Current Status of Art Archives in South Korea
As part of a research initiative of the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems, “Comprehensive Research on the Sharing of Research Findings and Scholarly Information on Cultural Properties” (Project Code: SH01), we have been conducting collaborative research with domestic and international institutions to organize and disseminate the outcomes and data of investigations on cultural properties conducted by our Institute in alignment with international standards.
In fiscal year 2025, to examine the current state of art archives in the Republic of Korea—where recent developments in both IT infrastructure and cultural initiatives have attracted growing attention—Mr. KIKKAWA Hideki (Head, Modern and Contemporary Art Section) and Mr. TASHIRO Yuichiro (Researcher, The Archives Section) conducted a field study in South Korea from Monday, June 23 to Thursday, June 26.
Their visit began at Kim Daljin Art Research & Consulting, one of South Korea’s pioneering institutions in the field of art archives. There, they met with Director Kim Daljin and Chief Archivist An Hyo-re. Although a privately operated archive, Kim Daljin Art Research & Consulting shares many points in common with our Institute, particularly in the collection of archival materials related to contemporary artists, such as through the acquisition of materials donated by Mr. SASAKI Shigeo. This visit allowed for a fruitful exchange of views concerning the preservation and utilization of archival resources.
They then visited the Leeum Museum of Art, one of Korea’s foremost private art museums. Guided by researcher Ms. Im Jeong-eun, they toured the document consultation room and viewed archival materials—including those related to the renowned modern art critic Lee Gu-yeol (1932–2020)—which had been collected in conjunction with oral history projects.
Their next destination was the Seoul Museum of Art Archives, newly established in 2023 by the Seoul Museum of Art. There, they met with curator Mr. Yu Ye-dong and records researcher Mr. Cho Eun-seong, and were introduced to cutting-edge archival preservation technologies, a comprehensive management system, and an AI-assisted art thesaurus—a systematically structured vocabulary system for art-related knowledge.
They also visited the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), South Korea’s representative institution for modern and contemporary art. Researcher Ms. Lee Ji-hee led a tour of the museum’s archival holdings. Unlike the Museum of Contemporary Art in Japan, the MMCA encompasses both contemporary and modern art dating back to the late 19th century. After visiting each of the MMCA’s branches—Gwacheon, Deoksugung, and Seoul—they held a discussion with Mr. Kim In-hye, Director of Curatorial Affairs, on the development of art archives tailored to the characteristics of the museum’s respective collections.
Since the early 2000s, the development of art archives in South Korea has advanced rapidly. Noteworthy is the active engagement of professionally trained archivists—many of whom have studied archival science at the graduate level—in overseeing and operating archival institutions. In addition, South Korea’s emphasis on the use of advanced digital technologies such as AI in both the preservation and utilization of records is particularly remarkable.
This research trip yielded significant insights into the future of art archives in Japan. It also provided an opportunity to reflect anew on the value of our Institute’s soft-content assets. At the time of the visit, the MMCA was hosting the exhibition “Surrealism and Modern Korean Painting” (April 17–July 6, Deoksugung Branch), curated by Mr. Park Hye-seong, a researcher who had previously conducted investigations at our Institute in November of the prior year into materials related to Korean students who had studied in Japan before 1945. The visit not only allowed for a meaningful reunion, but also offered a valuable opportunity to view an exhibition that had directly benefited from research conducted at our Institute.
The materials accumulated by our Institute since the 1930s include many items of great value for considering the modern history of East Asia. The long-term compilation of modern art resources, as well as the ongoing efforts to make archival holdings publicly accessible, have begun to attract the attention of researchers across East Asia. As such, it is our hope that by continuing to collaborate with various institutions, and by actively disseminating our collections, we can enhance international recognition and promote their use in research, thereby contributing to the advancement of East Asian art historical studies.