The Fragrance of Ink: Korean Literati Paintings of the Chosǒn Dynasty (1392-1910) from the Korea University Museum

10 October 1996–8 December 1997

Comprised of sixty-two ink paintings, including hanging scrolls, album leaves, fans, and screens, the exhibition presented works by some of the most significant literati painters of Korea’s last royal dynasty. Organized jointly by the Korean Studies Institute and the Korea University Museum, the exhibition was circulated by the Smart Museum to Columbia University’s Walach Art Gallery; the University of Oregon Museum of Art; the Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles; the University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley; the Arthur Ross Gallery at the University of Pennsylvania; and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. 

Mounted concurrently in the Smart Museum’s Gallery II was Korean Ceramics, an exhibition of thirteen pieces of pottery from the Smart’s permanent collection that demonstrated the evolution of Korean ceramics and glazes from the eighth to the nineteenth century.

The catalogue published in conjunction with the exhibition by Korea University’s Korean Studies Institute contains essays and detailed catalogue entries by scholars from Korea University and the Academy of Korean Studies, as well as color illustrations and a selected bibliography. 

Made possible by a grant from the Hyundai Group, The Fragrance of Ink marked the first partnership between the Smart Museum and a Korean institution.

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