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Metallurgy: Great Wisdom
By exploring metallurgy from the ancient times through the present, Metallurgy: Great Wisdom sheds light on the metal art tradition from which Korean art history begins. Metallurgy is a comprehensive term referring to the process and products of handling of metals with fire. Korea’s longstanding and proud metallurgy tradition is embedded in a vast body of Korean cultural properties, including ancient bronzeware, gold crowns and accessories, steel weapons, and Buddhist sculptures and craftworks. The diverse utilization of metals and the decorative techniques applied to them developed over the centuries and are now often considered to have produced the definitive symbolic expressions of their respective periods. They have been passed down as an inherited wisdom of the Korean people that surpasses the component technologies. (read more)
Rather than clinging exclusively to the past, the wisdom of metallurgy developed and spread into scientific and industrial fields, securing a place in the foundation underlying the society of today. In the arts, the abundant expressive potential of metallurgy can be observed in the wide array of works by both traditional artisans and contemporary artists who reflect the aesthetics of their times. This exhibition features numerous masterpieces of metal art that represent the spirit of traditional wisdom. It will help visitors to understand how South Korea’s current prominent position in fields involving steel and meterials engineering, including semiconductors, science, and the arts, has been achieved based on the precious tradition and great wisdom of metallurgy. (read less)
  • Korean Abstraction
  • Wood Furniture
  • Folk Paintings
  • Buddhist Art
  • Ceramics