Abstract

 

Abstract
Korean art museums have had a unique history and have developed for the most part since the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945. The unusual historical circumstance of the Japanese Invasion influenced almost all internal and external aspects of Korea, including Korean art, culture and the formation of Korean art museums. After the Japanese invasion, and the Korean War of 1950 to 1953, Korean museums started to develop and flourish under the influence and collaboration of the U.S. and UN (the United Nations).

Within the past forty years, art museums in Korea have developed both in terms of quantity and quality. Many public and private art museums and galleries have been established and they are trying to promote those art institutions on the basis of effective and rational administrative systems. However, there are still many outstanding issues and problems to be addressed. Due to the lack of appropriate support, policy for private art institutions, with the exception of a few special cases, most of Korea’s private art museums are suffering from financial difficulties. This thesis will carefully investigate the present situation of private art museum management in Korea, asking how they are run and what the difficulties are that they face in maintaining their institutions, and how they are affected by governmental policy.

To get a concrete understanding of the history and present situation of Korean art museums, this thesis surveyed preceding monographs and written documents on these issues and had interviews with representatives of the government and private art museums.

This thesis will introduce the history of Korean art museum and survey the present circumstances of Korean art museums focusing on private institutions. It will then access approaches to creating policy for the support of such institutions. The main research was conducted through a series of interviews and case studies, which include the Mo-am collection, Korea.
ⓒ 모암문고 www.moamcollection.org