Gallery Hyundai
A gallery located at Samseong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul. The gallery opened in April 1970 in Gwanhun-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, under the joint management of Han Yong-gu and Park Myung-ja. Started as Hyundai Hwarang (Hyundai Gallery), it was renamed as Gallery Hyundai in 1987. When it first opened, the gallery contributed to the development of contemporary Korean art, featuring the work of contemporary artists instead of antique calligraphy and paintings, which were actively exhibited and traded in Insa-dong. In September 1973, the gallery published an art magazine titled Hwarang, with an editing staff consisting of Lee Heung-u, Lee Gu-yeol, Park Rhaikyoung, Heo Yeonghwan, and Oh Kwang-su. After 1988, the magazine was renamed Hyundai Misul and it continued to be published until 1992. The gallery regularly held exhibitions of major figures in Korean contemporary art, such as Park Sookeun, Lee Jungseop, To Sangbong, Nam Kwan, Yoon Jungsik, and Chun Kyungja. After it moved to a new building in Sagan-dong in 1975, the gallery expanded the base for Abstract art through exhibitions featuring Yun Hyongkeun, Kim Tschang-Yeul, Park Seobo, Chung Sanghwa, and Lee Ufan.
Chun Kyungja
Chun Kyungja (1924-2015), (born Chun Okja), was the daughter of Chun Sungwook, a gunseogi (clerk) of Goheung-gun, Jeollanam-do, and Park Un-a. She graduated the Gwangju Public Girl's high School and completed the Japanese art program at the Joshibi University of Art and Design. After independence, she was hired as a teacher of art at the Jeonnam Girls High School, her alma mater. Her private exhibition received positive reviews, and she was hired as an instructor of art at the Chosun University. Afterwards, she worked as a professor of the College of Fine arts at the Hongik University from 1954 to 1973, and she achieved renown as one of the foremost women artists in Korea, winning the Great Korean Art Association Exhibition President's Award in 1955, the National Academy of Arts, Republic of Korea Award in 1979, and the Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit in 1983. Her primary subject matter consisted of feminine subjects, to the extent that she was described as the artist of "flowers and women." Her work is celebrated as being entirely distinct from the contemporary Korean art styles of the period, and defined by its autobiographical themes and fantastical colorwork.