1970년대 한국 현대 회화론에서 발견되는‘졸박’의 한국성에 관한 연구

Abstract

This thesis is intended to suggest a new interpretation of “Koreanness” presented in the discourses on Modern Korean paintings in the context of Korea’s traditional culture. In 1970s, Dansaekhwa, also known as “Korean Minimalism,” was a mainstream form of art when Korean artists were pursuing distinctiveness of their own style under the strong nationalism of Park Jung Hee’s regime as a part of the nation’s cultural revival plan. Despite this fact, Dansaekhwa has often been criticized in Korean art world as the reminiscence of Japanese colonial aesthetics, for it is believed to reveal “otherness” reflecting Japanese taste with its “white color.” The white color has been said to symbolize “the beauty of sadness” favored by Yanagi Muneyoshi, a Japanese art historian, during the colonial period. The ample research conducted by social scientists Lee, Mankap and Choi, Jaesuk on that era, however, proves that Korean society still maintained the traits of Traditional Confucius society while the nation was undergoing modernization with rapid industrialization. Even the Dansaekhwa artists, who considered themselves as avant-garde, talked of Confucius and Buddhist ideas as a reservoir for their inspiration. The notion of ‘Jolbhak’, or the artless art and good nature” is examined to trace the origin of this tradition of Joseon Dynasty. Jolbahk is a principle of life for a hermit scholar with a humble attitude as well as a principle of Korean aesthetics that is characterized by the term ‘artless art’ and ‘unplanned plan,’ which art historian Ko, Yu Seup coined after Korea’s liberation from Japan. In particular, ‘hoisahuso’ is interpreted not only as painting the surface in white for preparation, but also as a process of cultivating one’s mind, which is later interpreted as the ‘repetitive activities’ and ‘cultivating one’s mind’ in the practices of Dansaekhwa. In the 70s, such an aesthetic attitude was interpreted by the art critic Yi, Il as “pan-naturalistic world view.”