Forming nature:
Six decades of Korean abstraction

Christie’s Hong Kong is an important showcase of Korean art, spanning mid-century modernism, the avant-garde of the 1970s and the 21st century, as Yunah Jung explains

Sharp geometric forms, austere monochromatic palettes, painstaking repetition — since the 1950s Korean artists have both responded to Western artists’ preoccupation with abstraction and forged a recognisably local character, shaped by Eastern philosophy and a preoccupation with the classical traditions of Chinese literati painting.

Nam Kwan (1911-1990), Fâete Orientale (A Festive Day), 1963. Oil on canvas. 128.3 x 160.5 cm. (50 1/2 x 63 1/4 in.) Estimate: HK$1,000,000 — HK$2,000,000 ($129,633 — $259,265) his work and those below are offered in our Asian 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale on 30 May in Hong Kong

Pioneering 20th century modernists such as Nam Kwan, Kim Whan-Ki, and Rhee Seundja were among the first to appropriate the pure abstraction explored by artists in the US and Europe, instead rendering nature through organic motifs, geometrical forms, repetitive brushstrokes and careful layering of paint.

Left: Chung Sang-Hwa (Korean, B. 1932), Untitled, 1985. Acrylic on canvas. 161 x 96 cm. (63 3/8 x 37 3/4 in.) Estimate: HK$1,200,000 — HK$1,800,000 ($155,559 — $233,339). Right: Kim Whan-Ki (Korean, 1913-1974), Montagne Bleue (Blue Mountain) , 1956. Oil on canvas. 99.8 x 64.6 cm. (39 1/4 x 25 3/8 in.) Estimate: HK$1,500,000 — HK$2,500,000 ($194,449 — $324,082)

Lee Ufan (b. 1936), From Point, 1979. Oil and mineral pigment on canvas. 161 x 129.5 cm. (63 3/8 x 51 in.) Estimate: HK$9,000,000 — HK$14,000,000 ($1,166,694 — $1,814,858)

Yun Hyong-Keun (1928-2007), Umber-Blue, 1975. Oil on cotton. 130 x 181.3 cm. (51 1/8 x 71 3/8 in.) Estimate: HK$800,000 — HK$1,500,000 ($103,706 — $194,449)

Emerging in the 1970s, Dansaekhwa, or ‘monochrome painting’, has become one of the most important abstract art movements. Characterised by an appreciation for the physicality of the materials employed — a departure from the slick superficiality of Minimalism — adherents include Lee Ufan, Yun Hyong-Keun, Park Seo-Bo, Ha Chong-Hyun and Chung Sang-Hwa. Early and rare examples of their work, alongside a number of Korean modern masters, will be offered in the upcoming sales.

Asian 20th Century and Contemporary Art, Hong Kong, 30 — 31 May 2015, christies.com/hk

 

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