「韓國近代繪畵百年展」에 즈음하여 : 傳統과 變化 = A Century of Modern Korean Painting(1850-1950) : Tradition and Change

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

"A Century of Modern Korean Painting(1850-1950)," in which some thirty painters born between the years 1800 and 1900 are represented, demonstrates both tradition and change in Korean painting of the late Chosen period and the early twentieth-century.
In understanding the history of painting of any given period, it is impor-tant to establish a body of works which represent the standard quality of a particular artist and view them in the context of international standards. In the present exhibition, however, due to the the fact that the majority of the works shown belongs to private collections, nearly half of the the paint-ings cannot be considered as the most represenative of any given painter.
The second half of the nineteenth-century is considered to be still the traditional Period of Korean Painting ; Painters active during this Period were either direct disciples of Kim Chng-hi(1786-1856) or heavily influenced by him. That is to say, the majority of the landscape paintings of this period has literati orientation. By contrast, in the first half of the twentieth-century, new trends in Korean painting appeared under the influence of the new trends of modern Japanese painting.
In the history of modern Chinese painting, a significant change took place about fifty or sixty years earlier than it did in Korea. These new trends, which appeared in and around Shanghai during the latter half of the nine-teenth-century were more appflrent in paintings of hire-and-flower, figure and still-life which lend themselves easily to new expressiveness rather than in landscape paintings that tend to be more conservative. The same new trends somehow did not make much impact on contemporary Korean paintings.
In Japan, during the first half of the Meiji era, the Southern School painting (Nanga) became the dominant trend. In the early twentieth-century, there appeared landscape paintings displaying new sensibilities. Buddhist and Taoist figure painting of the same period was also able to shed its traditionalism and display freedom of expression.
In the present exhibition, Kim Su-ch'o1(19th con.) can be considered as one who shows distinct personal character, and therefore, needs to be reevaluated ; Chang Sung up is considered as the technical genius with some visible influence of the Shanghai school. This paper is a transcription of the memorial lecture (Nov. 25, 1987) delivered in conjuction with the special exhibition, “ Century of Modern Korean Painting(1850-1950).”It was organized to commemorate the first anniversary of the opening of the Nationa Museum of Korea at the new location.
Many modern Korean painters were either unable to make a transition to new techniques or heavily influeced by Japanese painting of the turn of the century. Only after 1950, painters such as Yi Sangbm(1897-1972) and Pyn Kwan-sik(1899-1976) could achieve new distinct personal styles.
Two reasons for the persistence of the traditional painting in Korea can be cited : first, the patrons of Korean painting during the last phase of the Chosen period who were mainly pro-Japanese high officials and the demanders were steeped into tradition, and secondly, the majority of the homes at that time were traditional Korean style houses suitable for displaying traditional Korean paintings.
Korean painting experienced a transition from the traditional to the new era during the one hundred year period between 1850 and 1950. Paintings of this -period inevitably show influences of both the western and the new trend of the modern Japanese paintings. Each painter tried to establish a personal style of his own groping for the most suitable style for himself and, at the same time, tried to find what is “orean”as opposed to what is Chinese, Japanese or even western.