Chun Kyungja, Gate of the Youth, 1968, Color on paper, 145×89cm. MMCA collection
Chun Kyungja
* Source: Multilingual Glossary of Korean Art. Korea Arts Management Service
Related
-
hangukhwa
A type of painting created during the 20th century that uses traditional Korean materials, techniques, and styles. The term emerged from the criticism that traditional-style paintings were called Eastern paintings in Korea, in contrast to China, where they were called national-style paintings, and Japan, where they were called Japanese-style paintings. The term hangukhwa (Korean Painting) entered official use following the overhaul of the educational curriculum in December 1981, and the appearance of the term Korean painting, with the subcategories ink wash painting [sumukhwa] and ink and light-colored painting [damchaehwa] were listed in art textbooks from 1983. The Grand Art Exhibition of Korea also began using the term hangukhwa (Korean Painting), as opposed to Eastern painting, in 1982. Prior to this, Hankukhwahui (Korean Painter’s Association) was used as a collective term for such Korean painters in 1964 and Kim Youngki (pen name Chunggang) argued to use the term Korean painting to define national identity in his essay “On hangukhwa (Korean Painting) and Criticism.” Criticism that Korean paintings, unlike the national paintings of China and Japan, do not have a narrative theme, and that the use of such a term was contrary to contemporary artistic trends, resulted in the term “hangukhwa (Korean Painting)” failing to achieve mainstream use. Hangukhwa (Korean Painting) is currently used interchangeably with the term Eastern painting.
-
Great Korean Art Association
An art association that formed in 1948, when the Korean Art Association [Joseon misul hyeophoe], which was established in 1945, reformed in parallel with the establishment of the new Korean government. Following independence, the organization reformed and expanded primarily to foster solidarity and anti-communist sentiment in artists, and held the inaugural Great Korean Art Association Exhibition. In June 1961, the association closed officially with the government's comprehensive art institute reformation policy, and in December that year, the association merged into the Korean Fine Arts Association [Hanguk misul hyeopoe].
-
Chosun University
A private university located in Seoseok-dong, Dong-gu in Gwangju, Chosun University was founded in 1946 as Gwangju Night University to train local talents who could contribute to the establishment of a nation-state. From the early years of its founding, an art department was installed in the College of Arts and Literature to start art education, and in 1948 the institution was renamed Chosun University. In 1953, the art department came to be affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and in the following year the art department was divided into the Department of Fine arts and the Department of Music. Later, new departments were installed not only covering fine arts but also industrial arts, thus encompassing painting, sculpture, applied arts, and industrial design. In 2000, the animation department was established, and in 2010, the Department of Design Engineering was installed. Since the early years of contemporary art after Korea’s liberation from Japan, Chosun University has served as an educational institute that contributed to the development of art culture in the Jeollanam-do provincial region.
Find More
-
Moon Shin
Moon Shin (1923-1995) was born from a Korean father and a Japanese mother. He moved to Japan in 1939 to learn Western painting at Nihon Art School. After Independence in 1945, he returned to Korea and held several solo exhibitions. His early works were mainly in the manner of Western academic paintings while his works from the 1950s alternated between painting and working in relief. From 1961 to 1965, he stayed in Paris and focused on abstract art in earnest. He was commissioned to remodel an old sixteenth-century castle 80 kilometers from Paris. He practiced a variety of media, including plastering, stone work, wooden work, and decoration. His remodelling of this castle triggered his interest in sculpture as he constructed the scaffolds for the work on his own. He worked as a professor at The Paris École Des Beaux-Arts in 1963 and taught art at the Fine Art College, Hongik University after his return to Korea in 1965, and held solo exhibitions. From 1967 to 1979, he again moved to Paris to concentrate on sculpture. He later settled in Masan, South Korea and established an art gallery and sculpture park. He created Olympic Harmony, a 25-meter stainless steel totem-like work in the Seoul Olympic park in 1988. Also representative of Moon’s work is his Ant series, and his Totem both of which reflect his interest in symmetry, balance and harmony. His work has often been considered as an attempt to reflect the “vitality” of the world, based on his unique blend of macroscopic expression based on microscopic observation. Moon’s oeuvre offers a powerful contrast to the popular tradition of lyrical abstraction within Korean modernist sculpture.
