Jeon In-geon, Director of Kansong Art Museum, "There Will Never Be a National Treasure Auctioned Again"

Jeon In-geon, director of the Kansong Art Museum, is giving a greeting at the press conference for the exhibition "Meeting Kansong's Treasures Again, Bohwasubo" held on the afternoon of the 15th at the Kansong Art Museum in Seongbuk-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] “It felt like cutting off my own arm. There will be no more instances of national treasures being put up for auction in the future.”

On the 15th, Jeon In-geon, director of the Kansong Art Museum, said this with a flushed expression at a press conference. Regarding the museum’s situation, which came to light due to financial difficulties after putting national treasures and treasures up for auction in 2020 and 2021, he explained, “The chaotic matters have been resolved.” As the great-grandson of Kansong Jeon Hyeongpil (1906?1962) and the third-generation operator of the museum, his expression revealed the anguish and pain he had endured. He said, “(Through auctioning items) the debts have been settled,” and “I will not cause any more concerns going forward.”

Operating the museum for three generations without a parent company or external support, the preservation and management of over 16,000 cultural assets was an issue that could not be sustained by the mere will of ‘cultural patriotism.’ He accepted external support, completed museum registration in 2019, and began construction of the Daegu Kansong Art Museum in January this year. This building, operated by the Kansong Art Museum as the Daegu Municipal Museum, received 40 billion KRW in national and local government funding. Additionally, 1.2 billion KRW in national and local government funds were provided to carry out preservation and damage prevention work on 197 non-designated cultural assets.

The exhibition “Bohwasubo (寶華修補) ? Meeting Kansong’s Treasures Again,” held at Bohwagak of the Kansong Art Museum in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, until June 5, is an event showcasing 32 pieces from 8 works among 150 items preserved through the Cultural Heritage Administration’s “Support Project for Preservation and Management of Large Collections of Cultural Properties.”

This exhibition at Bohwagak, held for the first time in seven years, is the 101st exhibition of the Kansong Art Museum since 1971. Bohwagak, designated as a Registered Cultural Heritage of modern cultural assets in 2019, will undergo restoration and maintenance after this exhibition. The exhibition title combines “Bohwa (寶華),” meaning precious essence referring to the valuable and beautiful cultural assets left by ancestors, and “Subo (修補),” an old term for preservation treatment meaning to repair and supplement worn or incomplete parts. The Kansong Art Museum explained that the title expresses the hope that these precious cultural assets will remain with us forever through repair and preservation.

The first edition of Kwon Woo's collection of writings, known as the only existing copy of "Maehyeon Seonsaeng Munjip." Photo by Kansong Art Museum

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The exhibition features the first public display of 30 masterpieces including the only known copy of Kwon Woo’s collected works “Maeheon Seonsaeng Munjip” first edition, An Gyeon’s “Churimchongeo,” Shin Saimdang’s “Grapes,” and Sim Sa-jeong’s “Samilpo,” all included in the “Haedong Myeonghwajip.” Also, masterpieces comparable to designated cultural properties such as mid-Joseon court painter Han Sigak’s “Podaehwasang,” Kim Hong-do’s “Nangwon Tudo,” and Jang Seung-eop’s “Songhanokseon” welcome visitors in their newly restored forms.

The exhibition hall on the second floor of Bohwagak will reveal its last appearance before restoration during the exhibition period. All display cases will be emptied, and a short video showing the exterior of Bohwagak in the past will be screened. The display cases inside Bohwagak were specially made in Shanghai, China, ordered by Kansong from the Yamanaka Company in Osaka, Japan, when the museum was established. Both the building and the display cases themselves have become cultural heritage. For visitors who have shown special affection by visiting Bohwagak every year, photography of the final appearance is also permitted.

This exhibition is significant as it publicly presents the results of the first preservation management project conducted jointly by the Cultural Heritage Administration, the Kansong Art Museum’s artifact preservation team, and the Paper and Painting Restoration Research Institute of the Korea National University of Cultural Heritage, targeting important non-designated cultural assets that were difficult to preserve carefully due to being in a blind spot of cultural heritage management.

The exhibition runs until June 5 at the Kansong Art Museum in Seongbuk-gu. Visits can be made by reservation through the Kansong Art Museum website.

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