Korean Artists in France 1950s–1970s

Following the Korean War, a significant number of Korean artists relocated to France, regarding Paris as the capital of modern art. In the post–World War II art world, as Paris sought to reclaim the glory of modernism while competing with New York as a global art center, these artists encountered diverse and emerging forms of art through exchanges with artists from around the globe and gradually forged their own artistic styles. Beginning with Lee Chongwoo, the first Korean artist to arrive at Paris in 1925, this exhibition offers a multifaceted view of the practices led by Korean artists active in France especially from the 1950s to the 1970s. Exploring the varied oeuvres of these artists who pursued modernization while negotiating national identity in unfamiliar surroundings and expanded the boundaries of art through new thematic inquiries and mediatic experiments, the exhibition reflects on the meanings and values embedded in the artists’ lives and practices as “strangers” abroad.