Kim Kwan-ho (1890-1959)

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Portrait, 43 x 35.7 cm, oil on canvas, 1956


    1945 photo of Kim Kwan-ho.
(Click on photo for related story in December 2001 issue of Wŏlgan misul.)


Kim Kwan-ho (1890-1959)

Born in P'yŏngyang, Kim was the second Korean to study Western oil painting in Japan, and is recognized for introducing nude painting to Korea. For his Tokyo School of Fine Arts graduation work, "Haejillyŏk'" (Dusk),
he was awarded with a 'Special Award' at the 1916 annual Bunten, the Japanese national art exhibit.
Kim Kwan-ho is probably best known for his 1916 graduation work, the Chavannesque "Dusk", regarded as the first nude in Korean oil painting (in Tokyo)

After holding his first solo exhibition that December, Kim continued to participate in national and group exhibitions during the next several years, and in 1923 became the first Korean to receive an award for his painting "Hosu" (Lake), displayed in the Western-style painting section of the Sŏnjŏn, the Japan-installed annual national art exhibition of Korea. Kim worked as a painter and book illustrator for several years in P'yŏngyang. South Korean studies claim that he gave up painting after 1927, but he did reappear in 1946 when he became the head of the P'yŏngyang Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Korean Artists Union. He also may have taught at P'yŏngyang Art School (the school's collection has several of his works). In winter 1957, Kim traveled to Warsaw to participate in a Korean art exhibition there (see Chosŏn misul, 1/1958).

Is this above 1956 Kim Kwan-ho portrait a self-portrait ?
My preliminary assumption is a "yes": (a) Both images (photo and painting) look very similar, especially considering the difference in age (Kim was 11 years older when he painted the 1956 portrait) .. see e.g. the prominent nose. There are are no obvious differences in facial features. (b) The portrait lacks any votive or otherwise identifying inscription in Han'gŭl that are found in all other North Korean portraits as reproduced in NK journals of the 1950s as well as those in the collection of the P'yŏngyang Art Museum and in Wŏnsan (such as Kim's worker portrait of the colonial period strike leader Hong Kyŏng-sŏn (1948) or his portrait of the politician Pak Ch'ang-sik from 1955 [next image]).

Does anyone know of any other photographs of Kim Kwan-ho from the 1950s?
E-mail me.



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