1945–2009 Online Platform for Korean Modern and Contemporary Art

Kwon Heangga

1953-1959: The Post-war Formation of Contemporary Art

After ceasefire of the Korean War in July 1953, Korean art history was reorganized into art centered on South Korea rather than art of the Korean peninsula. In the midst of the Cold War, the South Korean art world began to lay the foundation for post-war contemporary art within the framework of a state-led art and culture policy centered on anti-communism. The older generation, who benefitted from the national art and culture policy, established the academism of the National Art Exhibitions [Daehanminguk misul jeollamhoe, also known as Gukjeon], while new generations, who rebelled against it, designated the art of older generations as “modern” [geundae], and to define contemporary art, began to advocate “abstraction,” the “avant-garde,” and “internationalization.” The art world of the 1950s was a “period of transition to contemporary art,” filled with the desire to move beyond modernity. Dispute over the State-led Art System and the National Art Exhibition After the armistice of the Korea War, Korean society entered a period of post-war recovery. The Korean art world began to be reorganized, with artists, who fled to Busan, Daegu, and other places during the Koran War, returning to Seoul, alongside artists defecting to South Korea from North Korea, who filled the void left by artists who defected to North Korea. The Great Korean Art Association [Daehan misul hyeophoe], led by right-wing artists under the leadership of Ko Huidong, took on the character of a cultural organization that disseminated the ideology of liberal democracy and anti-communism. The National Academy of Arts, Republic of Korea, launched in accordance with the presidential decree announced at the beginning of the New Year in 1954, and the National Art Exhibition (Gukjeon), which resumed after the war, became established as key institutions dominating the art world since the 1950s. Just as the Joseon Art Exhibition [Joseon misul jeollamhoe] during the Japanese colonial period was the only gateway for artists, the National Art Exhibition was still the only portal for artists and a means of guaranteeing social reputation and status. However, because the right to select judges for the National Art Exhibition rested with the National Academy of Arts, Republic of Korea, the National Art Exhibition became the epicenter of artists’ struggle for hegemony. Disputes surrounding the judging of the National Art Exhibition, including the division between the Great Korean Art Association and the Korean Fine Arts Association [Hanguk misul hyeophoe], the boycott of the National Art Exhibition, and the exhibition of rejected works from the National Art Exhibition, reached their peak in the late 1950s. Opposition Between Figuration and Abstraction Until the early to mid-1950s, the dominant style of the National Art Exhibitions was figurative art. As the anti-National Art Exhibition tendency began to form in the late 1950s, artists critical of this pursued abstraction or non-figurative art as the new avant-garde, in opposition to realism and figurative art. The Neoplastics [Sinjohyeongpa] formed in 1956, the Four Artists Exhibition (1956) organized by artists graduated from Hongik University who declared their oppositional stance against the National Art Exhibition, the Creative Arts Association [Changjak misul hyeophoe] and the Modern Art Association [Modeon ateu hyeophoe], and the Contemporary Art Exhibit (1957) hosted by the Chosun Ilbo newspaper company, among others, led this trend. It reached a peak during the third and fourth exhibitions of the Hyundae Fine Artists Association in 1958. The younger generation, fresh out of university, filled the exhibition with enormous screens of rough brushstrokes, matières, and intensely colored abstracts. Labeled as “the aesthetic vanguard,” they referenced Abstract Expressionism and Art Informel, introduced through Japan and the U.S. On account of this, there was criticism from art critics that it was nothing more than an imitation of the West. Nevertheless, their unrestrained experimentation with technique and expressionistic abstractions secured legitimacy as an expression of the existential anxiety of the Korean War generation, and as the shared global language of form in line with the subjective traditions of the East, to become established as the representative trend in the art world of the late 1950s. The opposition between figurative vs. abstract or non-figurative art, which began in the 1950s, took on the form of modern vs. contemporary, and conservative vs. progressive oppositions. However, in the 1960s, abstraction was incorporated into the National Art Exhibition, and in 1962, as separate figurative and non-figurative sections became established within the National Art Exhibition, abstraction also became part of the academicism of the National Art Exhibitions. International Exchanges and Korean Artists Studying Abroad The 1950s was also the first time Korean art expanded overseas and international exchanges became active. In the Cold War system after WWII, international cultural exchanges were used as one kind of diplomatic tool. Sponsorship by the United States International Cooperation Agency (ICA), which was an American aid agency for developing countries, the American-Korean Foundation (A.K.F.), and the Rockefeller Foundation played important roles in the overseas expansion of Korean art and international exchanges. The Korean Plastic Arts and Culture Research Institute (Hanguk johyeong munhwa yeonguso) that was operated by the National Museum of Korea with a three-year grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, ICA support for the Korean Handicraft Demonstration Center, and the exchange exhibition between the University of the Minnesota and Seoul National University, the National Museum of Korea’s touring exhibition of Korean art in the U.S., and exhibitions such as Contemporary Korean Paintings (1958) held at World House Galleries in New York, and support for Korean artists to study abroad in the United States—such activities were all carried out as part of the U.S. aid or exchange policy during the cultural Cold War. Yoo Kangyul and Chung Kyu, who worked at the Korean Plastic Arts and Culture Research Institute, learned graphics, ceramics, and printmaking in the U.S., and sculptor Kim Chungsook also learned silkscreen printmaking techniques along with sculpture and introduced them to Korean university education for the first time. The reason why exchanges in the fields of printmaking and crafts were particularly prominent was because U.S. aid to developing countries was tied to the practical aim of industrial development. Eight American Contemporary Artists (1957) and The Family of Man (1957), which were held in direct or indirect connection with the United States Information Agency (USIA) and the United States Information Service-Korea (USIS), not only served as an opportunity to spark interest in American contemporary art and photography among the Korean masses, but also influenced the domestic spread of Art Informel and the rise in realist photography. However, the overseas expansion of Korean artists in the 1950s was not only led by the state or limited to the U.S. For example, studying abroad in France was an object of envy for many artists. During this period, many artists began to leave to study in Paris despite difficult circumstances, either with the help of religious organizations or through personal connections. After the Korean Community in Paris (La Communauté coréenne de Paris) was launched with the approval of the diocese in 1954, Kim Yeong-seon, Kim Sou, Na Hikyune, Kim Whanki, Kwon Okyun, Moon Shin, and Lee Ungno left for Paris, led by Nam Kwan. The dobuljeon (translated as the exhibition held right before departing for France) became a synonym for studying abroad, and their return exhibitions, along with contributions in newspapers about the Parisian art scene, became primary channels for introducing contemporary Western art to Korea. The fact that most of these artists were of the generation that had already experienced studying abroad in Japan can be said to be a characteristic of the 1950s that was different from the 1960s and later. Just as Kim Whanki went to Paris and came to reconsider the tradition of Korean art, the problem of overcoming the time gap between Korean art and global art through comparisons with global art, and within that, the question of how to secure the unique identity of Korean art beyond imitation became two major challenges that artists were faced with for the future development of Korean art.

