1945–2009 Online Platform for Korean Modern and Contemporary Art

60 Years of Modern Korean Art (1972): Categorizing Modern Art in Korea

Following the establishment of the National Museum of Modern Art (now National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, MMCA) in 1969 at the Gyeongbokgung Palace Museum, the exhibition 60 Years of Modern Korean Art (June 27–July 26, 1972) was held as an effort to build its collection and establish an art historical framework in the absence of existing holdings. The exhibition’s title, framing the period as “60 years of modern Korean art,” indicates the museum’s attempt to define the temporal scope and significance of modern art in Korea. 60 Years of Modern Korean Art was held across nine galleries of the Gyeongbokgung Palace Museum, featuring a total of 381 works by 149 artists. The exhibition was organized by genre: Western painting, Eastern painting, calligraphy, and sculpture. Western painting, which formed the core of the exhibition, was displayed across four galleries with 277 works. Eastern painting followed with 128 works displayed in three galleries. Calligraphy works were exhibited in a single gallery with 40 pieces, while sculpture was displayed in the central hall with 24 works. Press coverage at the time characterized the exhibition as a “60th birthday celebration of Korean modern art,” marking the end of one generation in modern art.1 Another article from the time noted that the exhibition served as an “opportunity to reassess and systematize the art historical value of modern Korean art”.2 The exhibition was characterized by two distinctive features. First, it categorized artwork into four genres: Western painting, Eastern painting, calligraphy, and sculpture. This classification reflects a return to earlier categorizations used during the Japanese colonial period’s Joseon Art Exhibition (Joseon misul jeollamhoe), which initially comprised Eastern painting, Western painting, sculpture, calligraphy, and the Four Gentlemen. In 1932, the calligraphy division was discontinued, and the exhibition categories were restructured into Eastern painting, Western painting, sculpture, and crafts. The reinstatement of calligraphy in this exhibition reflects the importance placed on this genre by Korean. Meanwhile, the exclusion of crafts, possibly due to the limited number of active artists in this field even after liberation, suggests it had yet to be fully adopted. A second defining feature of the exhibition was its temporal scope and thematic contents. The exhibition included works produced between 1900 and 1960. Artists whose practices had been firmly established by 1955 were prioritized; however, in cases where earlier works were unavailable, works produced up to 1960 were included.3 The Western painting section featured figures including Kim Kwanho, Kim Chan-young, Rha Hyeseok, Gu Bonung, Kim Chongtai, Lee Madong, Lee Jungseop, Kim Whanki, and Yoo Youngkuk. Notably, Lee Madong’s Man (1931), retrieved from storage at Changdeokgung Palace, exemplified early oil painting. While most works consisted of figurative oil paintings, the inclusion of Kim Whanki’s Song of Eternity (1957) and Lee Cheul-yi’s abstract Work 60 (A) (1960) introduced elements of Art Informel and semi-abstraction. In the Eastern painting section, the earliest work was Kim Eungwon’s Orchid (1902), while Suh Seok’s High Noon (1958) signalled the emergence of abstraction. Pak Nosoo’s Spirit of Mountain (1960) represented the latest point in the production timeframe. The calligraphy section ranged from Kwon Dongsu’s folding screen Antique Roof (1910) to Yu Chiwoong’s Cursive Style (1960). Sculpture included works such as Yun Seung-uk’s Girl Playing Flute (1938) and Yun Hyojoong’s Sound of Bow String (1942). Kim Chongyung’s Work (1959) broke from figurative traditions, embodying a minimalist form. Overall, by setting 1960 as the lower limit, the exhibition successfully assembled major representative works by key figures in each field. Following the exhibition, the catalogue 60 Years of Modern Korean Art (1973) was published, featuring a representative selection limited to two works per artist, rather than including all exhibited pieces. This suggests that the primary aim of the exhibition was not to define the characteristics of modern Korean art per se, but rather to serve as a touchstone for the museum’s efforts to build its collection and establish an art historical framework. In this context, it appears that the term “modern” has been conceived less as an aesthetic category and more as a chronological marker. At the end of the exhibition catalogue, the essay “Sixty Years of Modern Korean Art (A Brief History)” by Lee Kyungsung, one of the exhibition’s preparatory and editorial committee members, offers insight into the periodisation and characteristics of modern Korean art at the time. Lee emphasized that one of the exhibition’s key significances lay in identifying the locations of dispersed works and bringing them together, given works produced from around 1900 had been dispersed or lost over time.4 He characterized modern Korean art in two ways: in terms of period, as art that entered Korea with a time lag of approximately fifty years after its emergence in the West; and in terms of artistic qualities, as possessing naturalistic tendencies. Within this framework, Lee further subdivides the period into six distinct phases: the Period of Fomentation (1900–1919), Period of Groping (1920–1936), Dark Age (1937–1945), Period of Confusion (1946–1951), Transitional Period (1952–1956), and Period of Settlement (1957–1960 and beyond). He further grouped these into two overarching phases: Modern Art (comprising the Formative, Exploratory, and Dark Periods) and Contemporary Art (consisting of the Turbulent, Transitional, and Establishment Periods). However, this distinction between 'modern' and 'contemporary' appears to have lacked a clearly defined art-historical perspective. Because he described art after 1946 as “contemporary,” while the exhibition regarded sixty years after 1900 as “modern.” In articulating the Period of Settlement, he identified the emergence of Art Informel around 1957 as the point when contemporary art in Korea began to take root, cautiously signalling its emergence even as he continued to frame his narrative within the discourse of modern art. In the 1970s, a wave of gallery openings took place, including Hyundai Gallery (1970), Myeong-dong Gallery (1970), Munheon Gallery (1974), and DongSanBang Gallery (1975). These galleries held posthumous or retrospective exhibitions of modern artists such as Park Sookeun, Lee Jungseop, To Sangbong, Chang Woosoung, and Byeon Gwansik, offering insight into the ways in which modern art was being retrospectively framed and organized during this period. Alongside national institutions, commercial galleries were thus playing a pivotal role in the consolidation of Korea’s modern art history. Meanwhile, in the late 1970s, the National Museum of Modern Art undertook a systematic effort to historicize individual genres, including Western painting, Eastern painting, sculpture, and crafts. Though published under the title “History of Contemporary Korean Art,” this project in fact aimed to articulate the development of modern art from the beginning of the twentieth century. Concurrently, the museum began establishing the foundation of its collection through the acquisition of key works of art.5 In 1984, the National Museum of Modern Art held the exhibition Modern Korean Art Archives [in Korean] (Dec. 4–30, 1984), featuring printed materials, photographs of artists, catalogues, and self-portraits created as graduation works at the Tokyo University of Fine Arts. As an archival exhibition, it emphasized the significance of historical documentation, alongside artworks, in shaping the narrative of Korean modern art. The museum’s efforts to collect and research both artworks and documentary materials reveal its commitment to enriching the historical understanding of modern art in Korea.