-
Min Chulhong
Min Chulhong(1933-2020) is a pioneering industrial designer and educator who has engaged in both education and artistic practice based on contemporary design concepts. Soon after graduating from the Applied Arts Department at the College of Fine Arts of Seoul National University in 1958, Min was selected for the Design Faculty Overseas Study Program organized by the Korea Handcraft Demonstration Center (KHDC) and studied for a year at the Illinois Institute of Technology in the U.S. as a special student. After his return to Korea in 1959, he served as head designer at the KHDC and taught in the Applied Arts Department at the College of Fine Arts of Seoul National University. In 1963, he was appointed as a full-time lecturer at the same university, and there he worked as a professor until his retirement in 1998. In June 1972, he founded the Korea Society of Industrial Designers (KSID, later absorbed and integrated into the Korea Association of Industrial Designers (KAID)) together with eight other designers. They are Lee Sunhyeok, Bu Su-eon, Kim Gilhong, An Jong-mun, Bae Cheon-beom, Choi Daeseok, Kim Cheol-su, and Min Gyeong-u. The oldest of the nine founding members, Min Chulhong led the establishment of the KSID and served as its first and second president. In 1983, he founded Min Industrial Design Associates, which provided design services for government agencies and business entities. The institute undertook a wide range of service projects, including industrial machines and robots, transportation devices, environmental sculptures, and corporate identity programs (CIP). Occasionally, Kim Jinpyeong, Kwon Yeonggeol, Kim Gyeongbae, Kim Hyeonjung, Mun Gijong, Jang Hoik, Jeong Gyeongwon, Ko Ildu, Hong Seokgi, and others participated in these projects as part-time designers. In the same year, Min became a design advisor to Daewoo Electronics. In 1986, he was appointed as a design committee member for the Seoul Olympic Games and designed a sculpture engraved with the names of Olympic winners and a documentary monument Wall of Glory (1989). In 1994, the Min Chol Hong Retrospective exhibition was held at the MMCA. It was the first solo exhibition of an industrial designer since the museum opened. Min received the Silver Tower Order at the Korea Design Award in 2005, and in 2013 he was inducted into the Designer Hall of Fame by the Korea Institute of Design Promotion.
-
Lee Hyungrok
Lee Hyungrok(1917-2011) is a renowned artist in the history of modern and contemporary Korean photography. Born in Gangneung, Gangwon-do Province, Lee graduated from Gangneung Agricultural High School. After graduation, he learned photography at a photo studio (which also served as a shop selling hardware related to photography) in Gangneung run by his eldest brother Lee Sangrok. In the mid-1930s, he joined the Gangneung Sauhoe, a photography club, and began to fully engage in photography. The Gangneung Sauhoe is an amateur photographer group organized by Limb Eungsik, a photographer who moved from Busan to Gangneung at the time. In 1937, Lee along with Lim and ten other members of the Gangneung Sauhoe prepared about fifty photographs and held the inaugural exhibition of the Gangneung Sauhoe. From 1937 onward, he repeatedly won honorable mentions at the Joseon Photography Exhibition [Joseon sajin jeollamhoe], a contest hosted by the Joseon Federation of Photography [Jeon joseon sajin yeonmaeng], establishing himself as an amateur photographer. After Korea’s liberation from Japan and the Korean War, he departed from the trend of salon or painterly photography and advocated for realistic photography that highlighted snapshots, recordability, and a documentary approach. Particularly in the 1950s and 1960s, Lee captured fatigued lives of ordinary people in the city and its outskirts in warm black-and-white language by photographing shoemakers, fishermen, street vendors, and children on the streets. He contributed to the development of Korean photography culture by advancing realist photography and exploring new modes of expression for modern photography, while forming photography groups and training the younger generation after Korea’s liberation. In particular, he played a leading role in the founding and activities of photography organizations in the 1950s and 1960s, including Sinseonhoe (established in 1956), Salon Ars (established in 1959), and the Modern Photography Society [Hyeondae sajin yeonguhoe] (established in 1960).
Sign Up for Email Updates
