The National Art Exhibition of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Arts Festival began on August 1, 1947 in Pyongyang to celebrate the second anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan on August 15, 1945. The DPRK Arts Festival is the largest and most prestigious total art event held in North Korea on the occasion of national holidays and consists of fields of literature, art, theater, music, and dance. As part of the DPRK Arts Festival, the National Art Exhibition is a comprehensive exhibition showcasing selected outstanding works by professional artists and art studio members in various forms of art. It was launched to develop art by publicizing the achievements of rapidly evolving North Korean art and cultivating thoughts and emotions of workers, but it has gradually focused on contributing to the ideologization of
Juche (self-reliance). At the first exhibition in 1947, 193 works that received honorable mentions were displayed from among 525 entries, including oil paintings, watercolors, Eastern paintings, sculptures, and crafts. The second edition was held in August 1948. The third edition held in 1949 as a part of the DPRK Arts Festival to commemorate the fourth anniversary of Korea’s liberation featured 109 honorable mentions among 350 entries. Due to the Korean War, the fourth edition was held from August 13 through September 15 in 1955 at the Department of the Interior Club in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of Korea’s liberation. It presented a total of 370 works, including 194 paintings, forty-two sculptures, fifty-one craftworks, fifty-four graphic works, and twenty-one stage works, all of which were themed around unification and the construction of socialism foundations. North Korea’s National Art Exhibition is the most prestigious art exhibition held to commemorate the Day of the Sun and anniversaries of National Foundation Day. It is significant in that it covers all major fields of art and is meant to inspire and encourage artists to create.
* Source: MMCA
