silk. Arumjigi Culture Keepers Founda on. Photograph © Arumjigi Culture Keepers Foundation.
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Ceremonial costume for a boy’s first birthday (dolbok), 2017.
Reconstructon based on a Joseon‐dynasty ensemble. Silk with jade buttons and
gold‐stamped belt. Arumjigi Culture Keepers Foundaton. Photograph © Arumjigi
Culture Keepers Foundation
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Ceremonial costume for a girl’s first birthday (dolbok), 2017.
Reconstruction based on a Joseon‐dynasty ensemble. Silk. Arumjigi Culture Keepers Founda on. Photograph © Arumjigi Culture Keepers Foundation.
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Bridal robe (hwarot), 2015. Reconstruction on based on a Joseon‐dynasty garment. Silk. Arumjigi Culture Keepers Foundation. Photograph © Arumjigi Culture Keepers Foundation
It looks like a wedding was about the only time that Korean women were allowed to wear bright colors.
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Coat inspired by a tradi onal man’s po, 2013, by Jin Teok (Korean, b. 1934).
Silk organza. Jin Teok Studio. Photograph © Arumjigi Culture Keepers
Foundation.
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Strata, from the Earth series, 2000, by Jin Teok (Korean, b. 1934).
Co on. Jin Teok Studio. Photograph © Arumjigi Culture Keepers Foundation.
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The last two galleries showcase modern styles by designers Jin Teok, Im Seonoc and Jung Misun as well as looks from Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld that were inspired by Korean artistic traditions. I found this section the least interesting but then, my interest is on traditional Korean and its culture and art. Others might be more interested in the contemporary side of fashion and at least, the Asian gives these designers a rare opportunity to present their work to a wider public.
This show is the last one planned before the
Museum expands
next year when certain areas of the space will be closed for a while.
As is usual with the Asian, the scope of the exhibit is ambitious,
looking to cover Korean's past and look into its future through
clothing, a multi layered approach which is more successful in the first
gallery dealing with traditional Korean culture than in the following
two galleries showing contemporary Korean fashion.
It
is also another smart move on the part of the museum's leadership to
look beyond its traditional focus on Chinese art and into the histories,
cultures and increasing importance of other peoples of Asia and
Southeast Asia - not only Korean, but Indian, Filipino, Burma (now
Myanmar) Thailand and Mongolia.
Back in 2013, the Asian presented a show of art from the Joseon Dynasty,
one of the longest ruling dynasties in the world. At the time I wrote,
"the grim side of Korean history is not what the show is about - of
course not when the focus is court history (and clothing worn by the
elite)- but how can one ignore it? According to one article I read, 40 -
50% of the population were slaves and the remaining 40% farmers whose
labor supported layers and layers of hierarchy. " Today the focus is on
fashion, another item that is for the elite, however beautiful the work
is. In a way, it is a relief to turn away from the problems we have with
North Korean and the fear of war to bask in this beauty.
Exhibition Hours: Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 AM to 5 PM. Closed Mondays.
Exhibition Admission: FREE for museum members and children (12 & under. On weekdays, $20 for adults and $15 for seniors (65 & over), youth (13–17) and college students (with ID). On weekends, $25 for adults and $20 for seniors (65 & over), youth (13–17) and college students (with ID). On Target First Free Sundays admission to the exhibition is $10.
General Museum Admission: FREE for museum members, $15 for adults, $10 for seniors (65+), college students with ID, and youth (13–17). FREE for children under 12 and SFUSD students with ID. General admission is FREE to all on Target First Free Sundays (the first Sunday of every month).
www.asianart.org
