This fall, the art of Korea, long overshadowed by the more flamboyant artistic traditions of China and Japan, finally gets the attention it deserves. San Francisco's world-renowned Asian Art Museum, recently relocated to a Beaux-Arts building in the heart of the city, inaugurates its special exhibition program with a major loan show, "Goryeo Dynasty: Korea's Age of Enlightenment (918 to 1392)." More than 100 works—including rare celadon ceramics, Buddhist paintings and sculptures, illustrated manuscripts, and lacquerware—provide a visual guide to Korea's golden age. A neighboring exhibition hall updates this grand legacy with "Leaning Forward, Looking Back: Eight Contemporary Artists from Korea." Installations, paintings, and photographs by established artists refer to Korea's past: Duck-hyun Cho buries fiberglass dogs and then orchestrates archaeological digs; Jung-jin Lee develops photographs of ancient pagodas on rice paper; and In-kie Whang builds landscapes out of Lego blocks (both shows October 18-January 11).
—Kim Levin