Record · 2007–2017
Byun Shi-Ji at the Smithsonian Korea Gallery
On June 8, 2007, the Korea Gallery opened at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Two paintings by Byun Shi-Ji hung there.
The record
- Venue
- Korea Gallery, National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), Smithsonian Institution
- Opened
- June 8, 2007
- Loan
- 2007–2017, ten years
- Work 1
- Boisterous Dance (난무), 1997, oil on canvas, 162 × 130 cm
- Work 2
- Leaving Along the Path Like This (이대로 가는 길), 2006, oil on canvas, 160 × 112 cm
- Scholar
- Paul Michael Taylor, Curator, Asian Cultural History Program, Smithsonian Institution
- Catalogue
- Korean–English catalogue, 137 pages, by Dr. Paul Michael Taylor and Byun Joung-hun
- Visit note
- May 2, 2009: a note left at the Gidang Art Museum by Carole, a director at the Smithsonian. She writes that she holds a few of his works in her personal collection and counts the visit among her greatest blessings. These are privately owned, not part of the Smithsonian's collection.
From the Korea Gallery's own text
The gallery's text introduces him as a regional artist with universal appeal. It says he was born on Jeju, grew up and studied painting in Japan, combined Korean, Japanese and Western styles, and began to depict the island's landscape after moving back to Jeju in 1975.
It reads the thick-lined houses, small horses and stone walls as carrying local symbolism. In Boisterous Dance, the crows above the exhausted artist are a sign of hope on Jeju. In Leaving Along the Path Like This, the aged pines are a traditional longevity symbol, used here to embody endurance.
Source: printed Korea Gallery text, “Korean Contemporary Art: Past is Present”. Summarized in our words; the original remains the Smithsonian's.
This page records confirmed facts only. Interpretation and the longer story of the loan continue in the pages below.