VOL.74/2024.09

 

[Book × Art]

Modern Korean Art

 

2023.12.04

 

 

Until the end of the 19th century, Joseon was a nation unknown to most of the world. This is because it strictly limited its interactions with other countries, only sending envoys and emissaries to its neighbors, China and Japan. It was not until the 1880s that Joseon began to establish trade deals with the US and other Western nations in Europe. The country eventually became a colony of Japan in 1910, the victor of the Sino-Japanese War (1894) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904). Although Joseon was freed from colonial rule at the end of World War II in 1945, the country was divided into North and South Korea based on the 38th parallel north line, and the country is still divided to this day after the Korean War (1950-1953).
For a country with a history, traditions, and language that spans five millennia, the turbulent experiences of the 20th century have left Koreans in great shock and stimulation. What did Korean intellectuals, especially artists, think and dream about during this dramatic period from the 1900s to the 1960s? What kind of lives did they lead, and what kind of works did they leave behind as traces and products of their time? Several books have been published in recent years trying to answer these questions. Apart from specialized books on the history of modern Korean art, this article will focus on the more casual, popular books on the subject.

 

 

History flows, but art stays

 

Published in 2020, The Survived Pictures (Nulwa) is a collection of revised and complemented articles that writer Cho Sang-In, a journalist for Seoul Daily, wrote for the paper. As the title suggests, it tells the story of the ‘survived pictures’ that have survived Korea’s modern colonization, post-liberation conflicts, and wars. The book covers 37 artists in total, from representative modern Korean painters such as Lee Joong-Sub, Park Su-Geun, and Kim Hwan-Ki to monochromatic artists such as Yoon Hyung-Geun, Park Seo-Bo, and Lee Woo-Hwan. Notably, the book also includes major contemporary Korean painters who were active in the 1970s.
The book begins by introducing one work by each artist at the beginning of the chapter, and then continues with the artist’s life and thoughts, tracing the journey to the production of the work. Through the lens of surviving artworks, this book brings the world of artists to life. The author, a former journalist, makes the story come alive.

 

 

The Lee Kun-Hee & Hong Ra-Hee Collection (Jamo Books) is a book that introduces the major works collected by Lee Kun-Hee (former chairman of Samsung Electronics) and the history surrounding them, which attracted national attention in April 2021 as the “donation of the century.” Author Sohn Young-Ok, a journalist at Kukmin Ilbo, began reporting from the moment the donation by the late chairman’s family was first reported, and delved into the details of each work’s production and the history behind the collection. Utilizing her investigative skills, she also interviewed the gallerists who helped Lee Kun-Hee and his wife build the collection.
The writer divided the important donations into several categories. Masterpieces by major artists who deserve to be called national artists are organized separately from rare works that fill gaps in art history. The book emphasizes the collection’s diversity, from contemporary works with abstractionist tendencies to works by individual artists who developed their own unique styles. It also includes an introduction to the Western modern works of Monet, Renoir, Chagall, and others donated to the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.

 

Korean art blossomed amidst the pain of history

 

Gyeongseong was the name of Seoul during the Japanese occupation. When Japan succeeded in annexing Korea in 1910, it renamed the country “Joseon” instead of the “Korean Empire” proclaimed by King Gojong. It gave it the Japanese name “Gyeongseong” in place of the Korean character name “Hansung” for Seoul. Gyeongseong is thus a place name that embodies the symbolism of the Japanese colonial era.
Kwang Jung-Soo, writer of Modern Interpretation of the Gyeongseong Artists (Purunyeoksa), is a modern art researcher and art connoisseur. He has been writing a series of articles for newspapers and magazines such as Ohmynews about artists who were active in the areas of Seochon and Bukchon in Gyeongseong, introducing their lives and works. He has collected the articles and published them in two books (featuring Seochon and Bukchon each), covering quite a large number of artists. In particular, artists who tried to modernize traditional ink painting were given great attention. The book introduces several Korean artists, including Ahn Joong-Sik, Kim Eun-Ho, Noh Soo-Hyeon, Lee Sang-Beom, and Cheon Kyung-Ja. It also features a wide range of artists, including calligraphers, craftsmen, and illustrators. Significantly, the book introduces not only famous artists, but also artists who are relatively unknown to the public for reasons such as death or defection.

 

 

Salon de Gyeongseong (Hainaim) is a compilation of columns with the same title I wrote for Chosun Ilbo for about two years, starting in March 2021. Originally a curator at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, I curated the exhibition “Encounters Between Korean Art and Literature in the Modern Age” at the Deoksugung Pavilion in 2021, which explored the connections between literary and artistic figures in Gyeongseong in the 1930s and 1940s, and the highlights of that exhibition form the first chapter of the book. It touches on the friendship and solidarity between artists such as Lee Sang, Ku Bon-Woong, Lee Tae-Joon, Kim Yong-Joon, Baek Seok, Jung Hyeon-Woong, and others who lived through the Japanese occupation. As suggested by the book’s title, “Salon de Gyeongseong,” the book indicates that, like the salons of Paris in the 19th century and the École de Paris in the early 20th century, Korea also brought together a diverse group of artists to ignite their aspirations for a new era.
In addition, the book focuses on the lives of modern Korean artists born between the 1900s and early 1920s, who developed unique artistic worlds in the midst of harsh times. It consists of 30 articles, covering representative artists of modern Korea, as well as lesser-known but important artists such as Lee Dae-Won, Lee Sung-Ja, and Byeon Si-Ji.

 

 

For a broader and deeper journey into modern Korean art

 

The four books introduced above have much in common, not only in that they mainly feature modern Korean artists, but also in that they started as newspaper serials and were compiled into books. As newspaper serials are written for an unspecified public, they have the advantage of being straightforward and easy to read. The relatively large number of such serials and books published in recent years is a testament to the growing public interest in modern art in Korea.
However, the limitations of newspaper serials are also apparent. As the pieces are compiled into a book, they cannot paint a comprehensive picture of the period or draw out the connections among them. Therefore, it is necessary to publish more comprehensive and multidimensional books on modern Korean art in the future. Another limitation is that the introduction of each artist or work is short due to the limited space of the newspaper series. If you want to get more in-depth information about the artists introduced, you should look for their biographies. The Korean publishing industry has already published biographies of artists such as Lee Joong-Sub, Park Soo-geun, Lee In-sung, Jang Wook-jin, Chun Kyung-ja, Lee Sung-ja, and Moon Shin. There are also art booklets of solo exhibitions published by various museums, including the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, as well as a series of art books on Korean artists published by Marronnier Books.
If you are looking for more specialized knowledge, you might want to look into academic art history books. Professor Kim Young-Na’s Modern Korean Art Since 1945 (Mijinsa), published in 2020, covers the development of Korean art history after the country’s liberation in 1945. In addition, Korean Art 1900-2020, published by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in 2021, is an overview of a vast period of time featuring papers by a total of 34 curators and researchers.

 

 

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Written by Kim In-Hye (Art historian, former senior curator of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea)