Artists in the two Koreas have exercised selective memories of the Korean War (1950-1953). Their perspectives and styles in recounting the death and destruction of the fratricidal conflict vary distinctly.
The swift fall of Seoul in the first week of the Korean War upended the lives of its artists. Those who failed to flee beforehand were mostly given a stark choice: they would receive food rations if they painted giant portraits of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin or North Korean regime founder Kim Il-sung under the instruction of the pro-communist Korean Art Alliance.
Three months later, when the United Nations forces and South Korean troops retook Seoul, these artists faced punishment for collaborating with the enemy. Painters such as Ki Ung and Kim Man-hyong, who were instrumental in pro-North activities, fled alongside retreating North Korean troops. But they weren’t alone in escaping the threat of reprisal; they joined other artists who had willingly gone to the North before or during the war. In total, about 40 South Korean artists switched sides. Had they stayed in the South, the expectations of their approach to art would have been entirely different.
“The 38th Parallel” by Kim Won. 1953. Oil on canvas. 103 × 139 cm.
The painting depicts a crowd of refugees trying to cross the line dividing the two Koreas. The dark-blue dirt ground and red sky represent their despair and pain, while the bright rays on the hill at the right side of the canvas symbolize hope.
Art in the South
“Vestiges of History” by Nam Kwan. 1963. Oil and collage on canvas with a faux rust effect. 97.5 × 130.5 cm. National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon.
In this melancholic and emotional flashback to tragic moments of war, abstract forms made up of long and short strokes suggest pathetic episodes against a backdrop where time seems to stand still, with light and shadow crisscrossing each other.
Korean literature has quite a few masterpieces dealing with the war. The same cannot be said for the fine arts. Few artists have attempted to realistically depict the brutal realities of the conflict. “The Battle of Mt. Dosol” is among the few exceptions. Yu Byeong-hui, a signal corpsman in the Republic of Korea Army, produced the work in 1951, shortly after the bloody clash which took place in the rugged Taebaek Mountains, one of the five major battles fought by the ROK Marines. The South Korean national flag, or Taegeukgi, flies high in the center of the canvas, while the North Korean flag lies on the ground, soaked in blood. Some 2,260 North Korean troops and 700 South Korean forces perished in the brutal combat.
Kim Seong-hwan (1932-2019) is recognized for having documented the Korean War more graphically than any other artist. When the war erupted, Kim, a high school senior, was already drawing a comic strip – “Meongteongguri” (Dimwit) – for the daily Yonhap Sinmun. After Seoul fell, he hid himself in the attic of his house to avoid being conscripted into the North Korean army, but managed to venture out to observe the occupation. The teenaged artist produced some 110 true-to-life watercolor sketches based on what he witnessed. One piece depicts South Korean soldiers having captured a formidable Soviet T-34 tank, with dead North Korean soldiers strewn on the street.
In contrast, most of the other artists in the South focused on depicting refugees desperately clinging to life and choking escape routes. Battle scenes were seldom revisited. This was probably because many of the artists were refugees themselves who were suffering from the horrors of the war.
Kim Won (1912-1994), who left Pyongyang to settle down in Seoul before the war began, captured a group of refugees trying to cross the line dividing the two Koreas in “The 38th Parallel” (1953). The painting depicts some wailing sorrowfully while holding a dead person, and others struggling to ascend a hill, carrying their children in their arms or on their back. The dark-blue dirt ground and red sky represent their despair and pain, while the bright rays on the hill at the right side of the canvas symbolize hope.
“Victory” (detail) by Lee Quede. 1958. A mural in the Sino-Korean Friendship Tower. Oil painting. 200 × 700 cm. Pyongyang.
This massive mural features several combat scenes at the center, with American stragglers on the right-hand side and victorious Chinese troops in the upper half.
Abstract vs. Realism
South Korean artists didn’t stow away the horrendous memories of the war even when a semblance of stability returned. Instead, their paintings became more metaphorical or abstract. After the end of World War II, realism had been shunned and realist paintings became considered politically oriented and left-leaning. In some quarters, there was even a tendency to hesitate to recognize such paintings as works of art. Many artists also regarded the socialist realist style of paintings that were popular in the Soviet Union and North Korea as rabble-rousing and ideologically biased.
