Kumho Museum of Art to close after nearly four decades in Seoul

The Kumho Museum of Art in Sagan-dong, central Seoul, will close in July next year, bringing its nearly four-decade art program to an end.

"We have decided to discontinue our art business from July 2027 to make our support for arts and culture more sustainable by concentrating our resources on selected programs," the Kumho Cultural Art Foundation said Sunday.

“To minimize confusion resulting from the discontinuation, we will operate all scheduled exhibitions and programs as planned until the closing date and place the highest priority on preserving and managing the museum's collection and archives."

Established in 1977, the Kumho Cultural Foundation has supported the arts and culture through programs that discover and nurture young talent in music and visual arts.

The museum traces its origins to the Kumho Gallery, which opened in Gwanhun-dong, central Seoul, in 1989. In 1996, the foundation constructed a new building with three basement levels and four aboveground floors in Sagan-dong, near Gyeongbok Palace, and opened the Kumho Museum of Art there.

The museum has staged major exhibitions including a Joan Miró exhibition, figurative art of the 1980s and the development of Korean modernism. It also supported young artists through the Kumho Art Studio in Icheon, Gyeonggi, and has discovered emerging artists through its annual Kumho Young Artist program since 2004. The program has supported 107 up-and-coming artists to this year.

Park Gang-ja, who had led the museum since its opening and is the older sister of former Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo, stepped down as director in 2019 amid the group's financial difficulties. The director position has remained vacant since then.

The foundation plans to concentrate its resources on supporting music through programs including the Kumho Prodigy Concert, the Kumho Instrument Bank, which lends historic instruments to young musicians free of charge, Kumho Soloists and the Kumho Management School.

BY KWON KEUN-YOUNG [[email protected]]