First Manifesto of Reality Group, Slide, 1969, MMCA Art Research Center Collection, Gift of Choi Youl
Reality Group
* Source: Multilingual Glossary of Korean Art. Korea Arts Management Service
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Minjung Art
An artistic movement that came to prominence alongside Korea’s democratization movement in the 1980s. Minjung artists often sought to critically portray the violent repression and corruption of the military dictatorship, to represent the experiences of laborers and farmers, and to achieve social change through art. In contrast to abstraction, which constituted the mainstream of 1970s art in Korea, Minjung Art is notable for the use of representational and figurative forms. One possible point of origin for Minjung Art is Oh Yoon’s work in the Reality Group (Hyeonsil dongin). The group was formed in 1969 by Kim Ji-ha, Oh Yoon, and Lim Se-taek. A variety of Minjung art groups were established, including the Reality and Utterance (Hyunsilgwa bareon) in 1979 by Kim Jungheun, Oh Yoon, Joo Jae-hwan, art critic Sung Wan-kyung, and Choi Min, the Gwangju Freedom Artist Association (Gwangju jayu misulin hyeopuihoe) in 1979 by Hong Sungdam and Choi Youl, the Imsulnyeon (The Year Imsul) in 1982, and the Dureong in 1983. These groups all commonly critiqued Western capitalism. In terms of form, Minjung artists adopted traditional and ethnic folk modes of expression using diverse media such as collage, printmaking, oil painting, and photography. Following the 15 Years of Korean Minjoong Arts: 1980-1994 Exhibition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Minjung Art became an accepted part of Korean art history. Overseas, Minjung Art has also become a recognized term that describes this genre and its unique focus on the political and social history of Korea.
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Realism
In Korea, realism was used as a critical term as well as artistic methodology. It referred to different meanings according to the three phases seen between the 1960s and the 1980s: a departure from the basic proposition “art is a reflection of reality,” raised by the Reality Group (Hyeonsil dongin) in the late 1960s; a mid-stage influenced by the artistic theory which emphasized the formal pursuit of realism within Minjung-oriented works in the 1970s; and a final stage referring to the work created within the fully fledged Minjung Art movement of the 1980s. In this context, “critical realism” refers to an artistic method executed by Korean progressive artists as well as an associated critical assessment of the ideological traditions of aestheticism and formalism. It is represented through figurative artworks that reflect a critical view of early 1980s life, to recover the power of the art as tool to portray and effect reality. Art groups, such as Reality and Utterance (Hyunsilgwa bareon) or the Gwangju Freedom Artist Association (Gwangju jayu misulin hyeopuihoe) produced numerous examples of such critical realism. In distinction, “Minjung realism” refers to an art trend that developed in the mid-1980s which sought to relocate the creation and reception of art in a broader context beyond critical realism, by combining the dynamics of cultural movements with a new artistic method. Artworks of Dureong and Citizen’s Art Schools, and the banner paintings depicting the scenes of the June Democratic Uprising and the July-August Great Labor Uprising in 1987 are all considered as examples of Minjung realism. The term “factional realism” (coined by Shim Kwanghyun) refers to an art approach which attempts to combine critical realism and people’s realism to create a scientific method for politically effective art by eliminating any formally or conceptually indeterminate aspects of the work. Finally, “progressive realism” (as proposed by Lee Youngchul) refers to a multifaceted approach to solving the diverse issues of political saliency in art and the structures and strategies of activism. All these realisms were influential within the production of Minjung Art between the late 1980s and the early 1990s.
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Oh Yoon
Oh Yoon (1946-1986) is a sculptor, printmaker, and painter who participated in the Minjung art movement in the 1980s. He graduated from the Department of Sculpture at the College of Fine Arts, at Seoul National University. In 1969, while still a student at Seoul National University, he participated in the preparation of the inaugural exhibition of Reality Group [Hyeonsil dongin] with Kim Yoon-Soo, Kim Jiha, Oh Kyunghwan, and Lim Setaek, and began to explore the socially critical Minjung art movement. After graduating from university, he stayed in Gyeongju for two years to study traditional arts, such as stone Buddhist sculptures and terracotta figurines and set up a tile factory in Byeokje to start working with terracotta. The terracotta relief mural on the interior wall of the Guui-dong Branch of the Commercial Bank in Seoul and the terracotta relief mural on the exterior wall of the Dongdaemun Branch of the Commercial Bank are examples of his work from this period. In 1979, Oh Yoon participated as a founding member of Reality and Utterance [Hyeonsilgwa bareon] and continued to exhibit in the members’ exhibitions of Reality and Utterance, exhibiting socially engaged paintings, woodblock prints and banner paintings. His works evolved from his interest in the lives of laborers and peasants, and folk culture such as traditional performing arts and folktales. In the 1980s, he perfected his woodblock print style, focusing on portraits that exquisitely expressed condensed power and Korean sentiments of han (resentment) and sinmyeong (mirth). He created woodblock illustrations and covers for a number of publications, including Kim Jiha's Ojeok (Five thieves), and in 1986 he published a book of woodblock prints, Kal norae (song of sword). His representative works include the series Marketing, Dawn of Labor (1985), and the large banner painting, Great Desires for Unification (1985).