The Family of Man

The Family of Man was a photography exhibition which celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Museum of Modern Art, New York from January to May 1955. Edward Steichen, a director of the museum’s photography department since 1947, organized the exhibition. It was composed of 503 items by 273 artists from 68 countries. After its initial showing, the exhibition toured the world. In Korea, the exhibition was held at the Gyeongbokgung Palace Museum from April 3 to 28, 1957. The exhibition portrayed the diverse lives of people around the world attempting to portray mankind as a single family, and promote greater humanist faith in mankind. The press and art critics, however, criticized the exhibition for its overemphasis on sentimentalism and popular taste, and its exclusion of the harshness of reality.

Eight American Artists

A travelling exhibition organized by the Seattle Art Museum that was held in Asia and Europe. In Korea, the exhibition was held from April 9 to 21, 1957 at the National Museum at Seokjojeon in Deoksugung, the present location of the Deoksugung Museum. The United States Information Service in Korea supported the exhibition. The exhibition featured 30 paintings by four abstract artists: Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, Kenneth Callahan, and Guy Anderson, and 10 metalwork sculptures by four sculptors: Rhys Caparn, David Hare, Seymour Lipton, and Ezio Martinelli. The exhibition introduced contemporary American art to the Korean art community, and it influenced the development of Korean abstract art.

