NEW YORK, NY.- Phaidon presents Dansaekhwa: Korean Abstract Art and its Cultural Impact, a major new study of the groundbreaking postwar movement that redefined Korean abstract art. Written by leading art historian Dr. Yeon Shim Chung, this beautifully illustrated volume explores the aesthetic legacy and cultural influence of Dansaekhwa, revealing how a generation of Korean artists radically expanded the possibilities of painting through process, tactility, and experimentation.

Although Dansaekhwa is often translated simply as "monochrome painting," it extends far beyond the canvas into drawing, sculpture, installation, conceptual art, and experimental work. Emerging in South Korea during the 1970s, artists developed new visual languages rooted in repetitive processes, tactile surfaces, and the exploration of material, transforming painting into a deeply physical and meditative experience. With more than 250 illustrations of artworks and archival materials, Dansaekhwa traces the movement's evolution within the wider context of cultural and political transformations that shaped modern Korea and the international art world.

Park Seo-Bo's meditative Ecriture paintings sit alongside Ha Chong-Hyun's tactile "back-pressure" works, created by pushing paint through the reverse side of the canvas. Lee Ufan's minimalistic sculptures and paintings dialogue with Yun Hyong-keun's meditative blurry canvases. Chung Chang-Sup transformed traditional hanji paper into richly textured surfaces, while Kim Tschang-Yeul became renowned for his illusionistic water-drop paintings. Women artists including Wook-kyung, Lee Chungji, Chin Ohc Sun, and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha expanded the mostly male-dominated world of abstract painting into media as diverse as textile, sculpture, photography, and conceptual practices, offering a new perspective on the history of Korean contemporary art. Together, these works reveal how Dansaekhwa artists were agents of creative and social change, working to develop distinctly Korean notions of formalism, materiality, and monumentalism within new global ideas of painting during the mid-twentieth century up to today.

Dansaekhwa combines artworks with detailed archival research, artists' writings, and exhibition histories to situate the movement within the social and cultural climate that reshaped modern Korea, while tracing its growing international influence through exhibitions and artistic exchange. The book also traces how critics and galleries shaped the discourse surrounding Korean abstraction and positioned it on the global stage.

Featuring an elegant linen cover and graphic design, Dansaekhwa stands as both a beautiful object and an invitation to experience the material and meditative spirit of Korean abstract art. The colourful, graphic paint strokes connect to the book's goal of moving beyond the literal translation of Dansaekhwa as "monochrome painting," nodding to the process behind the artworks illustrated within and the unexpected profusion of shades and media in Dansaekhwa art, while the natural-looking linen plays with the appearance of raw canvas, further reflecting the material qualities at the heart of the movement.

Yeon Shim Chung is Professor of Art History and Theory at Hongik University in Seoul. An expert on modern and contemporary Korean art history, she received her Ph.D. in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and is the author and co-editor of Korean Art from 1953 (2020) and The Making of Modern Korean Art (2025).

Phaidon is the premier global publisher of the creative arts with over 1,500 titles in print. They work with the world's most influential artists, chefs, writers, and thinkers to produce innovative books on art, photography, design, architecture, fashion, food and travel, and illustrated books for children. Phaidon is headquartered in London and New York City.

Book Information

Title Dansaekhwa: Korean Abstract Art and Its Cultural Impact
Author Yeon Shim Chung
Publication Date November 2026
Price $59.95 USD / $74.95 CAN
Binding Hardback
Extent 248 pp
Illustrations 300 col and B&W illus.
Size 290 × 214 mm
ISBN 9781838668518