KOREAN TREASURES AT LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art) Guest Post by Caroline Hatton

 Korean Quadruple Gourd Vase, LACMA

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, took these photos in March 2024. She writes:

While in L.A. for only two days, I was lucky to spend an hour at LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Viewing “Korean Treasures,” a temporary exhibition until June 30, 2024, filled my short visit with a rich experience.

The 35 items on display were selected from the vast collection of Chester and Cameron Chang, donated to LACMA. The selection offers a broad glimpse at artworks from past millennia to the present, including calligraphies, paintings, scrolls, screens, ceramics and sculptures.

The Poet Lee Baek (LI Bai) Watching a Waterfall by Yi Immun

An ink painting on silk from around 1800, traditionally attributed to Yi Inmun, shows the celebrated Chinese poet Li Bai “Gazing at a Waterfall on Mount Lu” and composing his most famous poem, the one by that title. The image includes a mountain waterfall, a timeless, universal source of awe, and two culturally distinctive and significant products of the creativity sparked by this emotion—a Chinese poem and a Korean painting.

A pair of cranes represents Trust, a Confucian virtue.

On a screen illustrating The Eight Confucian Virtues, which are Filial piety, Brotherly love, Loyalty, Trust, Propriety, Righteousness, Integrity and Sensibility, animals adorn the top of each panel. A pair of cranes represents Trust.

Stone in the shape of the Korean Peninsula.

One of my favorite forms of artistic creativity is what we see at any age in a cloud, a chunk of driftwood, or a rock. This is why I liked the sculpture by Mother Nature, titled “Stone in the Shape of the Korean Peninsula.” I especially liked how the vision inspired the artist who sculpted a wooden base for it, to carve water ripples around the stone.

Ceramics.

I liked the variety represented by seven ceramics in one display, every one of a distinctive shape and color. Vases, a jar, a vessel, a bottle and a seal are faceted in different ways, glazed in different colors, and designed for different functions. My favorite was the “Quadruple gourd vase” (photo at the top of this blog post), in part because it inspired me to make a miniature version of it some day.

Two dozen more diverse art works await viewers with differing sensibilities!

All text and photos, copyright Caroline Arnold. www.theintrepidtourist.blogspot.com