Lot 432: Park Sookeun (1914-1965)

Woman pounding grain Signed in hangul, Sookeun Oil on canvas, framed 13 x 81/4in. (33 x 21cm.) A paper label on the stretcher is dated July 1956 NOTES Sookeun's work was widely appreciated by Americans stationed in Seoul after the Korean War. Now it is prized by Korean collectors and museums as well. The Bando Gallery in the Choson Hotel in Seoul began exhibiting his paintings in 1956, selling them for a nominal sum to clients who were predominately Americans. His paintings were exhibited at the World House Gallery in New York in 1958. The artist's career was cut short by his premature death at the age of fifty-one in 1965. During the past nine years, since Christie's New York began selling his work, he has become the most sought-after modern Korean master. Twelve paintings by Park Sookeun have been sold at Christie's: Farmers, 27 April, 1993, lot 45; Dancers, 17 Novermber, 1993, lot 121; Woman beneath a tree, 27 April, 1994, lot 101; Country village, 25 October, 1994, lot 78; Three woman and child, 26 April, 1995, lot 77; Farmhouses, 26 March, 1996, lot 67; Men smoking, 31 October, 1996, lot 110; The jobless, 23 March, 1999, lot 311 and 15 October, 2001, lot 333; Mother and child, 15 September, 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.