Masterpieces of Korean Art

Masterpieces of Korean Art was the first overseas exhibition of Korean art organized by the National Museum in eight U.S. cities from December 15, 1957 through June 7, 1959 in an effort to rebuild the reputation of the country ruined after the Korean War and promote its cultural heritage abroad. Curated by Kim Chaewon, then director of the National Museum of Korea, preparations for the exhibition began to be made in 1956. The large-scale exhibition traveled to Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Seattle, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Honolulu. For the exhibition, Alan Priest, the head of the East Asian Department of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Robert Paine, the curator of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, visited South Korea. On the Korean side, Ko Huidong, Bae Ryeom, Son Jaehyeong, Lee Byeongdo, Jeon Hyeongpil, Choi Sunu, Hong Jongin, and others were commissioned to select items to be displayed. However, it was regrettable that the opinions of Priest and Paine were unilaterally carried out in the process. Some 198 items, including sculptures, paintings, ceramics, and metalwork objects were selected at this first large-scale overseas exhibition of national cultural treasures. The exhibition was held in consecutive order through 1959 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Seattle Art Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art, California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Honolulu Museum of Art. Pertinent exhibition catalogues were published as well. Masterpieces of Korean Art sparked great interest in another overseas exhibition The National Art Treasure of Korea held in March 1961 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England. It traveled across European countries, including the Hague in Netherlands, France, Germany, and Austria until the end of June 1962.

Korean Photographers Group

The Korean Photographers Group [Hanguk sajin jakgadan] is a Korean photography agency founded in January 1957 with the international photo news agency Magnum Photos as its model. It was established by seven photographers: Choi Kyebok as the leading member alongside Seong Dugyeong, Lee Geon-jung, Lee Gyeongmo, Jeong Doseon, Jeong Huiseop, and Cho Myeongwon. All of them created photos both to sell and as artistic creations, and they specialized in promotional photos for promoting the Syngman Rhee government’s tourism and cultural heritage policies in the 1950s. In particular, Korea Old and New and Pictorial Korea, which were published for international publicity through the commission by the Office of Public Information, contained photographs of temples, historic ruins, tourist destinations, and rapidly transforming cities after the Korean War, all of which were provided by the Korean Photographers Group. The Korean Photographers Group pursued creative activities together by holding four members’ exhibitions, and each member built his or her oeuvre as an individual photographer. The second members exhibition held in 1957 at the Korean Information Service was themed around photographs of historic sites and scenic spots. The third one held in the same year at Donghwa Gallery was themed around tourism photos.

Modern Art Association

The Modern Art Association was an art association established on January 5th, 1957 by several veteran artists. They aimed to establish a wholesome art culture in Korea after a dispute over the 1956 National Art Exhibition (Gukjeon). The five founding members were Lee Kyusang, Park Kosuk, Yoo Youngkuk, Han Mook, and Hwang Yeomsoo. Other artists, including Chung Jeumsik, Lim Wangyu, Chung Kyu, Moon Shin, Kim Gyeong, and Chun Kyungja, joined after the third exhibition. In Sinmisul magazine, they explained that the group “aims to solve the problems of contemporary painting and to maintain independence as the avant-garde of the movement.” They hosted their first exhibition in April 1957, followed by exhibitions in November 1957, June 1958, November 1958, December 1959, and their final exhibition in July 1960. There was a dispute among members regarding participation in the Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary Artists sponsored by Chosun Ilbo in 1959, and the group was disbanded after Han Mook and Moon Shin left for France. The group played a pivotal role in the 1950s Korean art community by advocating for an avant-garde spirit to drive the modern art community.

Hyundae Fine Artists Association

An art organization formed in 1957 under the leadership of Moon Woosik, Kim Younghwan, Kim Tschang-Yeul, Jang Seong-soon, Lee Cheol, Ha Indoo, Kim Jonghwi, and Kim Cheonggwan. The association held its inaugural exhibition at the United States Information Service gallery from May 1 to 9 in 1957. As part of a new generation of artists who received university education after independence, the members chose the pursuit of the “antithesis of feudal elements that hinder the development of culture” as the task of the association, and they stated the founding purpose of the association as being to achieve “communion with the highbrow universal consciousness that is oriented toward contemporary art.” In the third exhibition, which was in 1958, the association featured Informel art, which heralded the beginning of an era of Informel in Korean art. In 1961, the association held a joint exhibition with the 1960s Artists Association, and in 1962, the two organizations merged to form Actuel.

National Art Exhibition

A government-hosted exhibition held 30 times from 1949 to 1981, also known by the shorter name Gukjeon. Following national independence, the exhibition was the primary means for young and emergent Korean artists to achieve recognition. The influence of the exhibition declined as a result of the emergence of non-figurative art during the 1970s, the increased opportunities for artists to participate in overseas exhibitions, and the rise of private exhibitions and galleries.