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.

Oh Jiho, Sunny Place, 1939

Did you all see the blue shadow?
You would expect a shadow to be painted in black. Yet there is a painting that portrays the shadow of an old tree in blue. It is the work by Oh Jiho.

In Oh’s , painted around 1939 when the artist was in Gaeseong, the shadow of an old tree, standing in the front yard of a thatched-roof house, is expressed not in black but in blue. The work interprets the landscape in an unusual manner. Due to his mastery of a unique impressionist style, Oh Jiho is recognized as one of the greatest painters in Korean modern art history. In his interpretation of nature through painting, how did this artist achieve such an original sense of color?

There is the term “Green Sun” It is an issue linked to the Impressionist style. Impressionists considered sunlight very important. After the new vessel called the paint tube was invented, artists could easily take their paint outdoors. While working outdoors, they began to capture the importance of sunlight in their picture-planes. They began to include the subtle changes of the sunlight, and its various properties. Oh Jiho’s is a perfect example.

Blue shadows. If we look more closely at the painting, we can see part of the thatched-roof house, the warm sunlight filling the yard, a dark, old tree positioned in the center of the picture-plane, the shadow of the tree, stones stacked up in the foreground, a white dog dozing in the yard, and a girl in red, exiting through the open door of the house. She is said to be the artist’s daughter. In later years the artist recalled, “Those were the happiest, most beautiful days of my life in Gaeseong.”

During that decade in Gaeseong, Oh built the foundation from which he would rise to prominence on the art scene. He became a teacher at Songdo High School, as a replacement for his close friend Kim Jukyoung. Around the time Oh was painting , he also published, together with Kim Jukyoung, a color catalog titled 『Oh Jiho & Kim Jukyoung Duo Catalog』. This book was one of the first attempts in Korea to print an art catalog in color. And the landscapes and figures by the two artists in the book were works that attested to the new painting styles, such as Impressionism, that were emerging in Korea. Oh Jiho demonstrated a singular life journey as an artist, living in his hometown of Gwangju, working rigorously, and educating many students.

He lived a life of twists and turns, including the unusual experience of living in the Jiri Mountains during the Korean War, and being imprisoned following the May 16 military coup. He enjoyed horse riding, and was extraordinarily devoted to promoting the use of Chinese characters, for which he even organized exhibitions to raise funds for the Chinese character revival movement.

How to interpret nature? With independent perspectives and interpretations. Blue shadows, inviting us to contemplate on the artistic qualities and originality of the artist: This was , by Oh Jiho.