Yoo Young-kuk

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Yoo Young-kuk about 1968

Yoo Young-kuk ( Korean 유영국 ) (born April 7, 1916 in Uljin County, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province , South Korea ; † November 11, 2002 in Uljin-gun) was a South Korean painter of abstract art.

Life

Yoo Young-kuk was born on April 7, 1916, the third son of a wealthy landowner in Uljin County, which at the time was still part of Gangwon-do Province . He attended a prestigious high school in Seoul , but left it a year before graduation. In 1935 he went to Tokyo to study art at Bunka Gakuen University ( 文化 学園 大学 ). From the beginning he devoted himself to abstract art. During his time in Japan , he also attended the Oriental Photography School and submitted his avant-garde photos for exhibitions.

During the Pacific War , Yoo returned to his hometown in 1943, initially working as a fisherman and keeping himself and his family alive during the Korean War by running a distillery and selling spirits. In 1946 he took up painting again, but withdrew from the public eye in 1964 for his art. From the age of 60, his health deteriorated and in 1977 he was given a pacemaker. After eight cerebral haemorrhages and 37 hospital stays, Yoo died in 2002 at the age of 86, leaving around 400 oil paintings to the public.

Working as an artist

Yoo was already active in the avant-garde art scene during his time in Tokyo, associating with the then well-known Japanese painter and representative of abstract art, Saburō Hasegawa , received first prize in the second exhibition of the Association of Free Artists in 1938 and became a member of the organization to which the painter Lee Jung-seob belonged.

During the difficult years in Korea, he put the paintbrush aside and looked after the family. Now at the age of 40, he decided to deal intensively with art again and began to lead numerous avant-garde groups in the Korean art scene, such as the New Realism in 1948 , the Modern Art Association in 1957 , the Contemporary Art Exhibition in 1958 and the Groups of Contemporary Artists and the New Figures in 1962.

The April Revolution gave the art scene and its work new inspiration and impetus. In keeping with his leadership role, Yoo also assumed the presidency of the Contemporary Artists Association , which was well known in the 1960s. In 1964 he suddenly ended his collaboration with the association and with other artist groups and then showed 15 new of his works in a first solo exhibition at the Korea Press Center in Seoul . When the collaboration ended, Yoo withdrew into seclusion and from then on devoted himself to painting in an ascetic manner. Yoo said of himself that until he was 60, he only studied the basics of painting and then returned to nature with a gentler approach.

Since 1964, his works have been shown in 20 different exhibitions, 14 of which were his solo exhibitions.

Works

Yoo's works, around 400 in number, all have nature and landscape as their theme, with much of his work, especially the one with mountains and forests, having something to do with his childhood memories and experiences from the Eungbongsan Mountains region. His pictures are based on his ideal to achieve a harmonious harmony of life, art and nature, which is why the harmony of colors played a subordinate role for him.

Retrospective for the 100th birthday

On the 100th anniversary of his birthday, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Deoksugung in Seoul, honored Yoos artistic work with a retrospective. The exhibition opened on November 4, 2016 and lasted until March 1, 2017.

literature

  • Chung Jae-suk: Interior landscape painting by a master of Korean abstract art . In: Koreana . Volume 12, No. 1. The Korea Foundation , 2017, ISSN  1975-0617 , p. 36–43 (German language edition).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Ed.): 1916-1943 Tokyo, Modern . 2016 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c d Chung: Interior landscape painting by a master of Korean abstract art . 2017, p. 41 .
  3. ^ A b National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Ed.): 1943-1959 Toward Abstraction . 2016 (English).
  4. ^ A b National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Ed.): 1970s — 1990s Working with Nature . 2016 (English).
  5. ↑ National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Ed.): 1960-1964 Encounter with sublime nature . 2016 (English).
  6. ↑ a b Chung: Interior landscape painting by a master of Korean abstract art . 2017, p. 42 .
  7. ^ Archive - Exhibition: Solo . Yoo Youngkuk Art Foundation , accessed November 19, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Chung: Interior landscape painting by a master of Korean abstract art . 2017, p. 38 .
  9. ↑ 100th Anniversary of Korean Modern Master: YOO YOUNGKUK (1916-2002) . National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art , accessed November 19, 2017 .
Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Yoo is the family name here, Young-kuk is the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Yoo, Young-kuk
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South Korean painter
DATE OF BIRTH April 7, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Uljin-gun , Gyeongsangbuk-do , South Korea
DATE OF DEATH November 11, 2002
Place of death Uljin-gun