조선물산공진회 지역별 출품사례를 통한 1910년대 요업의 실마리 찾기

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between the political aspect of the Joseon Mulsan Gongjinhoe (Joseon Industrial Exhibition) and the pottery industry of the 1910s as the 5th year of the Japanese colonial rule by investigating the process of submitting and screening the ceramics ‒ especially pottery items ‒ submitted. The exhibition was designed to publicize “the achievements of colonial rule” and “the benefits provided by Japan to the Korean people through modernization.” The event was also intended to present the plan of the Japanese Governor-General’s Office in Korea concerning locally made goods. The products of the Korean ceramic industry, which fell into the category of Siksan Heungeop (i.e. a part of the policies by which the Meiji government of Japan accelerated the modernization by encouraging industry), underwent a process of comparison and rating against Japanese products until their final submittal to the exhibition. Ceramic goods (such as clay pipes, bricks, glass roof tiles, lime goods) from each province were displayed at the exhibition, which was held on its largest scale ever in the colonial period. It was also the first event held at the national level, and was open to the general public. The event provided an opportunity to monitor the nationwide status of the ceramic industry at that time and to confirm any increase in production and consumption. Data concerning the producers, the items submitted, the prize winning craftsmen and works, the judges and their evaluations, and the way the press and visitors viewed the displayed items together constitute a record of the human and material status of the ceramics industry. As for pottery, they were evaluated as both industrial goods and artworks in connection with Japanese people’s love of tea ceremonies and their fondness for Goryeo porcelain, as those closely associated with early modern life patterns based on main points of view like how close they were to Japanese production skills and their eye for the beautiful. This visualization of the ceramic industry of Joseon, as a colony of Japan, in an open exhibition space not only presented a future direction for the local ceramic industry, but was also another instance of Japan’s policy to assimilate Koreans into the Japanese people.