Korean culture has achieved global recognition today, but the journey of Korean art into Western museums tells a fascinating story of diplomacy, colonial influences, and cultural discovery. While Korean artifacts now occupy dedicated galleries in major institutions worldwide, their path to international recognition was far more complex and delayed compared to Chinese and Japanese art collections. A new generation of curators is now working to expand these collections through strategic acquisitions and innovative approaches to engage contemporary audiences.
The story begins in the late 19th century following the 1882 Treaty of Peace, Amity, Commerce and Navigation, which opened Korea's doors to the world after centuries of isolation. Until that pivotal moment, Korean artifacts were virtually absent from Western collections. Chinese ceramics had been flowing into Europe since the 16th century, sparking the Chinoiserie craze by the 18th century, while Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints had captivated Western artists and collectors, creating the phenomenon known as Japonisme.
During Korea's isolationist period under Heungseon Daewongun, the regent and father of King Gojong, the nation earned the nickname "Hermit Kingdom." Foreign contact was severely restricted, making cultural exchange nearly impossible. As art historian Kim Soo-jin from Sungkyunkwan University explains, "There was no major export route for Korean art – a key reason it was left out of the dominant Western imagination of the Orient or Far East."
The earliest collectors of Korean art were primarily diplomats, missionaries, and travelers who reached the peninsula in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many acquired objects without understanding their cultural significance or historical context. Paul Georg von Möllendorff, a German linguist and diplomat who served as King Gojong's political adviser from 1882 to 1885, became one of the first major collectors, gathering everyday objects at the request of museums to represent Joseon culture.
A crucial player in introducing Korean art to Western markets was Yamanaka & Co., a Japanese antiquities firm with branches in New York, Boston, London, and Paris. The company played a pivotal role in bringing Korean art – often sourced during Japan's colonial rule from 1910 to 1945 – to collectors and museums in the West. As Kim Soo-jin notes, "Collectors at the time often placed general orders, much like tourists today picking up typical souvenirs," including mother-of-pearl furniture from Gaeseong, Joseon-era blue-and-white porcelain, folk artifacts, Goryeo celadon, and lacquerware.
The collecting patterns reflected Korea's turbulent modern history. "Korea has lived through a history of loss," Kim explains. "War, colonization and national division all left deep marks and influenced how, when and why cultural objects left the country." While some pieces departed as diplomatic gifts or through official sales, many more were taken during the Japanese colonial period when protections for cultural heritage were scarce or nonexistent.
In Germany, the GRASSI Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig houses one of Europe's most significant collections of Korean material culture. Together with the Dresden Museum of Ethnology and the Völkerkundemuseum Herrnhut, they form the State Ethnographic Collections of Saxony, collectively holding more than 2,700 Korean objects – the largest collection of its kind in Germany. Much of this collection was assembled through ethnographic interest, driven by an anthropological desire to document the everyday lives and customs of other cultures.
Director Bernd Ebert of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden explains that during the height of European enthusiasm for East Asia in the 17th and 18th centuries, "artistic elements from China, Japan, India, and [even] imagined or pseudo-Asian motifs were merged into an idealized and often fictionalized construct of the Far East." The 2012 exhibition "Entdeckung Korea! Schätze aus deutschen Musee" (Discovery Korea! Treasures from German Museums) highlighted many of Möllendorff's collected objects, sparking renewed examination of early Korean-German connections.
Across the Atlantic, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, houses one of the oldest Korean collections in the United States. The collection originated through Edward Sylvester Morse, the museum's former director, who despite never visiting Korea, developed a curiosity about the country. His pivotal 1883 encounter with Möllendorff created a surprising link between European and American collecting networks.
Kim Ji-yeon, curator of Korean Art and Culture at the Peabody Essex Museum, explains that "Morse specifically requested him to purchase certain areas [of objects] that could represent Korean culture or its material production. It was a way of learning what Koreans could produce and showing the American public what Korea was like." That same year, Morse befriended Yu Kil-chun, a young intellectual who was part of Korea's first diplomatic mission to the U.S. Yu advised on the museum's Asian collection and donated personal belongings before returning home in 1885.
The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C., developed its Korean collection through a similar approach. In 1907, industrialist Charles Lang Freer purchased 80 Goryeo celadon pieces collected by Horace Newton Allen, an American doctor and diplomat who lived in Seoul from 1884 to 1905. This acquisition sparked Freer's fascination with Korean ceramics, particularly celadon, which was already popular among American collectors familiar with Chinese and Japanese wares. Many of these pieces had appeared on Korea's open market when royal and noble family tombs were being looted.
During the Japanese colonial period, U.S. museums increasingly relied on Japanese antique dealers rather than American missionaries or travelers to acquire Korean art. Korean works entering U.S. collections were filtered through dealers like Yamanaka & Co., whose selections reflected Japanese tastes and influenced Western perceptions of representative Korean art. This was particularly true for Goryeo celadon, which was highly prized in Japan for its association with the tea ceremony tradition.
A significant shift occurred after the Korean War of 1950-53, when U.S. interest in Korean art began expanding beyond these filtered perspectives. The catalyst was "Masterpieces of Korean Art," organized by the National Museum of Korea in 1957 – the first large-scale overseas exhibition devoted to Korea's artistic heritage. This two-year tour brought nearly 200 treasures across the Pacific, offering American audiences their first comprehensive encounter with Korea's cultural history.
The recognition of Korean art in Western institutions lagged significantly behind Chinese and Japanese works throughout modern history. While a handful of museums began building collections in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, dedicated galleries and specialized curators would not emerge until many decades later. Today's museums continue to discover and reattribute works to Korea, as ongoing research reveals the true origins of pieces once misidentified or overlooked in their collections.
