Four Artists Exhibition
An exhibition held at the Eastern Cultural Center from May 16 to May 25, 1956. The featured artists—Kim Younghwan, Kim Chungsun, Moon Woosik, and Park Seo-Bo—were alumni of Hongik University. Together protesting in front of the show itself, they declared their opposition to the National Art Exhibition (Gukjeon). The Korean art community of the day, which centered around the National Art Exhibition, imitated the manner of Japanese Academicism, and their declaration was the result of these younger artists’ resistance to this practice. They opposed the realist focus espoused within the National Art Exhibition and influenced the founding of the Modern Art Association, the Hyundae Fine Artists Association, the Creative Art Association [Changjak misul hyeopoe], Sinjohyeongpa, and the Paek Yang Painting Association.
Si-Gong
Si-Gong is an art organization formed in July 1972 by Byeon Sangbong, Song Hyunggeun, Lee Kyungsoo, Chung Hakyung, and Hong Yongsun, who majored in Korean (ink) painting at Hongik University. It was a nonfigurative art organization after the manner of the Mukrimhoe and declared “liberation from customs and convention,” creating the first nonfigurative organization in the field of Korean ink painting and held a group exhibition. In 1977, Chung Hakyung, Hong Yongsun, and Hong Seokchang withdrew, and Lee Myungsoo, Lee JongJin, Rhee Chulryang , Jeong Minwoong, Kwak SukSon, Park Yunseo, Seo Kiwon, Jo Dongu, and Lee Doohwan held a comeback exhibition. In 1991, the group published The Collective History of the Twentieth Anniversary of Si-Gong Group. In the preface, the group presented a new direction for modern Korean ink painting by adopting avant-garde and forward-looking concepts geared toward the urgent reform of the consciousness of Korean painting as a traditional method and perspective.
Union Exhibition of Korean Young Artists
The Union Exhibition of Korean Young Artists was an art show that members from Origin Fine Arts Association, Zero Group, and Sinjeon Group organized to be held at the Korean Information Service Gallery from December 11 to 17, 1967. By choosing to present works in what were the mainstream genres in Western art, such as pop art, op art, environmental art, happenings, and sculpture, the Exhibition helped to usher in a new era for Korean art after the dominance of the Informel group. Members from the three groups were mostly graduates from Hongik University. The manifesto they released stated: “Informel didn’t provide anything for last ten years. We are artists as activists who aim to create art after abstraction, art in everyday life, and public-friendly art.” This manifesto clearly expressed a desire to challenge the art world establishment, and the Coalition Exhibition is often considered as the beginning of a period of Korean “Experimental art (silheom misul),” which existed from the end of the 1960s to 1970s.
Experimental art
A genre of Korean art characterized by non-two-dimensional work such as sculpture, environmental installation and performance that emerged in the late 1960s and continued over the course of the 1970s. Art historian Kim Mikyung has analyzed the movement in the context of the political and social phenomena of the time and first coined the term experimental art to describe such work.
College of Arts at Seoul National University
The College of Fine Arts of Seoul National University is located in Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul. According to the Decree on the Establishment of Seoul National University, the College of Art including the Department of Fine Arts and the Department of Music was founded in August 1946 at Seoul National University. The Department of Fine Arts consisted of sub-departments of Painting I, Painting II, Sculpture, and Design. It was organized by Chang Louis Pal and Lee Soonsuk. Chang Louis Pal had served as head of the Education and Management Bureau in the U.S. Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) in Korea since December 1945. Lee Soonsuk assumed practical tasks as an advisor to the art section of the USAMGIK from 1946 when the Education and Management Bureau was changed to the Ministry of Culture and Education. In 1946, there were nine faculty members at the Department of Fine Arts in the College of Art: Chang Louis Pal, Kim Yongjun, Gil Jinseop, and Lee Jaehun as professors; Yun Seung-uk and Lee Soonsuk as associate professors; and Kim Whanki, Chang Woosoung, and Lee Byeonghyeon as assistant professors. However, after the incident of Korean students and professors’ protest against the U.S.’s attempt to merge several colleges and universities into a single university, Kim Yongjun, Gil Jinseop, and Kim Whanki resigned. In 1954, the College of Art was reorganized into the College of Fine Arts with three departments of painting, sculpture, and applied art. The Department of Aesthetics, which had temporarily belonged to the College of Fine Arts since 1948, was transferred to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1960. In 1963, according to the relocation plan of the Seoul National University main school building, the College of Fine Arts was moved to the former veterinary department building in Yeongeon-dong, Jongno-gu. In 1972, it was moved to the liberal arts department building in Hagye-dong, Seongbuk-gu, and then in 1976, to the current Gwanak campus. In 1981, the three departments of painting, sculpture, and applied art were reorganized into the five departments of Eastern painting, Western painting, sculpture, crafts, and industrial art. In 1989, the Department of Industrial Art was renamed the Department of Industrial Design, and in 1999, the Department of Crafts and the Department of Industrial Design were merged into the School of Design. Currently, the College of Fine Arts consists of the Department of Oriental Painting, Department of Painting, Department of Sculpture, Department of Craft, Department of Design, and Interdisciplinary Programs.
Ewha Womans University
Ewha Womans University is a private university located in Daehyeon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. Its parent institution was the College courses at Ewha Hakdang (Ewha Girl’s School), Korea’s first women’s school that the American missionary Mary Scranton founded in Jeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul. During the Japanese colonial era, it became Ewha College that functioned as a relief vocational school. In 1945, it was accredited as Korea’s first university. In 1946, it was renamed the Ewha Womans University. The College of Art and Design at Ewha Womans University was the first four-year university institution specializing in fine arts in South Korea. In October 1945, the Ewha Womans University had Hallimwon, Yerimwon, and Haengnimwon. Yerimwon was like an art college with a fine arts department and a music department. In 1946, the art department in Yerimwon was reorganized into the School of Fine Arts, and in September 1947 four major departments of Eastern-style painting, Western-style painting, embroidery, and design were established in the School of Fine Arts at Yerimwon. In October 1949, the graduation exhibition Nongmihoe of the first class was held at Daewon Gallery through the sponsorship of the Kyunghyang Shinmun newspaper company. In December 1951, the Department of Fine Arts in the College of Art came to be equipped with eight majors of Eastern painting, Western painting, sculpture, embroidery, design, photography, interior design, and dyeing. The Department of Fine Arts was installed in the graduate school as well. In 1967, the Department of Painting was divided into Eastern painting and Western painting departments, and the Department of Decorative Art was newly established. The school system, reformed in March 1998. It consists of three faculties and nine majors: School of Fine Arts (Korean painting, painting · printmaking, and sculpture), School of Design (environmental design, visual communication design, industrial design, and fashion design), and School of Crafts (textile art and ceramic art). Currently, the College of Art and Design consists of the Fine Art Division, Design Division, and Fiber/Fashion Division.