Limb Eungsik, Portrait of Kim, Bong-Ryong, 1971, Gelatin silver print on paper, 33x26cm. MMCA collection
Kim Bongryong
* 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. -
Lacquerware Inlaid with Mother-of-Pearl Training Center
The Lacquerware Inlaid with Mother-of-pearl Training Center [Najeon chilgi gisulwon yangseongso] was established in August 1951 in Tongyeong city (then Tongyeong-eup), Gyeongsangnam-do Province under the name of Mother-of-Pearl Lacquerware Training School, a two-year provincial technical education institution with a capacity of forty students. In 1952, the following year, it was renamed under the current name to focus on fostering professional masters in mother-of-pearl inlaying and lacquering. There were 429 incoming students, and the institute graduated 82 students. Among the graduates from the center are Kim Seongsu, the director of the Ottchil Art Museum; Lee Hyungman, the holder of the National Important Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 10 (Mother-of-pearl inlaying); and Lee Munchan. In the early years of its establishment, the faculty consisted of Kim Bongryong (jureumjil technique of cutting mother-of-pearl pieces according to patterns and pasting them on the surface), Shim Bugil (kkeuneumjil technique of pasting mother-of-pearl pieces in thin and short strings), Yoo Kangyul (design), Ahn Yongho (lacquering), Jang Yunseong (drawing), and Kang Changwon (dry-lacquering). The painter Lee Jungseop, who stayed in Tongyeong to escape the Korean War, is said to have taught drawing to students at the center. In 1955, an advanced program, the Research Department, was established with the lacquering and mother-of-pearl inlaying divisions. In 1960, the basic curriculum was prolonged from two years to three years. As its jurisdiction institution was transferred from Gyeongsangnam-do Province to Chungmu-si (present-day Tongyeong-si) in August 1962, the training center was relocated to Jungang-dong (where Tongyeong Culture Center is currently located) and renamed the Chungmu Municipal Crafts Academy [Chungmu sirip gongye hagwon]. Since then, the training center had attempted various changes, such as the construction of a building with up-to-date facilities within the precinct of Nammangsan Park, with the aim of earning foreign currency through overseas exports. However, it was closed in 1971 when it stopped recruiting students due to financial difficulties and a shift in the direction of the export industry. The Lacquerware Inlaid with Mother-of-pearl Training Center, where professional education on mother-of-pearl inlaying and lacquering was conducted from early on after Korea’s independence, is considered as the birthplace of modern and contemporary craft education. Tongyeong is a hub of practicing mother-of-pearl inlaying and lacquering that carried on the legacy of the twelve workshops of the Regional Naval Headquarters during the Joseon dynasty. During the time when the training center existed, about half of the country’s craftspeople working in mother-of-pearl inlaying and lacquering lived in Tongyeong. The initial training center building in present-day Hangnam-dong, Tongyeong-si was designated as National Registered Cultural Heritage in December 2020.
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Yoo Kangyul
Yoo Kangyul(1920-1976) was a Korean printmaker and dye craftsman who engaged in diverse activities from the late 1940s through the early 1960s. He entered the Azabu Middle School in Tokyo in 1933 and graduated from the Craft and Design Department at Nihon Art School in 1944. In 1941, while studying in Japan, Yoo’s work was selected for the Japanese Craftspeople Association Exhibition. He received apprenticeship education on dyeing at the Saito Craft Institute. After returning to Korea, Yoo worked as a principal lecturer and researcher at Lacquerware Inlaid with Mother-of-Pearl Training Center and Korean Plastic Arts and Culture Research Institute. In 1958, he received Rockefeller Foundation scholarship to study printmaking at New York University and the Pratt-Contemporaries Graphic Art Centre. He was later appointed as a professor at Hongik University and served until 1976. He was also active as an architectural advisor and interior designer. Among his notable works are the exhibition design for Anti-Communist Exhibition Hall of the Freedom Center (1966) and the Ceramic Mural for the National Assembly (1974). Yoo Kangyul founded the Korean Contemporary Printmaker Association [Hanguk hyeondae panhwaga hyeophoe] in 1968 to develop Korean printmaking. Moreover, he served as a judge of the Korean Art Grand Award Exhibition in 1969, a standing committee member for the construction of the National Museum of Korea in 1970, and a head judge for the National Tourist Folk Art Competition from 1971 to 1976. He won many awards including the Minister of Education Award (1953) and the Prime Minister Award (1954) at the National Art Exhibition (Gukjeon) and a presidential prize for the interior design of the National Museum of Korea (1970). Yoo did not hold a solo exhibition during his lifetime, but in 1978 Kyang Yul Yoo’s Exhibition was organized by his students and the National Museum of Modern Art, Korea (now MMCA). In 1981, Collection of Works by Yoo Kangyul was published. In 2000, his bereaved family donated Yoo’s collection to the MMCA and the National Museum of Korea.
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Kang Changwon
Kang Changwon (1906-1977) was a dry-lacquer artist who was active from the Japanese colonial era through the 1970s. His real name is Kang Changgyu and his sobriquet is Changwon. Born in 1906 in Haman, Gyeongsangnam-do Province, Kang graduated from the Haman Common School in 1920 and studied at Okayama Institute of Technology. In 1929, he enrolled as a second-year student at the Lacquering Department in the Tokyo Fine Arts School (present-day Tokyo University of the Arts) and graduated in 1933. In April of the same year, he was admitted to the research department, which is equivalent to today’s graduate school, but dropped out in November due to overdue tuition. It has been commonly believed that he used his real name “Kang Changgyu” before Korea’s liberation from Japan and after liberation he used his sobriquet “Changwon.” However, catalogues for national exhibitions show that his sobriquet had been used since at least 1934. He submitted his dry-lacquered vessels for snack and flower vases to the fourteenth and fifteenth Imperial Art Academy Exhibition in 1933 and 1934, the Ministry of Education Art Exhibition in 1936, and the second New Ministry of Education Art Exhibition in 1938. Kang was the first Korean whose work was accepted for the crafts section of these Japanese national exhibitions. He won a special prize at the Joseon Art Exhibitions [Joseon misul jeollamhoe] six times, starting in 1933. In 1941, he was awarded the Achievement Award, and he became a recommended artist in the 21st edition. In the 23rd edition, he was given a position to assist judges, making him the only Korean to be appointed to an honorary position in the crafts section. Soon after Korea’s liberation from Japan, Kang joined the Korean Plastic Arts Federation [Joseon johyeong yesul dongmaeng], served as vice chairman of Korean Craftspeople Association [Joseon gongyega hyeophoe], and was a member of the Seoul Arts Committee and of the art council of the Ministry of Education. In 1946, he established Changwon Craft Center. He also taught students at Ewha Womans University and Seorabeol Art College, but his teaching career did not last long. He participated in the first National Art Exhibition (Gukjeon) as a judge and invited artist, but he began to actively engage with the National Art Exhibition from 1966. Particularly in 1973, he won a prize as an invited artist. In December of 1974, his first solo exhibition was held at Midopa Art Gallery. He held several solo exhibitions since then. After he passed away, a retrospective exhibition entitled Special Exhibition on Dry-lacquer Works by Kang Changwon was held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (now MMCA). Kang Changwon established dry-lacquer craft as an art form. His works take on strictly proportional and sculptural forms that exclude surface decoration in favor of layers of paint over hemp cloths. They were highly regarded by contemporaneous artists and critics. Dry-lacquered Try (1933) by Kang in the collection of the National Museum of Korea was designated as a registered cultural heritage.
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