Sinmisul , no. 1, September 1956, Image provided by National Hangeul Museum
Sinmisul
* Source: Multilingual Glossary of Korean Art. Korea Arts Management Service
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Han Mook
Han Mook (1914-2016, pen name Mook, real name Han Baekyu, Japanese name Momoda), was born in Seoul and moved to Manchuria in 1932. He studied painting at the Ogwahoe Art Research Institute in Dalian and started to create his own works. In 1935, he moved to Japan, and studied at Kawabata Art School. After he returned to Korea in 1944, he taught at Geumgang Middle and High Schools in Goseong. When the Korean War broke out, he fled to Busan in 1951 and returned to Seoul in 1953, where he taught at Osan Middle and High Schools. He taught as an art professor at Hongik University in 1955 and led the foundation of the Modern Art Association in 1957. To concentrate on his creative practice, he departed to Paris in 1961 and studied etching at Atelier 17 in 1971. He died in Paris in 2016. Mook explored the gradation from figuration to non-figuration, and during the 1960s, he created works based on pure vertical and horizontal compositions while also using collage techniques and strong matiere. In the 1970s, he created many etched and abstract geometric works in acrylic, that represented the interlocking time and space of the universe in concentric circles and radiation. Since the mid-1980s, narrative and formative elements began to dominate within his work as he investigated the theme of introspection. He also created calligraphy, drawing, and collage works on traditional Korean Hanji paper and cloth.
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Kim Sou
Kim Sou (1919-2014) was the second son of Kim Yeongguk, a chief-officer of Hamhung, Hamgyongnamdo and Lee Bugap, who worked as an instructor at a cocoonery in Changdeokgung Palace. He graduated from Hamgyong High School and later the Department of Western Art at Tokyo School of Fine Arts. After independence, he held a solo exhibition before moving to Paris to attend the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in 1955. There he studied configuration theory based on Cubism and Chromatics. After returning to Korea, he submitted his works to the National Art Exhibition and the Congress for Cultural Freedom Invitational Exhibition, before moving to the U.S. between 1967 to 1979. He worked as a visiting professor at Moore Art College in Philadelphia, a lecturer at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, as an art education instructor at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 1977, he organized a commemoration exhibition to celebrate his tenth year in the U.S. His work was based on the notion of a Plasticism that pursued the harmony between two extremes, such as Yin and Yang, movement and stillness, and realism and abstraction. He gained international recognition and was invited to exhibit at Musée du Luxembourg in Paris in 1990, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Russia in 1993, and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
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Lee Hangsung
Lee Hangsung (1919-1997) was a Western-style painter and printmaker who pioneered Korean contemporary printmaking and a leading publisher who promoted the publication and dissemination of art books. He learned painting from Kwon Jungrok, a Western-style painter active in Daejeon, and worked as a stage artist at Dongyang Theatre in Seoul. In 1945, he established a publishing company Munhwa Gyoyuksa and published art textbooks for elementary, middle, and high schools and art books such as Seoyang misulsa (History of Western art) and Segye misul jeonjip (Collection of world art). In 1956, he established another publishing company Sinmisulsa and published Sin Misul (New art), the first art magazine in Korea, thus exerting influence upon the formation of the culture of art criticism. Lee Hangsung led the founding of the Korea Prints Association [Hanguk panhwa hyeophoe] along with Yoo Kangyul, Chung Kyu, Choi Youngrim, and others. In 1958, Lee held the first solo exhibition of lithographs by a Korean artist. Winning an honorable mention for the lithograph Tender Heart of the Buddha at the fifth International Biennial of Contemporary Color Lithography held in 1959 at Cincinnati Art Museum in the U.S., he secured his place in the Korean art scene as a printmaker. Later, he produced print works using Joseon-era wooden blocks that were used for printing old books, letterheads, book covers, and those for imprinting patterns on rice cakes. In his later years, he continued to create works that revealed his Eastern spirituality by pictorializing Chinese characters, such as “念” (yeom, meaning idea), “情” (jeong, meaning affection), “思” (sa, meaning thought), and “心” (sim, meaning mind). Lee contributed to the development of art education by serving as president of the Korean Art Education Association [Daehan misul gyoyuk gyeophoe] and chairman of the Korean Committee of the International Society for Education [Gukje misul gyoyuk hyeophoe hanguk wiwonhoe].
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