Journals Information
Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 5(8), pp. 615 - 626
DOI: 10.13189/sa.2017.050805
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A Korean Painter under Japanese Colonization and His European Experience: Pai Un-soung, between the East and the West
Shin Min-Jong *
Department of Comparative Literature and Culture, Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies, Graduate School of Art and Sciences, the University of Tokyo, Japan
ABSTRACT
This paper aims to present a more flexible approach toward the Korean modern art, by exploring the work and art of a Korean modern artist Pai Un-soung (1900-1978) in Europe from multiple perspectives. Because the modernization of Korean art includes the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945), Korean modern art has been negatively recognized as a "passive" one and an "epigone" of western art "distorted" by Japan. Under those circumstances, Pai was the first Korean modern painter who studied "original" Western painting in Europe, rather than in Japan. Not only that, he was the only one who worked in Europe for 18 long years with accomplishments far too numerous to count. Pai's various activities conducted in Europe suggest the active and international aspects of Korean modern art. In this paper, I will focus on the Pai's stay in Europe and examine his activities and artworks, in connection with the political, social, and cultural situation of European society in the 1920s and 1930s. Through this paper, I hope to not only present a transnational viewpoint on Korean modern art, but make a request for mutual understanding and a spirit of cooperation in the study of art history between the East and the West.
KEYWORDS
Korean Modern Art, Japanese Colonization, Modernism, Study Abroad, Koreanness
Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Shin Min-Jong , "A Korean Painter under Japanese Colonization and His European Experience: Pai Un-soung, between the East and the West," Sociology and Anthropology, Vol. 5, No. 8, pp. 615 - 626, 2017. DOI: 10.13189/sa.2017.050805.
(b). APA Format:
Shin Min-Jong (2017). A Korean Painter under Japanese Colonization and His European Experience: Pai Un-soung, between the East and the West. Sociology and Anthropology, 5(8), 615 - 626. DOI: 10.13189/sa.2017.050805.