"Summons", 47 x 39.6 cm, oil on canvas, 1959
| Kim Man-hyŏng (1916-1984) |
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| Kim
Man-hyŏng (1916-1984) A native of Kaesŏng, Kim, like Yi K'wae-dae, studied oil painting at the Imperial Art Academy in Tokyo where he graduated in 1940. From 1937, he regularly displayed portraits and landscapes in the Korean national art exhibition (Sŏnjŏn), and during the last three years of the war was also involved in the production of propaganda war art for the Japanese army (such as magazine cover designs, posters, etc.). After Liberation, while still living in Seoul, Kim joined the Korean Artists Union and actively engaged in leftist politics. Interestingly enough, however, he became disillusioned with the party line of cultural politics, and again like Yi K'wae-dae, denounced the enforcement of Socialist Realism by publicly reading a letter entitled "Warnings to Kil Chin-sŏp" (who had already left for the North) in December 1949. Ironically, Kim later joined Kil Chin-sŏp in P'yŏngyang during the Korean War. In the 1950s, Kim and Kil, and later Mun Hak-su, were the leading ideologists among the painters. Kim was active in writing as well as in painting at least until the late 1960s. |
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