“Founding of the Independent Art Association,” Jungang sinmun, January 26, 1946, 2, column 8
Independent Art Association
* Source: Multilingual Glossary of Korean Art. Korea Arts Management Service
Related
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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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Gil Jinseop
Gil Jinseop (1907-1975) was born in Pyongyang, the son of pastor Gil Seonju of Pyongyang's Jangdaehyeon Church. His father was one of the 33 national delegates of the Mach First Independence Movement. In South Korea, it is considered that he died in 1975, but the North Korean Human geography indicates that he died in 1974. While at Soongsil High school, his painting Landscape was selected for the 1925 Joseon Art Exhibition [Joseon misul jeollamhoe]. Another work of his was selected for the Joseon Art Exhibition while he studied at the department of Western Painting in Tokyo School of Fine Arts. Later, he held a solo exhibition at the Pyongyang Commercial Art Gallery. After graduating from Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1932, he started to actively participate in Mogilhoe Association, the White Savages Group, and the Yanghwa Art Coterie Exhibition. His style emphasized speedy and light lines, bright and vivid color sense, and margin and matiere. After Independence, he taught as a professor at the Fine Arts College, Seoul National University until April 1947. He was appointed as a leader of the Korean Art Construction Headquarters [Joseon misul geonseol bonbu], a vice-president of the Korean Plastic Arts Federation [Joseon johyeong yesul dongmaeng], and a head of Seoul branch of the Korean Artist Federation [Joseon misulga dongmaeng]. He moved back to North Korea after being appointed as a first representative of the Supreme People’s Assembly in August 1947. In later life he served as a faculty member at the Pyongyang Art School and a vice president of the Korean Artist Federation [Joseon misulga dongmaeng].
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Lee Qoede
Lee Qoede (1913-1965) was born in Chilgok, Gyeongsangnam-do as the second son of a wealthy landowner family. He was strongly influenced and supported by his brother, leftist intellectual Lee Yeoseong and specialized in the history of art, clothing, and folklore. He graduated from Soochang Elementary School in Daegu in 1928, Whimoon High School in 1933, and the Department of Western Painting at the Teikoku Art School in Japan. His works, such as Fate (1938), Night Picnic (1939), and Swing (1940), were selected for the Nikakai Exhibition. After his return to Korea, he founded and led the New Artists Association and its exhibitions from 1941 to 1944. After independence, he was appointed as a committee member of the painting division at the Korean Plastic Arts Federation [Joseon johyeong yesul dongmaeng] and a chairman of the Western Painting division at the Korean Art Alliance [Joseon misul dongmaeng]. After visiting North Korea, he became a centrist and founded the Korean Art and Culture Association [Joseon misul munhwa hyeophoe]. where he was appointed as a chair. In 1948, he joined the National Guidance League. While working as a lecturer at Hongik University, the Korean war broke out, after then and he contributed to the Korean Art Alliance. He escaped Seoul just prior to the 1950 September operation to retake the city but was arrested by the South Korean army and held in prison camps in Busan and Geoje. In an exchange of prisoners, he opted to go to North Korea. In 1988, when the ban on artists who defected to North Korea was lifted, his family revealed his works, such as the People series, A Beggar, and Fate, to the public. He then was re-evaluated as one of the most significant artists in Korean modern art history.
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