Image provided by GALLERY YEH
Lee Wansuk
* Source: MMCA
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Korean Craftspersons Association
The Korean Craftspeople Association (Joseon gongyega hyeophoe, KCA) is an organization of craftspeople founded shortly after Korea’s liberation from Japan with the goal of purifying the crafts community and producing outstanding craftworks. It was established on March 10, 1946 by the chairman Kim Jeasuk, the vice chairman Kang Changwon, and fourteen other craftspeople and designers, such as Kim Bong-ryong, Park Cheolju, Paik Taewon, and Lee Wanseok. Later, as its membership grew to more than fifty, the KCA came to be equipped with various divisions, including design, lacquering, goldsmithing, ceramics, embroidery, dyeing, woodworking, and ox-horn inlaying. It was formed as a unified organization that encompassed craftspeople and designers from all across the country. It aimed to cooperate with the government for the establishment of craft policies, to preserve, foster, and enhance traditional crafts, and to promote the cultural development of people’s lives by winning recognition for Korean culture through overseas exports. The KCA advertised a call for entries for the National Art and Craft Exhibition (Jeonguk misul gongye jeollamhoe) held at the Gyeongbokgung Palace Museum from May 20 to 30, 1946 through the sponsorship of the U.S. military government. From June 21 to 30, 1946, it held the first Art and Craft Exhibition (Misul gongye jeollamhoe) at the Deoksugung Museum of Art. The KCA joined the National Federation of Cultural Organizations, which was formed in February 1947 when thirty cultural organizations came together. It also took part in the Korean Comprehensive Arts Exhibition in 1947 in Geunjeongjeon Hall at Gyeongbokgung Palace organized by the Ministry of Education. Nothing is known about its subsequent activities. -
Cheonil Gallery
A gallery that opened in July 1954 on the fourth floor of the Cheonil Department Store, which was located in Jongno 4-ga, Seoul. The gallery was established by Lee Wansuk, an alumnus of the Department of Design at the Taiheiyo Art School of Tokyo, for the purpose popularizing art culture. The gallery engaged in a wide range of activities: art sales, art loaning, appraisal, introducing Korean art overseas, holding lectures on art, and mounting artwork. The inaugural exhibition was the Contemporary Artists Exhibition, which featured 40 artists active in Eastern art, Western art, and sculpture. The 2nd exhibition drew attention for featuring the posthumous work of Kim Junghyun, Gu Bonung, and Lee Insung, but the gallery closed after about six months.
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Korean Plastic Arts Federation
An organization formed in 1946 by numerous established artists. The core membership included Jeong Hyeonung, Gil Jinseop, Kim Kichang, Kim Man-hyeong, Lee Qoede, and Yoon Hee-soon, who left the Korean Art Association (Joseon misul hyeophoe) because of their opposition to the right-wing beliefs of Ko Huidong. The association was the parent organization of the Independent Art Association, Dangu Art Academy, Cheongahoe, Joseon Sculptors Association, and Korean Craftspersons Association (Joseon gongyega hyeophoe). The alliance held exhibitions and published bulletins, but about eight months after its establishment, it merged with the Korean Artist Federation (Joseon misulga dongmaeng) to form the Korean Art Alliance (Joseon misul dongmaeng). The Korean Plastic Arts Federation (Joseon johyeong yesul dongmaeng) was a rare politically moderate organization that accepted many artists in a national art community that was sharply divided along right-wing and left-wing divisions.
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Han Hongtaik
Han Hongtaik (1916-1994) was a pioneer of graphic design during the field's emergence Korea. In 1937, he graduated from the Tokyo Institute of Design in Japan, and he studied Western art at the Teikoku Art School in 1939. In 1940, he joined the Yuhan Company, where he drew designs for various pharmaceutical products. After independence, he founded the Association of Korean Industrial Artists [Joseon saneop misulga hyeophoe] (renamed to the Korean Industrial Art Association in 1948) in 1946, and in 1956 he established the Han Hongtaik Design Institute, becoming a leading figure in the industrial art scene. He was professor of the crafts department of Hongik University and the applied arts department of Duksung Women's University (1975-1981). He primarily produced posters and graphic art designs using modern compositions depicting images of people, and he was active as both a professional graphic designer and educator.
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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.
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Eom Doman
Eom Doman(1915-1971) was an artist who was active in Western painting and industrial art from the Japanese colonial era through the period of Korea’s liberation from Japan, and defected to North Korea during the Korean War. He graduated from Jugyo Public Common School in Seoul in 1929. He won an honorable mention at the Calligraphy and Painting Association [Seohwa hyeophoe] Exhibition in 1931 and the Joseon Art Exhibition [Joseon misul jeollamhoe] in 1937 with Portrait of Girl. In 1932, he took a job as a painter at the Dongyang Offset Printing Company in Seoul, and he worked as an art director in the design department of Yuhan Corporation from 1936 through 1939. In 1936, he participated in the founding exhibition of Nokgwahoe along with Lim Gunhong, Hong Sunmun, Song Jeonghun, Choi Gyuman, and others. Eom submitted his Figure and Landscape to the exhibition. His activity in Nokgwahoe continued until 1938. In 1939, he moved to Hankou in China with his closest friend Lim Gunhong, and opened the Hankou Art and Advertising Agency. Like Yerim Studio, which Lim Gunhong and Eom Doman operated in Gyeongseong, the Hankou Art and Advertising Agency engaged in a wide range of commercial art activities encompassing advertising for movie theaters and murals, interior design, and the production of cards and postcards. Immediately after Korea’s liberation from Japan, Eom returned to Korea and joined several art organizations. For instance, he was a founding member of the Association of Korean Industrial Artists ([Joseon saneop misulga hyeophoe], renamed the Korean Industrial Artist Association [Daehan saneop misulga hyeophoe] in 1954) established in December 1945. He was also active in the Korean Plastic Arts Federation [Joseon johyeong yesul dongmaeng] (established in 1946) and the Korean Art and Culture Association [Joseon misul munhwa hyeophoe] (established in 1947), among other organizations. The Korean Industrial Artist Association was an organization that industrial artists like Han Hongtaik, Lee Wanseok, and Jo Neungsik founded in order to “organically and comprehensively combine art and industry” and “create popular living art.” His activity in the Korean Art and Culture Association lasted until 1949. Among his colleagues were Lee Qoede, Lee Insung, Lim Gunhong, Han Hongtaik, Cho Byungduk, and Son Eungsung. In 1946, Eom held the Six Western-style Painters exhibition together with Lim Gunhong and Han Hongtaik, with whom he collaborated in several organizations. After the outbreak of the Korean War, he defected to North Korea during the recapturing of Seoul on September 28. In North Korea, he worked in various institutions and organizations, including the Korean Art Manufactory [Joseon misul jejakso] and Korean Artist Federation [Joseon misulga dongmaeng], where he produced propaganda posters and realistic oil paintings.
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