AHL Foundation Public Lecture Series 2014
In Collaboration with Korean Cultural Service NY
Inventing Traditions of Korean Art and Culture: Diplomatic Perspectives
Costume Reform and Korean Modernization: Yu Kil-Chun’s Visions
Lecturer: Dr. Aida Yuen Wong, Associate Professor of Asian Art, Brandeis University
Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2014 | 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Place: Korean Cultural Service, 460 Park Avenue (57th Street), 6th Floor
Free admission; refreshments provided
The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, is home to one of the finest collections of Korean art in the United States. The Yu Kil-Chun Gallery at the PEM was named after a renowned scholar, political activist, and member of the first Korean delegation to the United States in 1883. His personal effects, including the clothes he wore, formed the earliest group of Korean art and artifacts donated to the museum. This talk begins by introducing the standard way of dress among people of Yu’s social position in the late Joseon dynasty, to be followed by an analysis of the changes in clothing style as Korea underwent tumultuous modernization in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. King Gojong believed that the adoption of new attires was one of the necessary first steps for national advancement, although the imperial manifesto to put the idea to practice met with opposition from the Prime Minister who was eventually dismissed for refusing to comply. Understanding the nature and extent of this contentious costume reform sheds light on an important chapter in Korean modern history.
