Le Tresor - Coree

"Le Trésor, Corée" (The Treasure, Korea) from May 1940 uses an evocative title for what is likely a portrait of a Korean woman or figure associated with something of great value — whether material, cultural, or emotional. Jacoulet's Korean portraits produced around 1940 sit in a complex historical moment, just months before Japan's full expansion into Southeast Asia, when Korean cultural life was under severe assimilationist pressure. The "treasure" title suggests his perception of Korean traditional culture as something precious and worth preserving.