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Kim Yoon-Soo
Kim Yoon-Soo (1936-2018) belongs to the first generation of Korean art critics. In the 1970s when his contemporaries centered their criticism on modernist art, he gave a critical voice to Korean modernity from the perspective of realist aesthetics. In the 1980s, he began to actively engage himself in criticism while aligning himself with Minjung artists. Born in Yeongil, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province in 1936, Kim Yoon-Soo graduated from the Department of Aesthetics in the College of Humanities at Seoul National University and from the same graduate school. In 1969, Kim participated in the formation of the Reality Group [Hyeonsil dongin]. Following “Art and Alienation” in Changjak gwa bipyeong (Creation and Criticism) in the spring of 1971, he published articles on Korean modern and contemporary artists, such as Ko Huidong, Lee Jungseop, Park Sookeun, Kim Whanki, and Oh Chiho. In 1975, he published his only book, Hanguk hyeongdae hoehwasa (The History of Korean Contemporary Painting; Hanguk Ilbo newspaper company). In the 1980s, he presented his critical writings that supported new figurative artists mainly in Gyegan misool (Art Quarterly), serving as a spiritual anchor for Minjung art movement. After his death, Kim Yoon-Soo jeojakjip (Collected Writings by Kim Yoon-Soo) (Changbi, 2019), a collection of his writings, was published. In addition to criticism, Kim wrote Geundae hoehwa sosa (A Short History of Modern Painting) (Iljisa, 1972) and translated several publications, including Bauhaus (Mijinsa, 1978), Geojangdeurui jahwasang (Self-Portraits of Masters) (Jiinsa, 1978), Hyeongdae misurui wolli (The Philosophy of Modern Art) (Youlhwadang, 1981), Pikasoui seonggonggwa silpae (The Success and Failure of Picasso) (Mijinsa, 1984), and Hyeondae misulsaron (Modern Art: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries) (Kkachi, 1989). He was an art educator and worked as the head or director of major art organizations and art museums. For example, he served as a professor at Ewha Womans University (1973–1976) and Yeungnam University (1980–1981), a publisher of Changjakgwa bipyeong, the president of Changbi Publishers (1983–1988), the director of the Seoul Museum (1981–1982), the board chairman of the Korean People's Artist Federation (2000–2008), and the director of the MMCA (2003–2008).
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College of Arts at Seoul National University
The College of Fine Arts of Seoul National University is located in Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul. According to the Decree on the Establishment of Seoul National University, the College of Art including the Department of Fine Arts and the Department of Music was founded in August 1946 at Seoul National University. The Department of Fine Arts consisted of sub-departments of Painting I, Painting II, Sculpture, and Design. It was organized by Chang Louis Pal and Lee Soonsuk. Chang Louis Pal had served as head of the Education and Management Bureau in the U.S. Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) in Korea since December 1945. Lee Soonsuk assumed practical tasks as an advisor to the art section of the USAMGIK from 1946 when the Education and Management Bureau was changed to the Ministry of Culture and Education. In 1946, there were nine faculty members at the Department of Fine Arts in the College of Art: Chang Louis Pal, Kim Yongjun, Gil Jinseop, and Lee Jaehun as professors; Yun Seung-uk and Lee Soonsuk as associate professors; and Kim Whanki, Chang Woosoung, and Lee Byeonghyeon as assistant professors. However, after the incident of Korean students and professors’ protest against the U.S.’s attempt to merge several colleges and universities into a single university, Kim Yongjun, Gil Jinseop, and Kim Whanki resigned. In 1954, the College of Art was reorganized into the College of Fine Arts with three departments of painting, sculpture, and applied art. The Department of Aesthetics, which had temporarily belonged to the College of Fine Arts since 1948, was transferred to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1960. In 1963, according to the relocation plan of the Seoul National University main school building, the College of Fine Arts was moved to the former veterinary department building in Yeongeon-dong, Jongno-gu. In 1972, it was moved to the liberal arts department building in Hagye-dong, Seongbuk-gu, and then in 1976, to the current Gwanak campus. In 1981, the three departments of painting, sculpture, and applied art were reorganized into the five departments of Eastern painting, Western painting, sculpture, crafts, and industrial art. In 1989, the Department of Industrial Art was renamed the Department of Industrial Design, and in 1999, the Department of Crafts and the Department of Industrial Design were merged into the School of Design. Currently, the College of Fine Arts consists of the Department of Oriental Painting, Department of Painting, Department of Sculpture, Department of Craft, Department of Design, and Interdisciplinary Programs.
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Reality and Utterance
A group formed in 1979 by artists and critics that criticized the contradictory nature of industrial society and the conservatism of the art community. The group formed during preparations for an exhibition to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1960 April Revolution. The group emphasized a realistic attitude, namely that art must depict reality and reveal the underlying contradictions of society. The group borrowed from or copied pop culture images, and also used photography, prints, comics, reproductions, and collages. Such methods were considered a means to help critically address the overabundance of visual images in contemporary Korean society, the issues of urbanization, and the colonial nature of Korean culture.
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