The Emergence of the Korean Art Collector and the Korean Art Market
The Korean Cultural Centre UK, in collaboration with the British Korean Society, will host a talk by Dr Charlotte Horlyck titled 'The Emergence of the Korean Art Collector and the Korean Art Market' on 17 June 2025. This talk explores how, from the late 19th to early 20th centuries, Western—particularly British—diplomats, businessmen, and missionaries first encountered Korean art and began to appreciate it as a distinct tradition, separate from Chinese art. Through this historical lens, the event sheds light on the emergence of early collecting practices and the growing interest in Korea’s unique artistic identity.
How did Westerners first encounter Korean art and begin to understand some of the unique characteristics that distinguish it from Chinese art? In this talk, Dr Charlotte Horlyck will draw a picture of the emerging appeal for collecting Korean art and cultural artefacts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, focusing in particular on the activities of British diplomats, businessmen and missionaries. What sort of objects drew the attention of collectors and where can we see the artefacts they collected?
Dr Horlyck’s recent book, The Emergence of the Korean Art Collector and the Korean Art Market (Routledge, 2024), traces the rise of the modern Korean art market from its formative period in the 1870s through to its peak and subsequent decline in the 1930s, examining the shifting interests in Korean art and examining the biases that initiated and impacted its collecting.
Doors open at 6pm. The talk will begin at 6.30pm, followed by a Q&A session and a drinks reception at 7.30pm.
This event is jointly organised by the British Korean Society and the Korean Cultural Centre UK.
About the speaker:
Dr Charlotte Horlyck concurrently holds the posts of Head of the School of Art and Reader in Korean Art History at SOAS. Her research focuses on Korean pre-modern and modern visual and material. Among her publications is Korean Art – From the 19th Century to the Present (Reaktion Books, 2017) which was awarded the Hendrik Hamel Book Prize by the Association of Korean Studies in Europe in 2023. Dr Horlyck’s long-term commitment to the field is reflected in her scholarly activities and service to the profession. She chaired the SOAS Centre of Korean Studies from 2013-2017, and has served as President of the British Association of Korean Studies (BAKS) since 2016. She was also an elected member of the Committee of the Association of Korean Studies in Europe and served on the grants committee of the British Korean Society.
*This event is fully booked. Thank you for your interest.
