일제강점기 한국사진의 미학적 특수성 : 향토색 사진을 중심으로

Abstract

It is difficult and complicated to conduct research on the aesthetic rules and principles of Korea's modern photography under the Japanese rule and the approach to the roots of sensibility. Aesthetic forms are intertwined with complex problems that are caused by specific situations of the times. In addition, experiences in real life that follow universal principles are the prerequisite for a world of sensibility. Therefore, even if 'local color' or 'indigenous color' that was popular in art during the colonial era is a colonialist discourse manipulated by imperial ideology, it presents a perspective to understand the aesthetic identity of modern photographs. The then interest in indigenous color derives from the difference in attitudes on how to express the local theme and characteristics of Joseon. That was a viewpoint from a particular era and involved an attitude as a way of action showing where we belong. Behind Japan’s pressure for local color are a foreign feel for the colonial Joseon, physiocracy as a means of aggression, and return to Orientalism or Asianism. In this regard, photographs in local color often represented folk subject matters standing for Joseon or peninsular characteristics, or life before the development of civilization, in a lyrical, romantic and naturalist form. In particular, photographs in thick local color reveal clear limitations from a perspective of the spirit of national resistance or overcoming colonialism. Against this backdrop, the photographic images taken during the Japanese occupation illustrate how colonial unconsciousness and aesthetic adaptation are reflected and contextualized.