작업 소개

57STUDIO는 국립현대미술관의 열린강좌 프로그램 중 미술관 소장품 강좌 시리즈를 제작하였습니다. 윤범모 관장이 직접 작품을 설명하는 형식으로 구성하였으며, 실제 교육 현장에서 효과적인 학습 자료로 활용될 수 있도록 제작되었습니다. 또한, 어느 장면을 캡처하더라도 교육 자료로서의 기능이 충실히 전달될 수 있도록 화면을 구성하였습니다. 이 시리즈는 작가 12명의 작품을 조명하며, 매주 수요일 YouTube LIVE를 통해 공개되었습니다.

57STUDIO produced the Museum Collection Lecture Series as part of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s (MMCA) open lecture program. The series was structured in a format where Director Yoon Bum-mo personally explains each artwork, ensuring its effectiveness as a valuable educational resource for use in learning environments.

The videos were designed so that every frame could function as an informative material, regardless of where it was captured. This series highlights the works of 12 artists and was released weekly via YouTube LIVE every Wednesday.

Ko Huidong, Self-portrait, 1915

Today, we will see a work that is registered as a cultural heritage piece of modern times. (National Registered Cultural Heritage 487).

It is entitled Self-portrait, and painted by Ko Huidong. It is one of the oldest remaining oil paintings in Korea. It leads us to wonder how the artist painted such a self-portrait. Five hundred years of the Joseon Dynasty was the ‘age of seohwa (calligraphy and painting).’ However, the age of seohwa characterized by the use of paper, brush, and ink shifted to the age of art in the 20th century. Ko went to Tokyo to study a new movement of Western-style painting in his mid-20s. In 1915, he was the first Korean to graduate from the Department of Western-style Painting at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (currently Tokyo University of the Arts). In the 1910s, Koreans began to accept the Western formal language of oil painting in earnest.

Kim Gwan-ho (1890-1959) from Pyongyang graduated from the school in 1916, and Kim Chan-young (1889-1960) who was also from Pyongyang did in 1917. All of three male artists were from wealthy families. Since the Tokyo School of Fine Arts did not accept female students, The other significant figure, Na Haesuck (1896-1948), graduated from the Tokyo Women’s School of Fine Arts instead in 1918. These four artists are pioneers of Korea who actively accepted the formal language of Western-style painting in the 1910s. Ko was from a middle class family, and he also attended ‘Hanseong French Language School.’ His family was talented in languages, and there were many official interpreters. Such a family history led Ko to learn French. Also, he grew up to be a painter, acquiring the traditional cultural practices of paper, brush, and ink under An Choongsik (1861-1919) and Cho Seokjin (1853-1920), who were the last painters of the Joseon Dynasty.

In his teens and twenties, Ko learned the unique culture of the Joseon Dynasty, that is, the idea that painting and calligraphy were inseparable. After that, he went to Tokyo and began to learn Western-style painting in earnest. At the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, all of the students submitted self-portraits in the graduation exhibition. There remain about 40 self-portraits of the Korean students who studied Western-style painting during the Japanese occupation period. The school is now called Tokyo University of the Arts.

Among the pieces, the first self-portrait is Ko’s painting. His Self-portrait in Tokyo presents himself in traditional Korean attire, wearing Jeongjagwan (a kind of an official hat for the literati of the Joseon Dynasty). We can see the attire attested to the fact he was from Joseon. Including this one collected in MMCA, another self-portrait, and the other one, Ko left only three oil paintings. It is characteristic that all three paintings are self-portraits. A self-portrait must be an appropriate genre through which to express an artist’s mind and self-esteem. In this painting, we can see the upper body filling the canvas with the right hand holding a fan. Presenting the bare-chested artist with a fan in midsummer, the work lets the viewers feel the heat of the season.

In the upper left, there is written a completion date ‘1915.’ Below it, we can see his signature ‘Ko. Hei Tong’ written in English. The signature lets us know it is a work officially completed by the artist. Since Ko attended the art school in his late 20s, he graduated the school at around the age of thirty. So this self-portrait shows the artist at that time, with a mustache and a short haircut, holding a fan. The background is impressive. It can be seen as an object that symbolizes his own class. In the background on the right, we can partly see an oil painting in the frame. It’s not clear if it’s Ko’s work or not. However, we can see a framed oil painting, a new means of expression, was in his reading room. Also, on the left, we can see Western books. Usually, books printed on traditional Korean paper were laid down and piled up. Because these books were hardcover books in the form prevalent in the West, they were arranged upright. It symbolizes that he was part of the literati and familiar with Western culture. Presenting such a background, Ko painted this self-portrait showing a robust posture with confidence.

Another self-portrait depicts the artist in winter clothes. I think the self-portrait in Tokyo and two self-portraits in Korea were drawn around the same period. Because the Tokyo School of Fine Arts was a government school, it pursued a very conservative academic style.

Ko played a pioneering role earning him the epithet ‘the first of Western-style painters’ in a Korean newspaper at that time, but he could not actively work as an oil painter. There were two reasons. One was that Ko couldn’t have a clear consciousness as an artist, and the other was that it was challenging to work as an artist actively because of the social ignorance about this new job of a painter due to the ideology of Confucian culture that looked down on art. He returned to the culture of paper, brush, and ink.

But he didn’t work extensively or passionately in this field. Instead, he was active as an art administrator and later was elected a Councilor (a member of the National Assembly now) devoting himself to politics. He passed away in 1965. I think he was a significant painter in the transition period of Korean modern art history who opened the ‘age of art’ after the ‘age of seohwa (painting and calligraphy).’

This self-portrait collected by the MMCA was found in the family’s house. At first, there were a lot of traces and scratches on the work. However, it is in good condition after the restoration process. As a piece of cultural heritage of our modern times, Ko Huidong’s Self-portrait, is definitely a crucial work in Korean history that we can appreciate together.