Behind the Scenes: Conservation of Korean Portraiture

Explore the distinctive characteristics of Joseon dynasty portrait mountings in this online conversation with Chi-sun Park, of the Jungjae Conservation Center in Seoul, Korea; Asian Art Museum conservation specialists Sheila Payaqui and Shiho Sasaki; and Hyonjeong Kim Han, Joseph de Heer Curator and Head of Asian Art at the Denver Art Museum. They will go behind the scenes of the exhibition Likeness and Legacy in Korean Portraiture to discuss the study, treatment, and preservation of Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) portraits, especially those depicting meritorious officials, which are at the heart of the exhibition. The museum has been a pioneer in the study and conservation of Korean portraiture since the establishment of the independent Korean art department in 1989.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Hyonjeong (HJ) Kim Han is the Joseph de Heer Curator of Asian Art at the Denver Art Museum. Before joining the DAM, Han served as department head and associate curator of Korean Art at the Asian Art Museum. From 2006 to 2010, she served as associate curator and acting department head of Chinese and Korean Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). A specialist of East Asian art history, Han holds a B.A. and M.A. in Asian art history from Seoul National University, South Korea, as well as a second M.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she also completed her Ph.D. coursework.

Chi-sun Park is professor in the Department of Conservation of Cultural Properties at Yong-In University and director of the Korean Mounting and Conservation Association. She studied painting at Seoul National University and painting and book conservation at the Conservation Center of the Kyoto National Museum; completed conservation courses in Japan; and earned a PhD in art history from Dongguk University. She established the Jung-Jae Conservation Center in Seoul, where she has completed numerous major conservation projects to restore Korean national treasures. She has studied the Joseon dynasty’s original mounting style, as well as how Korean, Japanese, and Chinese mountings differ.

Sheila Payaqui is the head of the Conservation Center at the Asian Art Museum. Previous appointments include the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; U.S. National Park Service; the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. She received her B.A. in studio art from the University of California, Santa Cruz and her M.S. in art conservation from the Winterthur/ University of Delaware.

Shiho Sasaki is conservator of Asian paintings and paper at the Asian Art Museum. Since 2008, she has been responsible for preserving and conserving the two-dimensional art collection at the museum. Previously, she conducted coloring and material research at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C. She received her M.A. in paper conservation from the Royal College of Art, London.

Image: Portrait of Oh Myeonghang 오명항초상(전신상), 1728–1800. Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910). Ink and colors on silk. Gyeonggi Provincial Museum, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Hyeju Oh Family Collection.