Lot 468: Mother, child and two women

Park Sookeun (1914-1965)
Mother, child and two women
Signed in hangul, Sookeun
Inscribed on verso in Roman letters, Park Soo Keun 1964 and in hangul, Park Sookeun
Oil and mixed media on board, original frame
9 5/8 x 5 7/8in. (24.5 x 15cm.)

The Property of An American Private Collection

This painting is one of the highlights of a collection owned by an American who lived in Asia during the 1960s. Although based in Hong Kong, the collector travelled often to Seoul, Tokyo and Manila. His primary interests were in contemporary Asian art, and subjects that focused on everyday people.


Here, a mother and child in traditional Korean clothing (hanbok) are seated; two women balancing baskets on their heads approach in the background. Sookeun's subject matter resonates today with nostalgia for a lost era of Korean history.

Sookeun's work was widely appreciated by Americans stationed in Seoul during the 1960s. Now it is prized by Korean collectors and museums as well. The Bando Gallery at the Choson Hotel began exhibiting his paintings in 1965, selling them for a nominal sum to clients who were predominantly Americans.

Sookeun's body of work is thought to be quite small, perhaps no more than 400 paintings. His career was cut short by his premature death from cirrhosis of the liver at the age of fifty-one in 1965. During the past fifteen years since Christie's, New York, began selling his work, he has become the most sought-after modern Korean master.

Sixteen paintings by Park Sookeun have been sold at Christie's, New York: Farmers , 27 April, 1993, lot 45; Dancers , 17 November, 1993, lot 121; Woman beneath a tree , 27 April, 1994, lot 101; Country village , 25 October, 1994, lot 78; Three women and child , 26 April, 1995, lot 77; Farm houses , 26 March, 1996, lot 67; Men smoking , 31 October, 1996, lot 110; Jobless , 23 March, 1999, lot 384; Four women and child , 23 March, 2000, lot 379; Mother and child walking under trees , 19 September, 2000, lot 410; Winter , 22 March, 2002, lot 223; Woman pounding grain , 18 September, 2002, lot 432; Han il (Leisure time), 24 March, 2003, lot 326; Three Women seated in the marketplace , 16 September, 2003, lot 430; Seated woman and jar , 23 March, 2004, lot 357.