HOUSTON, TX.- At a press briefing held today in the Caroline Wiess Law Building at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Dr. Peter C. Marzio, MFAH director, and Dr. Kim Hongnam, director of the National Museum of Korea, Seoul, South Korea, stated their intentions to enter into a long-term agreement and loan of Korean cultural treasures that will serve as the foundation of the Korean Art and Culture Initiative at the MFAH. At the heart of this initiative is the establishment of larger, permanent gallery space for the display of Korean art of the highest aesthetic and cultural significance and the introduction of a comprehensive interpretive program for visitors. The new project will also involve the local Korean community in both the presentation and interpretation of the art.

“The MFAH is happy to welcome Dr. Kim to Houston ,” said Marzio, “and is most highly honored to present this very relevant selection of Korean treasures to American audiences for the first time. The museum is grateful and thanks the National Museum of Korea for its exceptional loan of many beautiful objects that will greatly enrich the cultural landscape of the South and Southwest.”

The Korean Art Gallery will be the museum’s first permanent gallery for Korean art. It will be prominently located on the first floor of the Law Building at the MFAH and, at 2,260 square feet, will be comparable to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s gallery (2,000 square feet). It will be the only museum gallery in the Southwest dedicated to Korean art. When it opens, in December 2007, the Korean Art Gallery will feature an outstanding collection spanning 5,000 years of cultural history. The collection will comprise a selection of extraordinary objects on loan from the National Museum of Korea and artworks from the MFAH collection. Two of the objects from the NMK , Golden Crown and Gold Waist Belt, both crafted during the Silla period (668-935), are designated National Treasures of Korea. It will be the first time for these works to be exhibited outside of Korea .

“The planning for this project has involved many people, and the MFAH has given careful thought to a meaningful presentation of the artworks,” Marzio said. “The intention is to mix new with the old, which is unusual among museums, and to show the depth of the Korean culture. Additionally, we’ve designed a strong educational component to work in complement to the art. We hope that through the educational enrichment activities and materials visitors will find personal relevance in the art and the MFAH can make an important contribution toward cultural understanding among visitors of diverse backgrounds.”

Marzio also acknowledged and thanked the Korea Foundation for its generous grant of $400,000 toward the support of the museum’s Korean Art and Culture Initiative.

The opening of the Korean Gallery at the MFAH is the initial step toward attaining the museum’s goal of full representation of Asian art, so that by 2008, approximately 10,000 square feet, triple the current space, will be devoted to the display and interpretation of Asian art. Other Asian cultures represented in the MFAH collection are China , Japan , India , Indonesia , and Southeast Asia . Each of these cultures will have new gallery space. The Chinese and Indian galleries are scheduled to open in January 2008, and the gallery for Japanese art will open in the fall of 2008.

The Korean Gallery will encompass work of each of the five primary periods of cultural production in Korean history, from early periods to the present. It will be divided into thematic sections covering ceramics, the arts of the Early Periods, Buddhist art, literati art, women’s personal ornaments, and contemporary art. The MFAH will draw on its own notable collection to incorporate photography into the gallery, and Korean film and video artists will have a presence through a Korean film series established by the MFAH film department.

Art in the Korean Gallery

When it opens, the Korean Art Gallery will display 50 important examples of traditional and contemporary Korean art.

Highlights of the ceramics section will be an enormous Neolithic Comb-Pattern Jar on loan from the National Museum of Korea and a fourth century Storage Jar from the MFAH collection. The key turning point in the history of Korean ceramics, marked by the emergence of celadon during the Goryeo dynasty (918-1392 ), will be examined through impressive representative examples such as Inlaid Celadon Bowl, as well as a Turtle-Shaped Ewer, Incense Burner, and Flower Petal-Shaped Dish on loan from the NMK . Magnificent examples of Buncheong ware, also from this period, will be loaned from the NMK . The mastery of Korean ceramicists will be further demonstrated through the display of Joseon dynasty (1392-1910) white-bodied porcelain ware.

Vessels such as the Three Kingdoms period (57 B.C.-668) Duck-Shaped pottery object from the NMK , which may represent tribal totems or specific beliefs in the afterlife, will be included in the Early Period section. Most Goryeo period metalware and ornaments were made for use in religious ritual, but there are examples of secular objects of remarkable quality that have been discovered in burial chambers. The two national treasures on loan, the Golden Crown and Gold Waist Belt, will be installed in this section of the gallery.

In the Buddhist art section, the central role of Buddhism in Korean art will be explored through figural sculptures, including a Three Kingdoms Pensive Boddhisattva, Standing Tahagata Buddha from the Silla period, and Goryeo dynasty Seated Amitabha Buddha, all from the NMK . Buddhist ritual objects, including the MFAH Goryeo dynasty bronze Ritual Sprinkler (Kundika) from the 12th-13th century, will demonstrate the complexity of Korean metalwork. A late Goryeo Buddhist Bell, 13th-14th century, on loan from the NMK , will represent this most important of Buddhist ritual objects. One of the few bronze bells in a Korean collection, this example has cast decoration of lotus flowers and a beautifully modeled dragon, typical of Goryeo bells.

The literati arts section will present furniture and arts of the saranbang (men’s quarters) to portray the world of the Korean scholar. Elegantly crafted Joseon period furniture from the 18th and 19th centuries, including four Cabinets, Dining Table with Tiger-Shaped Legs, Document Box, Reading Table, and Inkstone Box, all from the NMK , will convey the simple literati aesthetic. The Scenery of Geumgang Mountain, late 18th-19th century, a large twelve-panel folding screen depicting a famous mountain in Korea that was popularly frequented by scholars, will also serve to epitomize the arts and life of the literati.

Another section will be devoted to the intricate arts created for women’s use, such as personal ornaments and accessories. Two signature works of this section from the NMK , the Joseon period Female Ornament with Amber and Female Ornament with Jade, will demonstrate the unique Korean decorative knot called maedup.

Contemporary Korean artists’ works reflect the turbulent and shifting terrain of modern Korea . Objects addressing complicated issues surrounding tradition, modernity, and identity will be on view in the contemporary art section of the Korean Gallery. From the MFAH permanent collection, they include Park Dae-Sung’s large ink on paper works Hyun Yul and The Enlighten Cave, 2006; Cho Duck-Hyun’s drawing on canvas titled A Memory of the 20th Century, 1994; Park Young Sook’s c. 2000-2005 Buncheong Seating Arrangement; and a 2004 mixed media installation by Lee Bul.

Asian Art Exhibitions - In addition to the expansion of the Asian galleries, the MFAH has several special exhibitions devoted to Asian art planned, beginning with a showing of the modern Korean ink painter Suh Se-Ok’s work in January 2007. In the summer of 2009 the Ancient Arts of Vietnam will open,