Tristan Hoare and Lyndsey Ingram are proud to present a joint booth of prints by American artist Ellsworth Kelly (1923 - 2015) and Korean Moon Jars by Kim Yikyung (b. 1935). The concept was born from Tristan Hoare’s expertise in contemporary ceramics and Lyndsey Ingram’s knowledge of post- war prints and works on paper.
This collaboration arose out of a conversation between our gallerists about Ellsworth Kelly’s interest in Korean Moon Jars. Although Kelly and Yikyung come from different traditions and nationalities, their shared commitment to formal simplicity is closely aligned. As Ingram states: ‘By showing their work together for the first time, we aim to explore this powerful minimalist dialogue.’
Yikyung (b. 1935), widely regarded as the 'Mother of Korean ceramics,’ studied in New York under Bernard Leach and was crucial in re-invigorating the Korean ceramic tradition in the 20th century. Kelly, a seminal figure in post-war American art, was deeply influenced by Korean ceramics, whose elegant and restrained forms were closely connected with his own minimalist aesthetic.
In the early 1960s, Kelly produced several lithographs of boldly coloured abstract shapes and monochrome botanical subjects, depicted in lean, sweeping lines. The joint exhibition presents these important early lithographs, together with other select examples of his work, alongside classic examples of Yikyung’s Moon Jars, known for their simplicity, balance and proportion.
The asymmetrical shape of the Moon Jar is unique to Korea and dates back to the 17th century. The upper and lower parts are produced separately and joined in the middle, forming a rounded shape which is never perfect and gives each vessel a distinctive character. The Korean moon jar glazed in white representing Confucian ideals of frugality and purity has become a defining symbol of Korean art. Indeed a cauldron in the shape of a moon jar housed the flame at the Pyeonchang Winter Olympics in 2018.