Among Korea’s earliest abstractionists, Kim Whanki (1913–1974) evolved from semi-abstracted depictions of moon jars and plum blossoms to the sublime all-over dot paintings from his New York period (1963–1974), blending a Korean sensibility with global avant-garde influences. Park Seo-Bo (1931–2023) and Kim Tschang-Yeul (1929–2021), deeply influenced by the European movement Art Informel, produced early works characterized by thick impasto, raw surfaces, and material experimentation. This shared language between the two artists laid the foundation for their later iconic series: Kim Tschang-Yeul turned to the meditative precision of his Waterdrop series in the 1970s, reflecting Taoist principles of ego dissolution; while Park Seo-Bo developed his Ecritureseries in the 1960s, defined by its monochromatic palette and a rigorous focus on repetition, process, and discipline. Lee Ufan (b. 1936), a key figure in the Mono-ha movement that began in the 1960s in Japan, transitioned in the early 1970s to his From Point and From Line series, merging material restraint with philosophical inquiry in simple, deliberate brushstrokes that evoke the mark-making characteristics and movements of East Asian calligraphy. By the mid-1970s, each artist had developed a singular visual idiom: distinct yet unified by a shared ambition to advance Korean art on the global stage.

Though geographically dispersed, the four artists remained closely connected through decades-long correspondence. In the absence of a robust cultural infrastructure in Korea, their letters became essential conduits for critical exchange, exhibition planning, and mutual support. Park Seo-Bo and Kim Tschang-Yeul, lifelong friends and collaborators, played a pivotal role in organizing the second Hyundae Fine Art Exhibition in 1957 and corresponded tirelessly to coordinate Korea’s participation in the 1961 Paris Biennale. Lee Ufan and Park Seo-Bo, who began exchanging letters after their joint inclusion in a 1968 group exhibition in Tokyo, became key mediators between the Korean and Japanese art scenes; and Kim Whanki, a generation older, served as a mentor, encouraging Kim Tschang-Yeul to apply for Rockefeller Fellowship funding that ultimately brought him to New York in 1965. From Seoul, Tokyo, Paris, and New York, the four artists exchanged ideas, critiques, and reflections on the practical and philosophical challenges of working from the periphery of the global art world. Their letters not only offer an unprecedented window into their artistic development but also reveal a collective commitment to building a Korean modernism that could engage with the broader narratives of postwar art.

Since joining the museum in 2015, she has organized the critically acclaimed exhibitions Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s (2023–24) and Sarah Sze: Timelapse (2023). In addition, An contributes to the growth of the museum’s collection as an appointed curator on the International Director’s Council and as a founding curator of the Asian Art Circle. As Head of the Global Exhibitions Initiative, she makes key strategic decisions related to touring exhibitions originating from the Guggenheim New York. She received her BA and MA in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, where she also completed her PhD in 2015. 

Since before the museum’s opening in November 2021, he has led the transformative growth of the M+ collections and steered the museum’s curatorial direction and pedagogical practices, foregrounding the transcultural and transnational narratives of twentieth- and twenty-first-century global visual culture from a uniquely Asian perspective rooted in Hong Kong. Chong has curated and overseen critically acclaimed exhibitions for M+, including Picasso for Asia: A Conversation (2025), Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now (2022), and Noguchi for Danh Vo: Counterpoint (2018). He has also helped organize and supervise five editions of Hong Kong’s participation in the Venice Biennale from 2015 to 2024. Before joining M+, Chong worked at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. He earned his BA and completed doctoral studies in the history of art at the University of California, Berkeley. 

For the school year 2018–2019, she was a Fulbright fellow and visiting research professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. In 2021, she was the artistic director of the DMZ Art & Peace Platform, in collaboration with such contemporary artists as Haegue Yang. She was a co-curator of the 2018 Gwangju Biennale and the researcher for the Nam June Paik retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2000. She has authored numerous books on modern and contemporary Korean art, including a forthcoming title on the intersection of Korean Dansaekhwa and Experimental Art (Phaidon, 2026); Korean Art from 1953: Collision, Innovation, Interaction (Phaidon, 2020); Korean Installation Art (Mijinsa, 2018); Contemporary Space and Installation Art (A & C, 2015); and Anthology of Lee Yil (Mijinsa, 2013; Les Presses du Réel, 2018). She holds a PhD in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.

He has been the subject of several survey and retrospective exhibitions at major institutions, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2011); the Centre Pompidou Metz (2019); and the National Art Center, Tokyo (2022). Lee’s work is in many notable international collections, including the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; the Tate Modern, London; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; M+, Hong Kong; and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul. In 2010, the Lee Ufan Museum opened in Naoshima, Japan, followed by the establishment of Busan Museum’s Space Lee Ufan in 2015 and Lee Ufan Arles in 2022. Graduating with a degree in philosophy from Nihon University in 1961 and serving as a professor at Tama Art University from 1973 to 2007, Lee is also known for his writing, having published seminal essays and books in the fields of art criticism, philosophy, and poetry.