'I feel a responsibility to publish Korean art history in translation'

You Hong-jun, who took office as director of the National Museum of Korea in July, has always felt that there are insufficient foreign language publications on Korean art, but believes the time to bring them to international audiences is ripe.

“Compared to China and Japan, Korea has fallen behind because art history as a discipline started late and we have lacked researchers,” You said Tuesday at a press conference on his newly published books on Korean art.

“As Korean culture spreads abroad, I feel a responsibility to publish Korean art history in translation — one written differently for international readers than for Koreans.”

The newly published books, whose titles are translated as "Introduction of Korean Art” and "Story of Korean Art,” are aimed at different audiences. The first is for those living outside Korea or the uninitiated who want to understand Korean art at a beginner level, while the second is for intermediate-level readers.

While both books are published in Korean, You is pushing to get “Introduction of Korean Art” published in English, Chinese and Japanese. The book is also organized by art genres rather than chronologically, like “Story of Korean Art.”

“With international readers in mind, I also emphasized both the shared cultural grounds as well as the distinct characters of Korea across ceramics, painting and architecture,” he said.

The 571-page book categorizes art genres spanning from the prehistoric period through Buddhist art to the Goryeo Kingdom (918-1392) and Joseon era (1392-1910).

“I want this book to be published at the highest standard by those with real distribution power. We are looking for the right partner in each country, and given the global demand, those conversations are already underway,” he said.

You, a former art history professor at Yeungnam University and Myongji University, is widely known for his best-selling series, “Travels in Search of My Cultural Heritage (translated), which began in 1993. The nine-part book series on Korean cultural heritage has been followed by three volumes each on cultural heritage in China and Japan, with the most recent volume published in 2020.