[A Sip of a Book] Original Beauty Where Anxiety and Happiness Intertwine

Editor's NoteSome sentences encapsulate the entire content of a book, while others immediately resonate with readers and form a connection with the book. Here, we introduce such meaningful sentences excerpted from books.

Kim Inhye, the chief curator at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and an art historian, introduces the lives and art of modern Korean painters. The book covers the lives and works of a total of 23 artists, including Lee Ungno, Seo Seok, and Yun Hyongkeun. It offers a diverse perspective, highlighting artists born in the late 1800s such as Oh Sechang, Go Hui-dong, and Byun Gwansik, as well as those born in the early 1900s like Jeon Hyeoklim, Won Gyehong, and Yun Hyongkeun. The book also explores a wide spectrum from traditional Korean painting to pioneering Western painters who paved new paths and ventured into the world. It vividly brings to life the achievements of those who pushed beyond their limits, such as Byun Gwansik, who traveled the country painting Geumgangsan throughout his life; the "wandering painter" Byun Jongha; the adventurer Kim Dongseong, who moved to the United States; and Lee Ungno, who elevated the spirit of Korean art in Paris.

When he first entered school, there was an anecdote like this. A Japanese professor pointed to a white plaster cast and asked, "What color is this?" Go Hui-dong wondered why the professor was asking such a trivial question and answered, "White." But the professor pointed at the plaster cast again and asked, "What color is this?" Go Hui-dong, feeling slightly insulted, suppressed his irritation and answered again, "White." Then the professor responded, "This side appears white because it catches the light, but the other side is shaded because it doesn't receive light. Do you still see it as the same color?" Go Hui-dong felt ashamed of his ignorance. That was how he first learned about chiaroscuro and how to observe objects objectively. This was a fundamentally different approach from the perspective of East Asian painting, which had persisted for thousands of years. - From Chapter 1, "02 The Self-Portrait of a Korean Painted by the First Western Painter of Joseon _Go Hui-dong"

Strangely, the works that Chun Kyungja painted in the 1960s, in a state where anxiety and happiness were intertwined, possess a unique beauty that no one else could imitate. Her works from that period are fantastically beautiful, yet tremble with a subtle sense of unease. These are unprecedented works in which so-called "feminine sensibility" is expressed with remarkable honesty. Elements that were typically dismissed as "errors" in the strictly Confucian society?such as vulnerability, anxiety, and futile hope?emerged as central themes in Chun Kyungja's art. Sadness, frailty, and a delicate sensitivity that seemed on the verge of breaking were expressed as mysteriously beautiful as a dream. These are fantastic works that rival those of Marc Chagall. - From Chapter 3, "06 After Traveling Through Despair, the Painter Opened Her Own 'Page 22' _Chun Kyungja"

He first gained recognition in the French art world after being invited to the Salon de Mai in 1958. Gaining entry to the Salon de Mai, which he had seen in Tokyo in 1952, was a well-deserved reward for this "man of persistence." Jacques Busse, a member of the Salon de Mai committee, spoke highly of Nam Kwan, and Nam was invited to the Salon de Mai almost every year. In the 1960s, he held solo exhibitions at leading galleries in Europe, including London and Hamburg. Ultimately, in 1966, he won the grand prize at the International Biennale held in Menton, France. The fact that a Korean artist received the top prize in the same year that Antoni Tapies, a master of European abstract expressionism, received the honorary award was a great honor. The news was widely reported in Korean newspapers, and a solo exhibition commemorating this achievement was held in Korea. When he packed his bags and returned to Korea in 1968, he said in a newspaper interview, "I did what I had to do and came back." - From Chapter 4, "01 The Korean of Persistence Who Captivated Paris but Was Deeply Lonely _Nam Kwan"

Then came the Dongbaeklim Incident. It was 1967, during the height of the Vietnam War and as the Park Chung-hee regime's dictatorship was solidifying. The Dongbaeklim Incident involved the Korean Central Intelligence Agency arresting 194 figures from the European cultural and academic circles on charges of collaborating with North Korea through contacts in Dongbaeklim (East Berlin). Composer Yun Isang and painter Lee Ungno were among those named. (Omitted) As a result, Lee Ungno stood trial multiple times. Sometimes he cried out, "Aren't we all one people?" and wept bitterly; when he was sentenced to life imprisonment at the first trial, he was so dumbfounded that he laughed in despair. These moments of him crying and laughing were all photographed and became records of the era. - From Chapter 4, "02 A Life of Turmoil Without a Single Peaceful Day, and What He Painted in the End Was Coexistence _Lee Ungno"

Salon de Gyeongseong 2 | Written by Kim Inhye | Haenam Publishing | 336 pages | 21,000 KRW