한국 근대 미술사 연구와 한국 근대 미술시장사 연표

Abstract

This study of the art market, distribution and collection is an attempt at approaching art with an emphasis on art and society as well as on consumption and ownership structures. The study of the art market, distribution and collection can be considered a method of approach that focuses on social and cultural relationships which were considered in the past to be outside the realm of art. The changes in the Korean art market, which began with the modern gallery or auction system, took place during the Japanese Occupation Period. Although the foundations of the modern and contemporary art market and distribution structure of Korea were formed during the Japanese Occupation Period, research and data gathering on this period has not been actively carried out. The major antique art markets of Korea during the Japanese Occupation Period were Seoul, Pyeongyang and Daegu. With many wealthy Japanese living and engaging in brisk businesses there, these three cities were famous as trading centers of antique art pieces. Among the three, Seoul had the most active antique art trading milieu, as well as the largest number of collectors. This was the case because the top representative art collecting institutions, namely the Yiwangga Museum(李王家博物館) and the Japanese Government General Museum(朝鮮總督府博物館), were located in Seoul, and it was the residential city of the Japanese Government General officials, bankers, businessmen, lawyers and academics. Although the Japanese made up the overwhelming majority of antique art collectors during the Japanese Occupation Period, the profile of major collectors in Seoul and the provinces began to be revealed gradually around the 1930s. The chronology of the modern Korean art market history presented in this paper is a record, on a yearly basis, of the history of and the changes in the modern art market in Korea during the period from the latter half of the 19thcentury to the1950s. Through this chronology, we can verify the trends of changes and gallery activities, as well as the rise and fall of collectors, in the Korean art market that took place with Seoul as the center.