In the wake of the Korean War, South Korean artists sought to express their anger, pain and sense of futility derived from scars of the war and the loss of family. They tried to avoid politically motivated subjects and turned to abstract art, which had gained popularity in Europe and the United States.
The memory of seeing many dead refugees during an evacuation never faded for Nam Kwan (1911-1990). He relived those scenes in “Vestiges of History” (1963), a melancholic and emotional flashback to tragic moments. Human figures, symbols and pictograms are placed across the canvas, as if floating around here and there. Abstract forms made up of long and short strokes suggest pathetic episodes against a backdrop where time seems to have stopped, with light and shadow crisscrossing each other.
In post-war North Korea, where the Korean War was called the “Fatherland Liberation War,” artists embraced socialist realism. Pyongyang University of Fine Arts taught Russian art as a required course and artists learned how to portray heroic people dramatically.
Among the former South Korean artists who defected to the North and painted wartime scenes was Lee Quede (1913-1965). Lee had already attracted public attention while in the South for his awe-inspiring history paintings. His signature war painting, “Victory” (1958), is a mural drawn inside the Sino-Korean Friendship Tower in Moranbong District, central Pyongyang. The tower was erected to thank China for its wartime assistance and promote bilateral ties between the two countries. Several combat scenes, including one on Sanggam Pass in which Chinese troops repulsed U.S. and South Korean forces, are found at the center of the mural, with American stragglers on the right-hand side and victorious Chinese troops in the upper half.
“Kosong People, Supporting the Front Line” by Chung Chong-yuo. 1958/1961 (retouched). Chosonhwa. 154 × 520 cm. Korean Art Gallery, Pyongyang.
The painting features civilians in Kosong, Kangwon Province, bringing ammunition and food to the front line during winter storm.
In post-war North Korea, where the Korean War was calledthe “Fatherland Liberation War,” artists embraced socialist realism. Pyongyang University of Fine Arts taught Russian art as a required course and artists learned how to portray heroic people dramatically.
“Women in the Nam River Village” by Kim Ui-gwan. 1966. Chosonhwa. 121× 264 cm. Korean Art Gallery, Pyongyang.
The painting portrays gallant women in a riverside village in Kosong as they take care of soldiers and cattle and join the fighting.
Art in the North
But more frequently depicted than battle scenes are heroic people assisting North Korean troops. Another artist from the South, Chung Chong-yuo (1914-1984), won a gold medal in a national art exhibition for “Kosong People, Supporting the Front Line” (1961), which features civilians in Kosong, Kangwon Province, braving a snowstorm to carry ammunition and food to the front line. It rhythmically portrays human figures and animals moving from right to left in perspective, effectively evoking a sense of depth and space through implicit brush strokes and graded shades of ink.
It is worth noting that, until the 1950s, oil painters outnumbered ink wash painters in North Korea. In the 1960s, however, painters were encouraged to draw the so-called Chosonhwa (literally “Korean painting”), the North Korean-style ink wash painting. This came after paramount leader Kim Il-sung stressed the need to develop Chosonhwa as a national style of painting, using traditional brush and ink, rather than producing Western-style oil paintings. Kim allegedly pointed out that “the weakness of Chosonhwa is a lack of color, and it’s important to depict people’s struggle vividly, succinctly, beautifully and emphatically by applying colors.”
Kim is also said to have lavished praise on “Women in the Nam River Village” (1966) by Kim Ui-gwan (1939- ) and “Grandfather at the Naktong River” (1966) by Ri Chang (1942- ), among other works of Chosonhwa. The former depicts gallant women in a riverside village in Kosong as they shelter soldiers, herd cattle and fire weapons. It earned the artist the first prize in a national art exhibition.
Interestingly, North Korea doesn’t have many paintings depicting the Korean War. A far greater number of paintings have portrayed Kim Il-sung waging anti-Japanese struggle. It seems North Korean artists have sidelined the “Fatherland Liberation War,” presumably because it was Kim’s failed campaign to take over the South.
Kim YoungnaArt Historian; Professor Emeritus, Seoul National University
한국국제교류재단
