Na Hyeseok: Exploring the Art World - written by 20113 Ahn Minju

Na Hyeseok: Exploring the Art World

written by 20113 Ahn Minju

It gets complex if a woman artist living in the period when the freedom of women is held in bondage and women lived like kind of man’s belongings. When feudal society was deeply rooted in South Korea, Na Hyeseok (1896~1948) majored in Western painting, clamored for freedom as a human in modern Korean society.

Clarifying her spirit as a pioneer of women’s liberation in modern ages which preceded the period is not only a problem of one individual but a movement to reflect the art and the period at that time.

In general, Na Hyeseok enjoyed the world of arts and herself. She was the first Korean woman artist to master Western painting. She was a prime artist who held a private Western painting exhibition. Moreover, she was the imitator of impressionism which swept South Korea and Japan. She actively studied abroad with the willpower of learning arts. In fact, she lived in Paris and fully enjoyed her dream in arts.

Her paintings are compared favorably with the pieces of other artists and in a sense, they were better than those of men. She drastically occupied the area of her own life and tried not to violate her individual life as a Western artist.

The paintings that represent Na Hyeseok are landscapes. Her initial paintings showed a sense of reality, capturing the workplace of women and farmers lives, which were affected by the impressionists. Particularly, the thick line stands out in her piece, The Portrait of Kim Woo-yeong. Since strong touch is imposing, it is estimated to have been created in the late 1920s when she was studying in the academy whose representative was fauvist, Roger Bissiere (1888~1964) and she was influenced by it.

Looking at the portrait of her husband, Kim Woo-yeong and herself, she did not use bright colors, rather they seemed influenced by the artists in Europe, which is hard to see in the Joseon Dynasty. Furthermore, she drew various landscapes which expressed the atmosphere and feelings of each landscape so well that they stimulated the sensitivity of the public.

Na Hyeseok, a new woman who shouted for women liberation, trying to get away from the old patriarchy, would be remembered for her pieces which kept the spirit of freedom as a human and free creation as an artist.