Korean Funerary Figures: Companions for the Journey to the Other World April 1, 2010

In nineteenth and early twentieth century Korea, artisans carved joyful wooden figurines depicting acrobats, clowns and mystical animals (kkoktu) to place on the funeral biers of the departed. In their first exhibition in the US, a collection of 72 kkoktu reflect the realities of rural Korean village life during a period that left few written records and open a window on a timeless, characteristically Korean attitude towards death.