The First Modern Art Association Exhibition, Leaflet, 1957, MMCA Art Research Center Collection
Modern Art Association
* 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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Lee Kyusang
Lee Kyusang (1918-1967) was born in Seoul, the son of a wealthy furniture merchant. He graduated from Whimoon High School and moved to Japan. He submitted his abstract works to the Geukyeonsa coterie exhibition in 1937 and the Exhibition of Jiyu Bijutsuka Kyokai in 1939. In 1941, he attended the Department of Painting at Nihon Art School in Japan, but it is not clear if he graduated. After independence, he participated in the New Realism Group Inaugural Exhibition in 1948, the Contemporary Art Exhibit sponsored by Chosun Ilbo in 1957, and from 1959 to 1963. He taught art at Kyungbok High School and was appointed as an associate professor at Hongik University in 1961. Lee Kyusang was one of Korea's early abstract artists. He consistently focused on abstract art while his colleagues, such as Kim Whanki and Yoo Youngkuk, switched to semi-abstraction. In the 1950s, he incorporated religious symbols, such as a transformed cross, into his work after he converted to Catholicism, as a means to create simple yet profound pieces of work.
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Yoo Youngkuk
Yoo Youngkuk (1916-2002) was born in Uljin, Gyeongsangbuk-do. He graduated from Uljin Elementary School and attended Gyeongseon Teachers College from 1931 to 1934. He moved to Japan in 1935 and graduated from the Tokyo Culture School in 1938. He submitted his work to the Yanghwa Art Coterie Exhibition and won a grand prize for his radical and avant-garde constructive abstract art in the Free Artists Association Exhibition in 1938. He was then recommended as a new member. After independence, he participated in the New Realism Group Exhibition, the Modern Art Association Exhibition, the 1950 Art Association [Osimnyeon misul hyeophoe] Exhibition, the Contemporary Art Exhibit sponsored by Chosun Ilbo, and Sinsanghoe. He worked as an art professor at Seoul National University from 1948 to 1950 and at Hongik University from 1966 to 1970. He was one of the first abstract artists in Korea. While in Japan he pursued the creation of an absolute form of abstraction. Then, back in Korea after independence, he switched to using constructive and emotional color in his abstract compositions to represent the sublime character of nature.
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Sinmisul
The first Korean art magazine published in 1956 by printmaker and Western-style artist Lee Hangsung. The first issue featured articles written by Do Sang-bong and Kim Byungki, as respective representatives of the Daehan Art Association (Daehan misul hyeopoe) and the Korean Artists Association (Hanguk misulga hyeopoe). The two organizations shared a rivalry that centered on the National Art Exhibition (Gukjeon). Other writers included Choi Soonwoo, Kim Chungup, Park Kosuk, Ahn Byeongyong, Kim Youngjoo, and Kim Sou. Most of the writers for the first issue were also the founding members of the Korean Art Critics Association, which was established in November. This suggests that Sinmisul was influential in the development of a national culture of critique. Until the 12th issue in July 1962, however, the magazine featured no direct critiques, and the magazine was discontinued after the 13th issue in 1963.
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National Art Exhibition
A government-hosted exhibition held 30 times from 1949 to 1981, also known by the shorter name Gukjeon. Following national independence, the exhibition was the primary means for young and emergent Korean artists to achieve recognition. The influence of the exhibition declined as a result of the emergence of non-figurative art during the 1970s, the increased opportunities for artists to participate in overseas exhibitions, and the rise of private exhibitions and galleries.
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Moon Shin
Moon Shin (1923-1995) was born from a Korean father and a Japanese mother. He moved to Japan in 1939 to learn Western painting at Nihon Art School. After Independence in 1945, he returned to Korea and held several solo exhibitions. His early works were mainly in the manner of Western academic paintings while his works from the 1950s alternated between painting and working in relief. From 1961 to 1965, he stayed in Paris and focused on abstract art in earnest. He was commissioned to remodel an old sixteenth-century castle 80 kilometers from Paris. He practiced a variety of media, including plastering, stone work, wooden work, and decoration. His remodelling of this castle triggered his interest in sculpture as he constructed the scaffolds for the work on his own. He worked as a professor at The Paris École Des Beaux-Arts in 1963 and taught art at the Fine Art College, Hongik University after his return to Korea in 1965, and held solo exhibitions. From 1967 to 1979, he again moved to Paris to concentrate on sculpture. He later settled in Masan, South Korea and established an art gallery and sculpture park. He created Olympic Harmony, a 25-meter stainless steel totem-like work in the Seoul Olympic park in 1988. Also representative of Moon’s work is his Ant series, and his Totem both of which reflect his interest in symmetry, balance and harmony. His work has often been considered as an attempt to reflect the “vitality” of the world, based on his unique blend of macroscopic expression based on microscopic observation. Moon’s oeuvre offers a powerful contrast to the popular tradition of lyrical abstraction within Korean modernist sculpture.
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