Korean contemporary art is currently enjoying unprecedented global visibility. From the reopening of the Korean Art Gallery at the Peabody Essex Museum to the acclaimed traveling exhibition “Hallyu! The Korean Wave”—currently on view at Museum Rietberg in Zurich after its debut at London’s V&A and stops in Boston and San Francisco—Korean art is commanding institutional attention across continents. That energy has now made its way to New York, where three exhibitions offer a timely counterpoint, turning our gaze to the roots of this momentum: the rich and experimental legacies of 20th-century Korean modernism, shaped by political upheaval and transnational displacement.Since the mid-1950s, Korean artists have built a long arc of global engagement—now they are reshaping the map of contemporary art. As Kim Daljin—founder of the Kimdaljin Art Archives and Museums and a leading chronicler of Korea’s contemporary art scene—has noted, Korean art began appearing abroad as early as the 1950s, though it only gained consistent visibility in international programming in the decades that followed. This gradual rise reached a new level of prominence around 2022, when Frieze launched its first fair in Seoul, capitalizing on the surging market and scholarly interest in the postwar movements, such as Dansaekhwa (“monochrome painting”). But only recently has Korean art history started making its way into the biggest museums in the US. When the Guggenheim Museum staged “Only the Young,” a survey of Korea’s postwar avant-garde, in 2023, it was the first show of its kind at this institution.That shift can be seen outside New York as well, of course. A recent show at the Denver Art Museum showcased moon jars, including treasures on loan from the National Museum of Korea, and the newly expanded Korean gallery at the Peabody Essex Museum reintroduces key works from the museum’s holdings. And there is more Korean art history on the horizon, with Dia:Beacon set to exhibit recently acquired works by Lee Ufan next year.How will that history be told going forward? Three New York exhibitions, reviewed below, offer some clues.