The Korean Folk Drama Museum Publishes 'Our Country's Masks' Introducing Traditional Masks

The Korean Folk Drama Museum has published a book titled Our Country's Masks, which catalogs 200 traditional masks across 26 types. The book compiles information about masks held by the Korean Folk Drama Museum since its opening in 1996.

Shim Ha-yong, director of the Korean Folk Drama Museum, compiled the masks made and collected throughout the lifetimes of his grandfather, mask maker Shim I-seok (1912?2002), and his father, folklorist Shim Woo-sung (1934?2018), along with photographs by photographer Park Ok-soo. Director Shim stated, “Due to internal circumstances at the museum, most of the masks have been lost, so we hope these masks, which were actually used in mask plays during the 1970s and 1980s, will serve as a reference to rediscover traces of Korean masks.”

The book includes iconographic explanations of masks from the perspective of mask maker Shim I-seok, who was a wooden mask artist, along with photos of 33 wooden masks and 15 Baekje Giak masks he restored. It also features photos of mask plays and masks designated as national intangible cultural heritage, collected by folklorist Shim Woo-sung during his travels across the country.

For modern Koreans, masks have largely lost their original function and become antiques. However, masks continue to be passed down through traditional theater, traditional dance, and ancestral rites, and are designated and preserved as national intangible cultural heritage. Director Shim said, “Through the naked self-portraits seen in traditional masks, which are products of history, we can find the roots of Korean culture and compare our mask heritage with that of surrounding cultural regions. The publication of this book is noteworthy as a reference for tracing the footprints of our cultural sphere and discovering the uniqueness of our culture.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.