Exhibition Information

Baek Yoon-moon
1939 colouring on cloth 150 x 165 cm

Composition
1959 oil on laminated wood 65 × 52 cm

Lim Gun Hong_Family
1950 oil on canvas 94 × 126 cm

Jung-kyu_Yellowbird
1963 woodcuts on paper 41 × 32 cm

			The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MCA, director Yoon Beom-mo) will hold the Rediscovery of Modern and Contemporary Art 1: The "Emperor of the pen" exhibition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art's Deoksugung from May 30 to Sept. 15.

The exhibition was organized as a series of "Rediscovery of Modern Artists" in order to restore the thick soil of Korean art by discovering and re-exploring undervalued modern artists in Korean art history. The exhibition, the first of its kind, will shed light on the art world of six artists, including Chung Chan-young (1906-1988), Baek Yoon-moon (1906-1979), Jong Jong Jong-nyun (1914-1994), Lim Gun-hong (1912-1979), a pioneer of contemporary art, Lee Kyu-sang (1918-1997), and regular (1923-1971).

The National Museum of Contemporary Art's Deoksugung focuses on modern Korean works such as "The Exhibition of Modern Art" (1998) and "The Eye of Modern Art" (1999), "The 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Lee In-sung (2012), "The Great History of the Liberation (2015), "The Great History of the Sea" (1916-1916) and other contemporary works. 

The six artist to be featured during wartime Japanese occupation and liberation, restored after the Korean War period leading to meaningful work in an era of turbulence showed.Author. The wartime name "The Age of Cutting" indicates the intent of many painters at that time to take note of the chaotic times situation and the unfinished world of art, which had to be saved by self-righteousness or others. The exhibition will reflect on an era in which their work activities ended up as an "unfinished world" for reasons such as prejudice against female artists (Jeong Chan-young), misunderstanding of color painting (Baek Yoon-moon), confrontation of political ideology (Jeong Jong-nyun, Im Gun-hong), and lack of understanding of various artistic attempts (Lee Kyu-sang, regular). 

The exhibition will consist of a total of three parts: "New Generation of Modern Painting: Jeong Chan-young and Baek Yoon-moon, Pilgrims of Liberation Space: Jeong Jong-nyun and Lim Gun-hong," and "Pioneer of Modern Art: Lee Kyu-sang, Regular." 

The first part will introduce new generation artists Jung Chan-young and Baek Yoon-moon, who rose to prominence in color painting and color painting at the Joseon Art Exhibition. Jeong Chan-young and Baek Yoon-moon appeared as "the new generation of modern painting" as students of Lee Young-il and Kim Eun-ho, respectively, but were forgotten in the flower bed as prejudice against color painting after liberation intensified. The exhibition will reveal for the first time some of the plant details and original texts donated by Chung's bereaved family to the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Dobongseob, the husband of Chung Chan-young and the first-generation botanist, is a production case of plant detail in the early modern era. Baek Yoon-moon succeeded Kim Eun-ho's painting style and emerged as a color artist, and completed a unique painting style with a custom about men's lives. You can see his signature work, <Kun Gon-mae> (1939) in this exhibition. 

In the second part, the Wolbuk Painting introduces Jeong Jong-yeo and Lim Gun-hong. They were active in flower beds in the 1940s after liberation, but were excluded from the South's art history study after the North's defection. Jeong Jong-yeo left behind numerous paintings and landscape sketches, and the exhibition will highlight her activities in the South and the North together based on the works and materials he left before his visit to the North. Also on display will be <Jinju Uigoksa Gwaebuldo> (Registered Cultural Property No. 624), which was produced by Jeong Jong-yeo. With a gwaebul measuring more than six meters, the painting is not a traditional Buddhist painting style, but an unconventional painting style. The painting is open only one day a year at the temple, but you can especially enjoy it during this exhibition period. Lim Kun-hong traveled between Hankou and Beijing in China, leaving behind a free flow of landscape paintings. In addition, through the archive of tourism brochures and drawings he drew while running an ad agency, he can see the origin of early advertising design. 

The third part introduces Lee Kyu-sang, called the pioneer of modern Korean art, and regularity. They participated in "Modern Art Association" and "The Modern Art Society" and worked at the forefront of the modern art troupe after liberation, but died of illness at an early age (Lee Gyu-sang, 50, 49 years old), and were not properly studied. Lee Kyu-sang formed the nation's first abstract art group "Shin Sinsaepa" with Kim Hwan-ki and Yoo Young-guk in 1948 and served as the first generation of modern Korean abstract paintings, but only about 10 remaining works and no known track record. With the exhibition, Lee will bring together archives related to Lee and materials he interviewed with his students and colleagues to introduce his life and the world of his work. 
The magazine began as a Western painter and expanded its scope of activities to be a engraver, a jangjeongga, a critic, and a ceramic artist, but its evaluation was limited to painting and criticism. The exhibition traces the process of the regular work world turning into "modernization of tradition" and "industrialization of art," and introduces ceramic murals that were most devoted to later years in particular.

An academic conference under the theme of "New Topography of Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea" will be held on Sept. 7 as an exhibition-linked event. The event, to be co-hosted by the Art History Research Association, will be presented by five researchers under the theme of participating authors and the world of works. You can attend without a separate request.

"We expect that the exhibition will strengthen the role of Deoksugung Palace, which is specialized for research and exhibition of modern art," said Yoon Beom-mo, director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.