Met Museum Signs Memorandum of Understanding with Korea’s Ministry of Culture

Currently on view in the Met’s Arts of Korea Gallery is Korea: 100 Years of Collecting at the Met (through March 27, 2016), which showcases more than 70 masterworks in a variety of media.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a long-term relationship of cooperation in the area of Korean art and culture. The agreement was signed on behalf of the Metropolitan Museum by Daniel H. Weiss, President, and on behalf of the Ministry by Seung Je Oh, Director of the Korean Cultural Service of New York.

The Ministry further announced a gift of approximately $1 million (KRW 1,250,000,000) to the Metropolitan Museum. The gift will fund initiatives over a three-year period 2016–2018, including a major exhibition in 2018, enhancement of the presentation of Korean art in the Museum’s Arts of Korea Gallery, and support for new collaborative scholarship.

“This landmark agreement with the Ministry is particularly meaningful now, as we look ahead to 2018—when the Met will celebrate the 20th anniversary of our Arts of Korea Gallery and the Republic of Korea will host the Olympic Winter Games. The new initiatives made possible by their generous gift of funding will enable us to expand our programming of exhibitions, gallery installations, and publications, and to undertake important new research,” commented Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Met opened its Arts of Korea Gallery in 1998 with generous support from the Korea Foundation and the Samsung Foundation of Culture. The gallery was designed by architect Kyu Sung Woo. Critically acclaimed and popular special exhibitions of Korean art at the Metropolitan in recent years include Art of the Korean Renaissance, 1400-1600 (2009); Poetry in Clay: Korean Buncheong Ceramics from Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art (2011); and Silla: Korea’s Golden Kingdom (2013–14), which featured over two dozen National Treasures and Treasures, notably the celebrated and sublime Pensive Bodhisattva (National Treasure 83). The exhibition drew nearly 200,000 visitors.

For more information, call 212-535-7710 or visit The Met.