1950년대 북한의 문예계와 정현웅의 행보

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the landscape of North Korean art in the 1950s in both broad and narrow terms, and to examine the establishment in North Korea and subsequent work of Jung Hyunwoong, a Seoul-born artist who moved to the North during the Korean War. Many Korean artists moved to North Korea, voluntarily or involuntarily, around the time of the war. Those, such as Jeong, who arrived in the North during the war, inevitably found themselves on less solid foundations than artists who had been active in the country since before the war. In these circumstances, it took much procedure and effort on Jung’s part before he was appointed chairman of the printed art division of the North Korean Arts Alliance. The mid-late 1950s, when Jung entered the alliance, was the most dynamic period in the history of North Korean arts. Lively discourses on socialist realism had formed in various fields, while North Korean artists were continuously engaged in theoretical and methodological reflection aimed at establishing unique characteristics and directions for North Korean art. In order to examine how Jung was able to enter the North Korean Arts Alliance at this time, therefore, a solid analysis of the art world is needed. To this end, this study comprehensively analyzes the process by which Jung became established in the North Korean art world after moving to the North, and the historical background that allowed him to join the North Korean Arts Alliance. Specifically, I start by examining the significance of Jung’s work and his replicas of Goguryeo tomb murals with regard to arts policy in the early 1950s. This process will allow us to determine how Jung gradually established himself in North Korean art circles. The mid-late 1950s deserve even closer scrutiny, since it was at this time that Jung joined the North Korean Arts Alliance as a results of his earlier efforts. I therefore summarize North Korean arts policy at this time from a historical perspective, while analyzing Jung’s works within the shifting landscape of the North Korean art world. In particular, analyzing Jung’s relationship with Han Seol-ya, chairman of North Korean Federation of Literature and Arts and the most powerful figure in the North Korean art world, will be of significant help in understanding Jung’s entry into the North Korean Arts Alliance. Finally, based on the phenomenon of “rediscovered tomb mural replicas,” I attempt to show how Jung was able to maintain his position as chairman of the alliance’s printed art division amid changes in North Korean art policy as Kim Il-sung solidified his monolithic regime.