Free Press Houston
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Museum of Korea, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, have come together to present Art Across America. Art Across America is a comprehensive tour through three centuries of American art, set to exhibit in South Korea February 4-September 1.The exhibition will debut at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul, and will later be moved to the Daejeon Museum of Art for the remainder of its stay. Art Across America will feature more than 100 paintings donated by the five listed American institutions.
According to Seung-ik, the National Museum of Korea’s head curator, most Koreans are familiar with staple modern American artists such as Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol; however, most of the American art created before WWII remains unexplored by Korean art lovers. Art Across America desires to bridge this gap by being historically inclusive. The exhibition will be segmented into 6 different thematic parts: American People, American Landscapes-East to West, Daily Life in Art, Cosmopolitan America, Modern America, and American Art after 1945. The paintings in each section-with the obvious exceptions of Modern America and American Art after 1945- will span from pre-independent America to present day.
Exhibitions like Art Across America are important because, not only do people in other countries get an opportunity to view foreign art, but the doors of cultural exchange open. As John Browlee, curator of the Terra Foundation for American Art, says, Art Across America offers “visitors the rare opportunity to consider art and culture of Korea and the United states in relation to one another.” A year from now we’ll get our turn to survey Korea’s creative minds, past and present: At the beginning of 2024 an exhibition, courtesy of the National Museum of Korea, will appear in Philadelphia and eventually travel to Houston.
For more information, please visit www.mfah.org
