LACMA Slammed by Korean Art Experts for Exhibiting ‘Fake’ Korean Paintings

The names of late Korean artists Lee Jung-seob and Park Soo-keun have been dragged into a scandal after several of their paintings exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) were branded as fakes.

The show – titled “Korean Treasures from the Chester and Cameron Chang Collection” – ran for four months and ended on Sunday. Suspicion about the authenticity of some of the artworks, including two paintings apiece by Lee and Park, was apparently rife from the onset. Ceramics from the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910) were also exhibited.

Last week, LACMA held an official appraisal session at the museum, where four Korean art experts examined the suspected forgeries, South Korean national daily newspaper JoongAng reported Tuesday. They were Hong Sun-pyo, professor emeritus from Ewha University; Lee Dong-kook, director of the Gyeonggi Province Museum; Kim Sun-hee, former director of the Busan Museum of Art; and Tae Hyun-seon, curator at the Leeum Museum of Art.

The experts concluded that Lee’s A Bull and a Child and Crawling Children, and Park’s Waikiki and Three Women and Chile are counterfeits. The experts criticized LACMA’s due diligence process and also said the museum lacked an understanding of Korean art.

In a statement to ARTnews, the museum said, “LACMA has confidence in the scientific findings that our research has produced to date, and we are committed to continuing to conduct additional research on works in the Chester and Cameron Chang Collection. Further contextualization of these works and their art historical significance will appear in future LACMA publications, both online and in print. As is longstanding practice, the works in LACMA’s permanent collection are continuously studied as new discoveries are made and research progresses.”

“Korean Treasures from the Chester and Cameron Chang Collection” comprised 35 artworks and objects once owned by Korean collectors Dr. Chester Chang and his son Dr. Cameron Chang that were acquired by the museum in 2021.

Questions about the artworks’ authenticity were first raised by JoongAng in February, which compelled the Galleries Association of Korea to contact LACMA.

Correction, July 6, 17:33: A previous version of this article misstated that LACMA’s director Michael Govan said the museum would cancel the publication of the catalogue for the exhibition.