North Korean Art: Discovering Chosonhwa’s Hidden Creativity

BG Muhn, Professor of Art and Art History at Georgetown University, will be presenting his talk, North Korean Art: Discovering Chosonhwa’s Hidden Creativity, at the Nam Center for Korean Studies as part of the Center’s Colloquium Series.

Since North Korea has been closed off from the world for more than seven decades and has been considered a pariah state, when art from the DPRK trickled out to the world through small exhibitions and auctions, most of those who evaluated the works were already inclined to judge them with preconceptions.

This talk by Professor B.G. Muhn will explore these outside perspectives on North Korean art, specifically focusing on perceptions of chosonhwa, the North Korean name for Oriental ink wash painting. We are familiar with the concepts of ​“art for art’s sake,” ​“free expression,” and ​“art created in accordance with an artist’s unconstrained free will.” Considering the context of the DPRK, many people ask: Can art in a true sense exist in a socialist state? Professor Muhn will address the complexities embedded in the answer to this and other questions about North Korean art.

Co-Sponsored with the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design and the Department of Art History

North Korean Art: Discovering Chosonhwa’s Hidden Creativity
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
4:30 – 6:00 PM

Weiser Hall
500 Church Street, Room 110
Ann Arbor, Michigan