Lim Sukje, Loading and Unloading, 1947, Image provided by Chungam Archive
Lim Sukje
* Source: MMCA
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Joseon Art Photography Association
A prominent photography group that formed on 5 March 1946, after Korea was liberated. The group united members of the Gyeongseong Amateur Photography Club and Baekyang Sauhoe, two groups that were active during the colonial era, as well as other photographers active around the country, and it grew into a national photography institute. The institute maintained an office in Munjeonyanghaeng, Myeongdong, Seoul, and it comprised 58 members. The leadership of the institute comprised 11 members, including the president, Park Yeong-jin, and vice presidents Lee Hae-seon, Park Pil-o, Heon Il-yeong, and Jeong Do-seon. Through its official manifesto, the institute made clear its goals: Conducting research on reality and theories of the art of photography; absorption of high-quality art from both at home and abroad; and, improving national culture through photography. The institute held the 1st Art Photography Exhibition at the Dong Hwa Department Store in May 1946. After the Republic of Korea was founded, the group was renamed as the Daehan Art Photography Institute. In 1956, the group was renamed once more as the Daehan Art Photographers Association, and it continues to use this name today.
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Hyun Ilyeong
Hyun Ilyeong (1903-1975) was a pioneer of early commercial photography and a prominent figure in the history of modern and contemporary Korean photography who explored a new language for everyday documentation. He went to Maedong Commercial School in Seoul and took classes in the English department at YMCA. In 1929, while living in Manchuria, Hyun submitted Megane Liver Oil to the International Commercial Art Photography Competition organized by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper company. Winning second prize, he was introduced to the photography world. He held his first solo exhibition in 1931 in Dalian, Manchuria and later held his second solo exhibition in Pyongyang, which led to voluminous creative activities. In 1932, he moved to Seoul and opened Hyun Ilyeong Photo Studio on Jongno 2-ga, where he worked as a commercial photographer. In 1935, he went to Japan to study at the Oriental Photography School. In 1946, shortly after Korea’s liberation from Japan, he founded the Portrait Photography Research Society of Seoul [Seoul insang sajin yeonguhoe] along with Kim Gwangbae, Park Pilho, Lim Sukje, and others, and served as president. In 1947, he was dispatched to Ulleungdo and Dokdo Islands on an academic research mission organized by the Joseon Mountaineering Club and sponsored by the Ministry of Education, where he photographed the landscapes of Ulleungdo and Dokdo with Choi Kyebok. Starting with his third solo exhibition held in 1956 at Dong Hwa Gallery in Seoul, Hyun immersed himself in the possibilities of photography as an art form and captured ordinary objects and scenes of everyday life with a personal and lyrical approach. In particular, his photographs capture simple things in daily life, including a clock, calendar, ashtray, and a pack of spools, from a contemplative point of view and express them in a neat black-and-white photographic language. His last solo exhibition was held in 1972. After his death, in April 1984, the photographer Joo Myungduck, the photography researcher Choi Injin, and others held an exhibition of posthumous photographs by Hyun Ilyeong at Hanmadang Gallery in Junghak-dong, Seoul. Sigak Publishing published Hyun Ilyeong: 1903–1975, a collection of his posthumous photographs.
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Korean Federation of Cultural Organizations
A cultural organization formed in 24 February 1946, also known as Munryeon. The alliance represented a total of 25 cultural organizations established after independence. Its membership comprised a total of 13 scholarly organizations, including the Joseon Haksulwon, Joseon Scientists Federation, Joseon Institute of Industry and Medicine, Joseon Institute of Legal Scholars, Joseon Linguistics Institute, and Joseon Institute of Women Scientists; a total of 9 art organizations, including the Korean Writers Federation, Joseon Theater Federation, Joseon Music Federation, Joseon Film Federation, and the Joseon Art Federation; and the Joseon Journalists Association, Joseon Educators Association, and Joseon Sports Association. The Munryeon's concerns included encouraging the rightful succession of national culture, a critical consumption of world culture, the importation and research of advanced scientific method, the development of new theories, democratic education of the masses, scientific enlightenment, and the exclusion of unscientific and undemocratic cultural tendencies. The group expressed support for the National Democratic Front. As such, right-wing members left the group and formed the Federation of Artistic & Cultural Organization.
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