By Honorary Reporter Lalien Guillen from Philippines

Photo = Lalien Guillen

The National Museum of Korea in Seoul on July 1 invited Korea.net Honorary Reporters to see the exhibition "Icons and Identities," which features highlights from the National Portrait Gallery of London's collection of masterpieces.

The ticket box outside the National Museum of Korea in Seoul has a huge sign promoting the exhibition "Icons and Identities" with a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I of England.

The exhibition features portraits of famous figures in world history including Queen Elizabeth I, William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and the Beatles. The form of the portraits varies from classic paintings and photos to sculptures and modern holographic and LCD works.

Classic paintings are among the wide variety of collections shown in "Icons and Identities."

Yang Soo-mi, the curator of "Icons and Identities," answered questions from the Honorary Reporters after they saw the exhibition.

Why did the National Portrait Gallery in London first entrust the National Museum of Korea with these masterpieces?
The National Portrait Gallery is undergoing remodeling through 2023 and sought facilities or opportunities to collaborate with other international museums, especially in Korea. Since our museum is the best in Korea, we were offered this collaboration first perhaps because of our excellent staff and infrastructure.

Which of the 78 art masterpieces is the oldest?
The oldest is a 1559 painting of the Lady Dacre and her son.

This 1559 oil painting is of Lady Dacre, Mary Neville, and her son Gregory Fiennes, the tenth baron of Dacre, by Hans Eworth.

What preparation did your museum make for this exhibition?

We had to consider every uncertainty because of the pandemic. For example, when artworks are sent from one museum to another, staff should accompany them. But this was impossible for us, so we discussed the process. In the end, we just trusted each other and the London museum just send its collections to us.

We used Zoom to communicate with the portrait museum, but because of the nine-hour time difference between Seoul and London, it took about an hour to hang each piece on the wall and like five days to hang all the collections. Because of the strict lockdown in the U.K., only half of the collections arrived in March and the other half a week before the exhibition opened. 

The exhibition has five themes: "Fame," "Power," "Love and Loss," "Innovation" and 

"Identity and Self-portrait." Which museum decided on the five?

The National Portrait Gallery proposed six themes with a different order of displays. But we wanted to create our own narratives so we chose five themes in a different order. This was intended to better present the collections to a Korean audience, which is rather unfamiliar with this genre, and help them understand the exhibition better. 

"Map of Days" by Grayson Perry presents the artist's unusual self-portrait as a map.

As the curator of this exhibition, what would you like for visitors to get from this?
I think visitors will realize just how old the portrait genre is, dating back to the 16th century, though the selfie is a form of portrait. So my hope is that audiences understand that the way people visualize themselves has existed for centuries.

The first holographic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II of England, "Equanimity," is by light artist Chris Levine in collaboration with holographer Rob Munday.

"Icons and Identities" runs until Aug. 15. For those not in Korea, several of the art collections displayed are available for free viewing on the museum's app.

enny0611@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.