SeoulGallery

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA, Director Youn Bummo), presents Modern Design: The Art of Life, Industry and Diplomacy, an exhibition highlighting the relationship shared by art, design, and industry during the period of Korea’s post-liberation reconstruction, modernization, and industrialization, from Wednesday, 23 November 2022, to Sunday, 26 March 2023, at MMCA Gwacheon.

Centering on Han Hongtaik’s (1916–1994) works and related archival materials that have been donated to and collected by the museum in 2021 and archival materials concerning Lee Wanseok (1915–1969) donated to the museum this year, this exhibition offers a stereoscopic view of the nascence and development of Korean modern and contemporary design through various works and materials from the 1950s and 1960s. In the wake of Korea’s liberation in 1945, Han and Lee founded Korea’s first designer group, Joseon Saneop Misulga Hyeophoe (now Korean Industrial Artist Association; hereafter, KIAA), together with Kwon Yeonghyu, Eom Doman, Yu Yunsang, Lee Byeonghyeon, Jo Neungsik, Cho Byungduk, Hong Namgeuk, and Hong Sunmun. These pioneers, who alternated between the realms of art and design even before the two were separated into their own genres, redefined the concept of “industrial art” and served pivotal roles in laying the groundwork for Korean design from scratch.

The title Modern Design was derived from the Second Han Hongtaik Modern Design Exhibition held in 1958 to allude to the period between the 1950s and 1960s when a mix of translated terms such as design, industrial art, life art, applied art, and decorative art was used in place of the now generalized term “design.” Beginning with an archive dedicated to Han, this
exhibition features various forms of design works, proposals, and experiments that attest to the artist’s strife to position himself as an industrial artist, including packages, book covers, and proposal drawings. An additional archive comprising photos and videos of daily scenes from the 1950s and 1960s documenting the eclectic signages and attires allows viewers to read into the visual culture and lifestyle of the national reconstruction period from multiple angles. The exhibition is comprised of four parts:

Part 1, “Art and Industry: The Emergence of Industrial Artists,”
Part 2, “Modern Design: Daily Life of Senses,”
Part 3, “Identity and Subjectivity: Artist and Designer,”
Part 4, “Tourism and Leisure: To a Non-daily Space,”




Han Hongtaik, Liberation, 1946, MMCA Art Research Center Collection



Lee Wanseok, The Seoul Ballet, 1950, printing on paper, 75.5 × 51.5 cm. Gallery Yeh Collection



Han Hongtaik, Children’s Club, 1940s, color on paper, 20 × 18.4 cm (17 pages). MMCA Art Research Center Collection



4. Han Hongtaik, Packaging Design, 1950s, color on paper, 30 × 23 cm. MMCA Art Research Center Collection




Han Hongtaik, Gyeongju, 1950s, poster paint on paper, 106×76cm, MMCA Collection



Interior Decoration Design for Yeongbingwan, Produced by Bando Gallery; Designed by Lee Daewon and Moon Woosik, National Museum of Korean Contemporary History Collection