Exhibitions

Elizabeth Keith, an intrepid traveler and visionary artist, first ventured to Asia almost a century ago, where she filled travel journals with lively, realistic sketches of Korea and other destinations. At the encouragement of a Japanese publisher, she translated her sketches and watercolors into etchings and woodblock prints. As author of Eastern Windows (1928) and Old Korea (1946), Keith sought to capture a “vanishing Korea,” and her work remains especially relevant today as a view into the Korea of her age.... Read More

      The Korea Society marks the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War with two exhibitions running June 25 through September 10: Steel Helmets: U.S. Korean War Graphics  and Korean War in Color. Both open six decades to the day of the outbreak of conflict. Steel Helmets: U.S. Korean War Graphics  features twenty-eight framed graphics—eighteen Korean War film posters and ten comics—from the era. With images ranging from the stark to the romantic, the film posters project images of bravery, climatic... Read More

Koreans expressed their passion and fear through masked dance for hundreds of years.  The dance-drama dates back to shamanic ritual aimed at warding off malevolent spirits and grew into a form of popular entertainment that poked fun at the establishment.March 4—April 25, 2010 Free and Open to the Public. The Korea Society Gallery950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor (Building entrance on SW corner of Third Avenue and 57th Street) Over the centuries, masked dance evolved from shamanic ritual to popular... Read More

Shown for the first time in the United States, the collection features a rare collection of locks, latches and key charms, from the Chosŏn Dynasty (1392-1910), beautifully designed metal and wood objects executed in myriad shapes. This exhibition features a rare collection of locks, latches and key charms, from the Chosŏn Dynasty (1392-1910). The items reveal the richly symbolic and exquisitely decorative dimensions of traditional Korean aesthetic and craft traditions. On loan from the Lock Museum in Seoul and... Read More

    The arrival of the first Western missionaries in Korea in the late 19th century was a pivotal moment in the history of Christianity in Korea and the history of Korea as a whole. The missionaries established new religious identities and stoked early culture clashes. They also documented their mission and the society around them with early cameras. Missionary Photography in Korea: Encountering the West Through Christianity—the largest ever show of Korean missionary photographs in the U.S.—features rare images... Read More

    ExhibitionSeptember 9 - December 12, 2008 Tuesday, September 9, 2008 The Korea Society presents, for the first time ever in the United States, the art of North Korean woodblock printing. In an exhibition spanning the last three decades of North Korean artistry, North Korean Images at Utopia’s Edge features 24 prints from the Nicholas Bonner Collection. These prints offer a fascinating picture of North Korean conceptions of daily life and work, family and Fatherland. Four subject areas delineate the contours... Read More

    Exhibition Through Friday, August 15, 2008 Kyopo (교포) is a Korean term for people of Korean descent who reside permanently outside of the Korean Peninsula. The Kyopo Project is a collection of images created by photographer CYJO to highlight the diversity of the global kyopo community. Emigration from Korea to other countries in Asia began as a trickle in the mid-nineteenth century, and accelerated during the first half of the twentieth century as the depredations of Japanese colonial rule increased. A... Read More

    Exhibition April 24–May 16, 2008 Opening Reception Wednesday, April 30, 2008 The Korea Society is pleased to present Inside North Korea with the New York Philharmonic, an exhibition of photographs by award-winning photographer Mark Edward Harris that document the concert by the New York Philharmonic orchestra in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on February 26, 2008. In these fascinating and often-stunning photographs, Harris offers a portrait of the historic event, encompassing both the concert... Read More

  ExhibitionJanuary 31–April 18, 2008 Toys are always more meaningful than the simple playthings they appear to be. They can embody the fantasies, values, obsessions and anxieties of a generation. With Toy Stories: Souvenirs from Korean Childhood, The Korea Society put on display over 90 children's toys from South Korea in the 1970s and ‘80s. On loan from the Hyeon Tae-Joon Collection in Seoul, the toys—flamboyantly colored action figures, robots, miniature tanks and paper dolls—captured a society in economic and... Read More

Exhibition July 26, 2007 - December 18, 2007 "... eye-catching." - New York Times Art Review, "Korea’s Extraordinary Send-Offs for Ordinary People", August 17, 2007 link "... the artifacts... are truly treasures." - Japan Times Review, "Little Friends for the Other World", October 11, 2007 link Death is an aspect of the human condition that touches every culture in every age, and almost all cultures envelop death in a rich artistry as a way of managing the trauma it causes. In nineteenth and early... Read More