Kim Jeong-ho's 'Daedongyeojido' Up for Auction... Will the Art Auction Market Revive?

Major Works Draw Attention at February Auctions
Last Year’s Sales Hit Five-Year Low at 115.1 Billion KRW

The art auction market, which had recently been sluggish, is showing signs of a turnaround as major works continue to appear. Last year, the total sales of 10 domestic art auction companies amounted to 115.1 billion KRW, marking the lowest point in the past five years, but there is growing attention on the possibility of a rebound through this auction.

Kim Jeong-ho's "Daedongyeojido" (Shinyu edition). Provided by Seoul Auction

The most notable work in this auction is the "Daedongyeojido" created by Kim Jeong-ho, a late Joseon dynasty cartographer. Specifically, it is the Shinyu edition first published in 1861 (the year of Shinyu), produced in the form of a three-panel folding screen. Originally, it was a 22-panel accordion-style fold (folded like a book), but it is known to have been altered during the transmission process.

Currently, about 35 copies of Daedongyeojido exist domestically and internationally, but only seven complete Shinyu edition copies remain in Korea, making it highly rare. The estimated price for this auction is set between 320 million and 1 billion KRW.

The auction will be held on the 18th at the Seoul Auction Gangnam Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. A Seoul Auction official explained, "This exhibited work is a rare case where the book-form Daedongyeojido was transformed into a folding screen, attracting much interest due to its rarity."

A total of 130 items (estimated at 6.4 billion KRW) will be exhibited in Seoul Auction's February auction. Works by representative modern artists such as Nam June Paik's 1994 robot series "Hacker Newbie" (130 million to 250 million KRW), Kim Eun-ho's "Sinseondo," and Lee In-sung's oriental painting "Sansuinmuldos" will also be featured.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir's 'Nature Morte Aux Fraises (Still Life with Strawberries)', 1841~1919. Courtesy of K Auction

K Auction will also hold an auction on the 19th at its headquarters in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, with 101 items (estimated at 8.6 billion KRW) up for bid.

The still life "Still Life with Strawberries" by Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, created around 1905, will start bidding at 1 billion KRW. Additionally, works by British abstract expressionist painter Frank Bowling will be introduced to the domestic market for the first time. The 1975 work "Toward Herbert Spencer‘s General Doctrine," praised for its distinctive color experimentation, is appraised between 300 million and 1 billion KRW. The work "Drumming Girl" by Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, drawn with colored pencils on an envelope, will be auctioned at 250 million to 300 million KRW.

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