Stranger in Paris

About the Exhibition

After the Korean War, a considerable number of Korean artists, regarding Paris as the 'capital of modern art,' crossed over to France. In the Paris art world, which was vying with New York for the center of international art after World War II and seeking to revive the glory of modernism, they mingled with artists from around the world, experienced new contemporary art, and built worlds of their own. This exhibition sheds multidimensional light on the art world of Korean artists who went to France in the 1950s-70s, beginning with Lee Chong-woo, the first Korean artist to cross to Paris, in 1925. It explores the art of these Korea-in-France artists, who sought modernization while searching for national identity in an unfamiliar place, or expanded the boundaries of art through new subject matter and experimentation with media, considering the meaning and value of their lives and art as strangers abroad.