Opening Reception: March 15th, 6-8pm
On view March 15th – April 27th, 2023
460 Park Avenue, 6th Floor, NYC 10022

The Korean Cultural Center New York (KCCNY) is pleased to present The Wonder Unbound, an exhibition examining modern and contemporary Korea through the images and texts from multidisciplinary books published in foreign countries in the late 1700s to 1960s, authored by by non-Korean missionaries, diplomats, soldiers, to historians, art historians, and explorers who visited or worked in Korea.

A curated selection of 120 rare and vintage books from the collection of Professor Seung-Chul Lee are open to public view for the first time, selected from his personal collection of 1,350 for their multi-dimensional reflection of life in Korea. Professor Seung-Chul Lee is Director of the Dongduk Women's University and a renowned Hanji (Korean traditional paper) artist himself.

These valuable texts bring to light varying perspectives and observations on Korean culture, economy, daily life, and notably, bring an added point of interest to the discourse as they are published in the author’s original language after they had returned from their travels abroad.

Changing visual materials reflect meaningful historical shifts, from illustrations, to black and white photography, and ultimately to color photography. A lot has changed in the world since their publication, but they are undoubtedly invaluable in the artistic insights they provide about Korea and its place geopolitically, historically, and culturally. The visual representations in this exhibition aim to act provide academics and researchers with a different perspective and offer a new approach for Korean studies.

To learn more, click here.