Text & cover illustration by Kim Yongjun, Essays of Kim Yongjun, Seoul: Eulyoo Publishing, 1948. Image provided by Kimdaljin Art Archives and Museum
Kim Yongjun
* Source: Multilingual Glossary of Korean Art. Korea Arts Management Service
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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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Eastern painting
Eastern painting (dongyanghwa) refers to the overall body of works created using traditional East Asian materials and methods, in contrast to Western painting. In Korea, Byeon Yeongro’s essay “On Eastern Painting” published in Dong-A Ilbo on 7th, July, 1920 was the first use of the term. The term then began to be used in Japan first to distinguish Oriental style paintings from Western ones. Until the late Joseon era, both calligraphy and painting were categorized under the term seohwa, but during the Japanese occupation of Korea in 1922, the first Joseon Art Exhibition [Joseon misul jeollamhoe] divided the painting section into Western and Eastern styles. Thereafter, the term Eastern-style painting entered official use in the country. After independence, the National Art Exhibition (Gukjeon) continued to use the term “Eastern painting,” but since 1970, numerous arguments were made to replace it with "Korean painting," because the term was imposed unilaterally during the Japanese colonial era.
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Artists who defected to North Korea
Artists who defected to North Korea refer to artists who moved their spaces of artistic activities to north of the armistice line during the period immediately after Korea’s liberation from Japan on August 15, 1945 until the signing of the truce agreement. Prior to the lifting of the bans on artists who were abducted by or defected to North Korea in 1988, they were labeled traitors for “betraying the South Korean system and choosing the North Korean one” or “choosing communism.” Their works were deemed “detrimental to ideas,” so it was forbidden to mention them. However, contrary to the reasons for restrictions imposed by the government, recent studies have revealed that the defection of most artists to North Korea resulted not from ideological choices or alignment with political system of North Korea, but from unavoidable circumstances caused by the war and division of the country. Accordingly, the scope of research on artists who defected to North Korea can vary depending on researchers or research environments. It discusses the conflict and movement between the two spaces of Seoul and Pyongyang or South and North Korea and further includes those that the South Korean government defined as artists who chose the North Korean system. The number of artists who defected to North Korea amounts to roughly sixty to eighty. In recent years, there has been a view that the so-called consecutive lifting, which differentiates and selectively relieves artists who defected to North Korea voluntarily, those abducted to North Korea, those residing in North Korea, and those who returned to North Korea after defection to South Korea, is an act of high-level public security control. This is seen as a non-academic power tyranny and violence against intelligence that insults the particularity of art, leading to voices to dismantle and prospectively reconstruct the existing frame of the lifting of bans on abducted artists and artists who defected to North Korea.
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Pyongyang Art University
An art education institute established in 1947 in Pyongyang to educate professional artists with a foundation in the methods and practice of realism. The university was first established in September 10, 1947 under the name Pyongyang School of Fine Arts, and in September 16, 1949 it was elevated to the position of National University of Fine Arts. The university consisted of three departments: the painting department, sculpture department, and design department. The curriculum was divided into a three-year main program and two-year research program. The name of the institute was changed to the Pyongyang University of Fine Arts in 1952. At present, the school consists of the Joseon art department, which consists of a Joseon art major and calligraphy major; the painting department, which consists of a painting major and a mural major; sculpture department; crafts department; industrial arts department; and a publishing and art theory department. A specialized middle-school level education program, and a Juche Art Institute also exist, the latter of which consists of a two-year research division, equivalent to a Master’s program, and a three-year research division, equivalent to a doctoral program. Alumni have participated in the creation of North Korean memorials such as the Chollima Monument, Mansudae Grand Monument, and Bocheonbo Victory Monument. Celebrated alumni include; Chung Chang-mo, a Joseon artist; Shin Bong-hwa, a pioneer of boseokhwa (paintings using figments made of natural stone powders) and the head of the Mansudae Changjaksa Joseon Boseokhwa Changjakdan; Hwang Byeong-ho, painter of Geumnihwa; and Yun Ryong-suk, who is known as the “Unification Sculptor.”
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Ko Yuseop
Ko Yuseop (1905-1944, pen name Uhyeon, nom de plume Geubwoldang) is widely considered the first Korean art historian to receive a Western style tertiary education. He studied Aesthetics and Art History at the department of philosophy, Keijo Imperial University. He served as a director of the Kaesong City Museum from 1933 to 1944. He studied Korean pagodas and Goryeo celadons based on Positivism and Formalism. He was a foundational contributor to the creation of a modern academic Korean history of art that featured Buddhist art and Korean painting. He described the aesthetic consciousness of Korean art as “a great savory flavor” or “technique without technique.” His thoughts strongly influenced later generations of Korean artists. His major books include Goryeo Celadon, Studies on Korean Pagodas, The Collected Volume of Korean Art History, Studies on Korean Art History and Aesthetics, and Historical Sites in Songdo.
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