The First New Realism Group Art Exhibition, Leaflet, 1948. MMCA Research Center Collection
New Realism Group
* Source: Multilingual Glossary of Korean Art. Korea Arts Management Service
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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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Kim Whanki
Kim Whanki (1913-1974, pen name Suhwa) was born in Sinan, Jeollanamdo, and his family origin was from Gimhae. He studied at the Department of Fine Arts at Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan from 1933 to 1936. He joined the Avant-Garde Western Art Institute in 1934 and submitted his work to Avant-Garde art associations, such as the Second Division Exhibition Nikaten (Nika Art Exhibition) and the Exhibition of the Free Artists Association (Jiyu Bijutsuka Kyokai). After independence, he organized the New Realism Group and worked as a professor in the Department of Fine Art at Seoul National University (1946-1950) and Hongik University (1952-55). He lived in Paris from 1956 to 1959, and after his return, he became a professor and later the Dean of the Fine Art College at Hongik University (1959-1963). He participated in the seventh Sao Paulo Biennale and won an honorary award, and then moved to New York. He abruptly passed away while having a solo exhibition at Poindexter Gallery, New York, ironically when his career in the US was at its peak. As a pioneer of Korean abstract art, he started by working in geometric abstraction and moved on to semi-abstract work that featured natural motifs such as the mountain, the moon, and the river. After moving to the U.S., he returned to abstraction with his so-called "dot paintings." His painting 16-Ⅳ-70 #166 Where, in What Form, Shall We Meet Again? (1970), was awarded a grand prize at the Korean Art Grand Award Exhibition and has inspired many contemporary Korean artists. His work Rondo (1938) was selected as No. 535 within the national Registered Cultural Properties.
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Chang Ucchin
Chang Ucchin (1917-1990) was a second son in Songyong-li, Yeongi-gun, Chungcheongnam-do. He graduated from the Department of Western Painting at Teikoku Art School in Tokyo from 1939 to 1944. After independence, he submitted his work to the New Realism Group Exhibition. He then taught as a professor at Seoul National University from 1954 to 1960 before retiring to focus on his art. Being away from the crowded city life of Seoul, he preferred to live alone in order to freely practice art in his studio. He had art studios in Deokso, Sooanbo, and Singal, and his transition through these sites is reflected in the changes in his style. His works dealing with traditional thatched houses, trees, figures in traditional clothing, and animals such as magpies, and dogs, show the humble and liberated life lost during the modernization of Korea. His thinly smeared and lightly colourful approach oil painting made great use of empty and marginal space, resulting in a unique manner heavily influenced by Buddhist and Taoist philosophies.
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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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