ABSTRACT
The market for Korean art emerged in the 1870s, when the convergence of a unique set of local and global conditions facilitated the birth of the modern Korean art market. Over the following decades, the consumption of Korean antiques grew considerably, fuelled by the craze for ceramics from the Koryŏ kingdom, led by collectors from Japan, North America, and Britain. It was collectors and scholars of Japanese, American, and European descent who analysed and excavated Korean cultural heritage, and it was them who decided which Korean artefacts were worthy of their attention. Their approach was shaped by imperialist agendas and Social Darwinism, resulting in a biased interpretation of past and present Korea. Art collectors justified their right to own looted antiques by arguing for Korea’s inability to effectively govern itself and the supposed disinterest of the Korean people in preserving and valuing national treasures.
The geopolitics of the Korean art market not only impacted the flow and circulation of Korean objects, it also shaped the ways in which they were defined and understood. Thus, acquisitions of Korean art were not only shaped by aesthetic interests, but in various ways connected to questions of Korean national identity, whether consciously articulated or not.
