Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art

Lee, Soyoung with Ahn Daehoe, Chin-Sung Chang, and Lee Soomi (2018)

This title is out of print.

Publication Details

Description

Mount Geumgang, also known as the Diamond Mountains, is perhaps the most famous and emotionally resonant site on the Korean Peninsula, a magnificent range of rocky peaks, waterfalls, and lagoons, dotted with pavilions and temples. Since ancient times, it has inspired cultural pride, spurred spiritual and artistic pilgrimages, and engendered an outpouring of creative expression. Yet since the partition of Korea in 1945 situated it in the North, Mount Geumgang has remained largely inaccessible to visitors, shrouded in legend, loss, and longing.

Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art is the first book in English to explore the pictorial representations of this grand and varied landscape. The special exhibition it accompanies, organized by Soyoung Lee, Curator in the Department of Asian Art, examines the evolution of Diamond Mountains imagery from the golden age of Korean true-view painting in the eighteenth century to the present day. Even today, when a profusion of Instagram photos can make the world’s most obscure sites and geographical oddities seem familiar, the Diamond Mountains portrayed here in album leaves, scrolls, and screens will be a revelation to many.

Table of contents

Foreword
An Introduction to the Diamond Mountains

Jeong Seon's Album of Mount Geumgang
Lee Soomi

Picturing Diamond Mountains: True Views and Beyond
Soyoung Lee

The Landscape before the Eyes: Mounts Geumgang, Fuji, and Huang
Chin-Sung Chang

In Praise of the Diamond Mountains: Literary Journeys
Ahn Daehoe

List of Illustrations
Works in the Exhibition
Guide to Korean Names and Terms
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
Photograph Credits
Contributors

About the authors

Soyoung Lee is Curator in the Department of Asian Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Ahn Daehoe is Professor of Korean and classical Chinese literature at Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul.

Chin-Sung Chang is Professor of East Asian art history at Seoul National University.

Lee Soomi is Executive Curator at the National Museum of Korea, Seoul.

Press reviews

New York Times

"Insightful catalogue."

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Exhibition

Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art

February 7, 2018–May 20, 2018

The Diamond Mountains—perhaps the most famous and emotionally resonant site on the Korean peninsula—is the theme of this international loan exhibition. Though the region has inspired cultural pride since ancient times, its location in what is today North Korea has kept it largely inaccessible in modern times. Featuring nearly 30 works—from delicately painted scrolls and screens to monumental modern and contemporary art—the exhibition will present the visual imagery of this iconic site from the 18th century to the present. Among the highlights is a designated Treasure from the National Museum of Korea: an album by Jeong Seon (1676–1759), who revolutionized Korean painting. Most of the objects on view have never before been displayed in the United States.

The exhibition is part of a celebration marking the 20th anniversary of the establishment of The Met's Arts of Korea Gallery. The exhibition's opening month also coincides with South Korea's hosting of the Winter Olympics Games in Pyeongchang.

Plan Ahead

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