[KS] North Korean contemporary art

Frank Hoffmann hoffmann at fas.harvard.edu
Sun Nov 30 14:50:56 EST 2003


Hi Tracy:

There still is very little in English on North Korean Fine Arts 
(other than performing arts) .... but I believe Keith Howard and 
others did some work on North Korean music.

(1) Lee Ku-yol [Yi Ku-yôl]. "Fine Arts in North Korea: Changes and 
Characteristics." Korea Journal 31, no. 4 (Winter 1991): 79-86. 
(also online at the Korean UNESCO site)

(2) My site at http://koreaweb.ws/nkart/   (collection of NK 
paintings, not much text, some selected images)

(3) http://www.gwangju-biennale.org/last-biennale/2000/english/speciex4.htm
    Kwangju Biennale 2000 catalogue articles ... click on "Curator's 
Concept" (2 links!) to get to the essays.

(4) There is not much else in English published outside of NK that I 
am aware of, but NK produced a very extensive and very useful ART 
LEXICA, published in 1999:
Ri Chae-hyôn. Chosôn ryôktae misulga p'yôllam. P'yôngyang: Munhak 
Yesul Chonghap Ch'ulp'ansa, 1999.

Of course, there are many other publications on the Fine Arts of 
North Korea (see. e.g. the monthly magazine Chosôn yesul, all the 
fine art and film yearbooks, or the special exhibition catalogues 
(some in English, German, Japanese...); the Library of Congress has 
many of these. I just mentioned above lexica because it is a most 
useful resource for information about artists.

(5) There are two books from South Korea that should be mentioned:
Yi Il and Sô Sông-nok. Pukhanûi misul. Seoul: Koryôwôn, 1990.
Yi Ku-yôl. Pukhan misul 50-nyôn. Seoul: Tolbaegae, 2001.
Please be aware that there are plenty of problems with both studies 
(in my view), not just limited to periodization and biographic facts. 
Official NK propaganda seems to have been taken by its face value 
rather than as an expression of intend. But you will see for yourself.

Also, I suggest you do a search using the Korean search engine 
Naver.com (http://naver.com) -- you will find quite a number of 
recent articles in journals, conference papers, and websites on NK 
art in both English and Korean.

Best,
Frank





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