Chairman of DC Chemical Makes Record-Setting Art Donation to Incheon

The donation of 8,400 pieces of cultural properties to Incheon made by the chairman of DC Chemical is historically the biggest such donation ever made. In particular, what makes this donation extraordinary is that an art museum and the land it is located on have been donated together with the cultural properties.

Based on current market prices, the museum and land are valued more than 15 billion won, while the total value together with cultural properties amounts to tens of billions of won.

DC Chemical Chairman Lee Hoe-rim said on June 9, “I have been thinking that I should return what I have earned from society. DC Chemical has grown in Incheon and that is why I decided to donate to Incheon.”

Chairman Lee, who was born in Gaesong in North Korea and established DC Chemical in the 1950s, has collected cultural properties from the nation and foreign countries for a long time.

The cultural properties to be donated include various types of cultural treasures, including paintings and handwritings from the Joseon Dynasty, such as Jeong Seon’s Nosongyeongjido, Kim Jung-hui’s handwriting, Lee Ha-eung’s Mukrando, Jang Seung-up’s painting, potteries such as Cheongja, Baekja, and Buncheongsagi, golden and bronze Buddha statues, and modern paintings by Ahn Jung-sik, Byeon Gwan-sik, Lee Eung-no, and Kim Gi-chang.

Jung Yang-mo, the former director of the National Museum of Korea said, “Song-am Art Museum has highly valuable potteries.”

Nosongyeongjido is one of the best known paintings with pine trees and mushrooms. Chairman Lee purchased it for 700 million won, the highest price in domestic art auction history at that time, in an auction in 2001. Experts think that it is now valued at more than 1.5 billion won.

Song-am Art Museum, which was donated together with its cultural properties, was established in 1992 on 4,400 pyeong of land and in a 765 pyeong building space (three floors with one underground).

Chairman Lee plans to visit Incheon City Hall and deliver a formal donation notice to Incheon Mayor Ahn Sang-soo on June 13.

Kwawg-PyoLee kplee@donga.com