Kansong Art Museum

Kansong Art Museum

Established	1938 (1938)
Location	87-1 Seongbuk-ro, Seongbuk District, Seoul, South Korea
Coordinates	37°35′39.13″N 126°59′47.68″E / 37.5942028°N 126.9965778°E / 37.5942028; 126.9965778
Founder	Jeon Hyeongpil
Website	kansong.org
Korean name
Hangul	간송미술관
Hanja	澗松美術館
Revised Romanization	Gansong misulgwan
McCune–Reischauer	Kansong misulgwan

The Kansong Art Museum (Korean: 간송미술관) is located in Seongbuk-dong, Seongbuk District, Seoul, South Korea.

The predecessor to the museum, Bohwagak (보화각; 葆華閣), was founded by Jeon Hyeong-pil in 1938.^[1] It was the first privately-owned museum in Korea, and showcased various Korean historical and artistic materials that Jeon had gathered.^[1] His goal was to prevent Japanese removal of Korean cultural properties during the Japanese colonial period.^[2] Numerous Korean cultural properties were taken to Japan, such as Goryeo porcelains, Silla-era Buddhist statues, and Joseon-era texts.^[3]

The museum was designed by architect Park Gil-ryong (박길룡).^[1] Jeon died in 1962; his sons Jeon Seong-u (전성우; 全晟雨) and Jeon Yeong-u (전영우; 全暎雨) continued his work in museum and art curation. In 1966, the Kansong Art Museum and the Korean Folk Art Research Institute (한국민족미술연구소; 韓國民族美術硏究所) were founded by the pair. The former entity shows pieces to the public, and the latter performs academic research.^[1] The museum is named for the art name of Jeon Hyeong-pil (간송; 澗松; Kansong).

As of 2011^[update], the museum housed twelve national treasures. This includes a copy of the Hunminjeongeum, which first described the Korean script Hangul^[1] (National Treasure No. 70). Other national treasures include Donggukjeongun Book 1, 2 (National Treasure No. 71), Geumdong gyemimyeong samjonbul (No. 72 National Treasure), and Hyewon pungsokdo.^{[citation needed]}