Accession Number
2013/2.526

Title
Untitled

Artist(s)
Kim Whanki

Object Creation Date
1958

Medium & Support
watercolor on paper

Dimensions
11 3/8 x 8 in. (28.89 x 20.32 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of the Joseph T.A. and Elsie Choy Lee Family

Label copy

Kim Whanki is an in uential abstract painter who has inspired generations of young Korean artists. Born in Sinan, a small island located in Jeolla province, he moved to Tokyo to study ne arts at Nihon University in the early 1930s, returning to Korea in 1937. During his stay in Tokyo, he joined a group of young progressive painters and became interested in abstract art. Back in Korea, he became a pioneer of modern art, teaching at Seoul National University and Hongik University. In the mid-twentieth century he developed his unique style, which is exempli ed in this work depicting a plum branch in a vase and a moon—subjects common in traditional Korean paintings. The subdued hues of white, grey, and black are reminiscent of the aesthetics of Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) ceramics (on view in this gallery), which were a strong in uence on his work. 

Physical Description
An abstract painting in greys, whites and blacks. On the upper portion is a large white circle and a large rounded object below. Black lines like a tree are going vertically up the painting from both ends, with white dots and smaller black lines in the center of the circle.

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
abstract

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
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Abstract Imagist
trees