최순우(崔淳雨) 선생의 공예 연구

Abstract

Research accomplishment in the craft history field of Choi Sun-woo is introductory in nature, but it is the first time that the Korean arts fields were organized by period from Three Kingdoms Period to Joseon era. In a situation with the absence of an art book introducing Korea, he would publish introducing books about Korean crafts overseas in Japan. Early on, he focused on Korean woodwork and folk crafts, and left the books in a field that was not very noticeable to upgrade them to the representative artworks of our country beyond simple folk art crafts. Among his accomplishments related to craft history are conspicuous in ceramic history studies. It is also one of the major accomplishments that based on the survey results of the National Museum, he clarified the kiln site of the early Goryeo celadon, and revised the ceramics related terms 'Dalhangari' and 'Haetmurigup' in Korean. The short articles related to crafts, except for his papers on ceramics, are about five, and it is understood that the contents of Goryeo bells mainly recognized the importance of Korean bells early at the time. The rest of the articles related with crafts are relatively short essays published in newspapers and magazines, but the point that his aesthetic sense, excellent insight, and easy-to-understand explanations for everyone in general, introduced the excellence of Korean crafts is a hidden achievement in the field of craft history. Although it is not an academic paper, his works reveal the depth of the profession through the contents of the expert’s opinion. It is noteworthy that the arts of various fields, which were not pursued by other scholars of art history, have been interested from ancient times to the Joseon period. It was because of his insight and innate aesthetics that he spent his entire life at the National Museum, so that he could express his deep affection for Korean cultural assets. Away from Korean art, which was depicted by perspectives of foreigners, through our concrete and clear vision, he devoted his life to deriving the qualities and beauty of Korean crafts. The exhibition of “Five Thousand Years of Korean Arts”, which was planned and organized by him when he worked at the National Museum to inform the beauty of Korea to Japan, the United States, and Europe, is an excellent opportunity to show the world that Korea was a cultural nation with a 5000 year old culture. He was the greatest cultural diplomat who informed the world of Korean cultural assets in the very center of this exhibition.