introduction

The earliest examples of Korean art consist of stone age works dating from 3000 BCE. These mainly consist of votive sculptures, although petroglyphs have also been recently rediscovered.

This early period was followed by the art styles of various Korean kingdoms and dynasties. Korean artists sometimes modified Chinese traditions with a native preference for simple elegance, purity of nature and spontaneity. This filtering of Chinese styles also influenced Japanese artistic traditions, due to cultural and geographical circumstances.

The Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) was one of the most prolific periods for artists in many disciplines, especially in pottery.

The Korean art market is concentrated in the Insadong district of Seoul where over 50 small galleries exhibit and there are occasional fine arts auctions. Galleries are co-operatively run, small and often with curated and finely designed exhibits. In every town there are smaller regional galleries, with local artists showing in traditional and contemporary media. Art galleries usually have a mix of media. Attempts at bringing Western conceptual art into the foreground have usually had their best success outside of Korea in New York, San Francisco, London and Paris.

Partly as a result of Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945, many of the oldest and most significant Korean art pieces are held in private and public collections in Japan. The Tokyo National Museum displays or stores more than 1,000 gold, bronze, and celadon pieces donated by the late businessman Takenosuke Ogura. In total, about 4,800 Korean art items, of which more than 2,000 are considered antiquities, are held at the museum. Eighty percent of all Korean Buddhist paintings are believed to be in Japan. According to Seoul art historian Kwon Cheeyu, as many as 35,000 Korean art objects and 30,000 rare books have been confirmed to be there, too. These figures do not include private collections which are believed to hold significant quantities of Korean art.

source: wikipedia