Commemorative photo of the Lacquerware Inlaid with Mother-of-Pearl Training Center Opening, 1951, Image provided by Park Woogwon
Lacquerware Inlaid with Mother-of-Pearl Training Center
* Source: MMCA
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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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Kim Bongryong
Kim Bongryong (1902-1994) was a craftsman of mother-of-pearl lacquerware. Born in Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do Province, Kim graduated from primary school and learned the basics of mother-of-pearl lacquerware from Park Jeongsu, the master of the field. Later, he entered the Tongyeong County Industrial Training Center and received full-time guidance from Jeon Seonggyu. He received attention as Bookcase submitted to the 1924 Kyoto World Exposition and Large Flower Vase submitted to the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris won awards. He firmly secured his position as a craftsman by actively participating in the crafts section of the Joseon Art Exhibitions (Joseon misul jeollamhoe), which was established in 1932. After Korea’s liberation from Japan, Kim taught as a part time lecturer at the Lacquerware Inlaid with Mother-of-Pearl Training School in Tongyeong and served as an assistant director at the same center which was later renamed Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Lacquerware Inlaid with Mother-of-Pearl Training Center. He also taught mother-of-pearl inlaying and lacquering techniques at the Seorabeol University of Arts. In 1967, he was designated as the holder of the National Important Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 10 (Mother-of-pearl inlaying). In 1969, he founded the Mother-of-Pearl Inaly Lacquerware and Yi Dynasty Woodenware Research Institute in Wonju, Gangwon-do Province and devoted himself to fostering younger generations and creating works. Kim Bongryong revolutionized Korean mother-of-pearl inlay lacquerware by refining the jureumjil technique of cutting the mother-of-pearl using a motif pattern and creating detailed yet vibrant designs.
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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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Lee Jungseop
Lee Jungseop (1916-1956, pen name Daehyang) was born in Pyongyang. He learned oil painting from Yim, Gilbert Pha at Osan School, Jeongju. He attended the Teikoku Art School in Japan in 1936 and moved to the Bunka Gakuen to learn oil painting in 1937. During his school years, he submitted his work to Japan Free Artists Association [Jiyū bijutsuka kyōkai] in 1938 and to the New Artists’ Association [Sin misulga hyeophoe] Exhibition. After his return to Korea in 1943, he was active in Wonsan and moved to South Korea with his family after the outbreak of the Korean War. He sought shelter in Busan and Seogwipo but had to send his Japanese wife and two sons back to Japan in June 1952 due to financial difficulties. He submitted work as a war correspondent painter. He orchestrated solo exhibitions in Tongyeong in 1953 and Midopa art gallery in Seoul and for the United States Information Service Center at Daegu in 1955. He died at a Red Cross hospital in 1956 after suffering from malnutrition and liver cirrhosis. His works, such as White Ox, illustrated local subject matter and family life with a simple touch, and one of his drawings on silver foil was purchased by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A high-profile posthumous exhibition in 1972 at Hyundai Hwarang greatly increased the popularity of his work among the general public.
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Dry lacquering
A sculptural modelling technique in which lacquer is applied to cloth such as ramie or hemp fabric to create a base form, without the use of a wooden core. The technique is also known as hyeopjeo. Different sub-categories of the technique include talgeonchil , moksimgeonchil, and mokjogeonchil. The artist Kang Changgyu and sculptor Kwon Jinkyu have revived the technique, which had not been in use since the late Joseon era, as a contemporary approach.
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