Kim Jung Man
Photographer · 1954–2022
A gaze that crossed continents — and came home.
Africa · France · and the long way home to Korea
Born in Cheorwon. Raised in Burkina Faso. Schooled in Nice. A gaze that crossed continents — and came home to Korea.
For five decades Kim Jungman was a master recognised across Asia. In 2023 the Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger introduced him to Europe for the first time — “the masterpieces of an artist at peace with himself.”
Twice deported in 1985 and 1986 as a foreign national, Kim was cast out to Los Angeles — the hardest years of his life. The despair of those exile days settled into the negatives, and the dark, deep tone that would set him apart was born here. He called the series Exile Days.
“Because it was so hard, I had to keep struggling to see brighter things — things not too sad.”“힘들었기에 이왕이면 좀 더 밝은, 너무 우울하지 않은 것들을 보려고 부단히 노력해야 했다.”
Back in Seoul, he became the defining portrait and fashion photographer of his generation — a thousand faces, the cinema posters of a nation, from Whale Hunting to The Host. To stand before his lens was to be truly seen.
“The moment I pick up a camera, I lose myself.”“제가 그 카메라만 들면요, 정신줄 놓습니다.”
In 2006 a journey through the Gobi turned him inward. He set commercial work aside — image-making became a search for meaning — and chose, in his own words, the path of a Korean artist. The monumental Asian landscapes that followed made him a master abroad.
“I had to walk the path of a Korean artist.”“한국인의 작가로서 길을 가야겠다.”
In his later years the wounded trees of the streets became his companions. Photography turned to a meditation on resilience, memory, and belonging — where, he believed, a wound itself could become beauty.
“A wound, too, can become beauty — because you overcome it.”“상처도 아름다움이 될 수 있어요. 그걸 극복하니까.”
Beyond his fine-art practice, Kim shaped the visual identity of contemporary Korea. Honoured with the Mark of Respect (Royal Salute, 2010) and the Cultural Diplomacy Award (Asia Society · Rockefeller Foundation, 2015).
Critics set him beside Avedon and Mapplethorpe; Christian Caujolle of Agence VU championed his eye. Across five decades, 70+ exhibitions — Rencontres d’Arles (Young Photographer, 1977), Musée Cernuschi Paris (Nuit Blanche, 2015), Novosibirsk State Art Museum (2015), PhotoBrussels at the Hangar (2021) — and the first Korean photographer at Sotheby’s.
Held in the collections of the Museum of Photographic Arts (San Diego), Musée Cernuschi (Paris), the Loo&Lou Foundation (Luxembourg), and Museum Hanmi (Seoul).
This archive is not only a collection of photographs.
It traces the journey of a man who moved between continents, cultures, and ways of seeing — a lasting reflection on resilience, memory, and the search for belonging.
More than an archive — a legacy in search of its steward.
Entrusted, not acquired.
The complete archive of Kim Jungman — more than 800,000 photographs across five decades — is offered to institutions and collectors for exhibition, acquisition, and long-term stewardship.
A single institution may take on the stewardship of the entire archive — preserved, researched, and exhibited as a unified whole, in the tradition of the great photographic legacies entrusted to the Met, the SK Stiftung, and the Center for Creative Photography.
Catalogued to international archival standards · Provenance & exhibition history · Exclusive rights & indemnification
Enquire about stewardship →Individual works and series are available for acquisition — each an estate-certified print, stamped with the Estate Seal and numbered. Acquire a piece of the legacy, with full transfer of ownership.
For institutional curators, researchers & accredited collectors. Tell us how you would like to engage with the archive — our archivist will respond within 48 hours, in English.
Printed and supervised by the artist during his lifetime. Rare, and held or released individually with full provenance.
Produced under the authority of the estate — each stamped with the Estate Seal and editioned. Vintage and estate prints are never conflated; authenticity is guaranteed in writing.
The archive is catalogued to international standards. Provenance, exhibition history, and rights documentation are made available to vetted partners on request.