The purpose of the paper is to analyze the relation between the way that images of modern women were represented and women as readers central to women's images seen in the cover paintings of Shinyeoseong published by Gaebyeoksa from 1923 to 1934 and Y...
The purpose of the paper is to analyze the relation between the way that images of modern women were represented and women as readers central to women's images seen in the cover paintings of Shinyeoseong published by Gaebyeoksa from 1923 to 1934 and Yeoseong published by Chosunilbo(a daily newspaper) from 1936 to 1940 among women's magazines in the 1920-1930s. The cover paintings of women's magazines targeting women have the value of historical materials with regard to the fact that they were women's images widely used as a common aesthetic sense in colonial modern society. In addition, the gender debate can be involved in the light of the images represented from the viewpoint of men who were in charge of publishing magazines at that time. With the emergence of new women, which has been regarded as the benefit of modernism so far, focused on women's images ‘revealed’ and ‘provided’ by men, this paper examines how ideologies were symbolized and compressed into the images rather than what images were represented.
Magazines began to come out in the 1920s when the cultural politics started nominally, but most of them were short-lived by censorship of imperialist Japan, and there were several kinds of magazines whose first issues became their last ones for financial reasons. As Shinyeoseong of Gaebyeoksa and Yeoseong of Chosenilbo, the main targets to be analyzed in the paper, had 72 and 57 issues in total respectively, they were the most typical women's magazines between the 1920s and 1930s and the rate of women's images in these magazines was high to account for more than 97 percent of a cover per issue, compared with other magazines. Of interest is the connection between cover paintings as reprinted art and the mainstream painters' world based on fine arts as those participating in cover paintings were painters most of whom worked actively in then painting circles.
The introduction of women's images in the covers of women's magazines occurred just after the birth of women's magazines, which dated back to the 18th century. Fashion media, which started in France, developed rapidly in the 19th century and gave an universalized and standardized fashion to women. To some extent women's fashion in modern Korea made it obscure to distinguish Gisaeng or female entertainers and girl students by their outfits, the fashion served a role for social classes or identities not to be disclosed. Such standardized fashions and women's images revealing femininity were established and distributed in modern ages, which reflected not only the views of men but the eyes of women emerging as a consumer in modern ages.
More exactly, first of all, as the standardization of women's images was revealed with women's looks, there were a trend to pursue Westernized appearances with big eyes with a doble-edged eyelid, a high nose bridge and white skin. The start of the fashion showing modern women, not unlike others, was to take off Korean traditional clothes and had the keyword of ‘differentiation’ or ‘individualism’ as a capitalist commercial strategy to wear Western style hats and high-heeled shoes. ‘Individualism’, however, became the object of learning and a fad, and ‘individuality’ disappeared in the end. Also, it is observable that a type of facial expressions imported along with modern externals were provided and learned as a popularized consumer pattern.
That is to say, the second standardized feature is to provide women with personalities such as sensualness, shyness, pride and pureness through poses and facial expressions. As for modern women at that time, such poses and expressions were something like the required culture to be taught from pictorial magazines or cover paintings. Finally, a variety of accessories and ornaments were used in order to emphasize more women's femininity represented in the cover paintings, and a flower motif was given much weight among others. Apart from the fact that women has been compared to flowers traditionally, it can be see that women were identified with flowers in many parts of discourses produced by modern Joseon men. Futhermore, as a motif frequently used in a beauty portrait of fine arts, a woman with cut flowers often appeared in cover paintings, which makes it possible to see a link with fine arts.
The publication of women's magazines in the early modern Korea was mostly led by men and was given as an indicator for women's enlightenment. All painters who did cover paintings were men, and the women's images made by them lay under the gaze of men, publishers and painters. Around new women rapidly emerging as a consumer in the 1930s, women themselves were dressed up and put on makeup and came to identify themselves. Different from the cover paintings of early magazines, those features had influence on the reflection of more active and confident women's images. Nonetheless, remarks on and images of women's beauty were made by men, and there were limits that women had no choice but to join the modernization process in the position of consumers and the represented.
This paper explores the production and distribution of women's images through the cover paintings of women's magazines as the field of reprint art that has been excluded from the existing art history. In modern women constituting themselves as a modern subject in the colonial age, women's magazines boosted consumption and fulfilled a role as a place to learn modern femininity. Also, it is possible to see how men's power and desire were made visible and constructed by examining what symbols were made in images of women suggested in cover paintings that are the most important part of image. Illustrated magazines and pictures imported with western movies were aggressively adopted in the cover paintings with the domestic situation difficult to seek models, and began to decide on composition and an aesthetic sense. The effects were found here and there from the cover paintings of Japanese women's magazines with traditions of pre-modern beauty portraiture.
As stated in resent study results, modern women had an obvious identity as a consumer so that it cannot be interpreted as a simple logic that women's appearances seen in cover paintings were doubly objectified by imperialism and men. That is because that the images were made not for men like pin-up girls, Gisaeng postcards and posters but for women, although the cover paintings of women's magazines reflected imperialism and men's gaze.
In the early 1930s, borrowing photos of advertisement models for cover paintings is concluded to be conscious of women who were consumers of advertising goods in terms of using cutting-edge images that was being distributed at that time. Moreover, publishers distributed similar images of women from other women's magazines, which means that they were aware of women consumers and reflected the change of the times prior to their gaze. Although an opportunity for women to speak about their beauty was confined to some pioneer modern women, it is considered that a number of women who lived in colonial modern Korea stated their opinions as women subjects through the act of consuming women's magazines.