Kim Kwan-ho's Hidden Works Were Discovered,

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Kim Kwan-ho's Hidden Works Were Discovered,

After returning home from Japan, he resided in Pyong-yang, North Korea. After Korea's independence from Japan, nothing more was heard about him in South Korea. Accordingly, only five works are known to South Koreans, which include the first nude painting in Korea, "The Sunset". Additionally, none of his works are owned by South Korea.
The owner of these discovered paintings is Frank Hoffman,a German art columnist. He is said to be greatly interested in North Korean art and to have collected a lot of North Korean works. Most of the four pictures were painted in the 1950's. The works are called "Hong Kyong-sun, a laborer"(1948), "Park Chang-sik, the top worker"(1955), "Self-portrait"(1956),and "The Factory"(1956).
Kim Kwan-ho organaized Sacksung-hoi,a fine art coterie group, and played an active part in it for 3 years from 1925, but stopped painting after this period. There is evidence that he took office as chairman of the Committee of Chosun Artists at Pyoungyang in 1946. Hoffman assumes that he resumed painting from this period onwards.
Two paintings, except for "Self-portrait" and "The Factory", have a tendency towards Socialistic Realism. Accordingly, they are very different from Kim Kwan-ho's style of painting from the period during the time of Japanese Imperialism. The four works discovered will be showed at "Yesterday and Today of North Korean Art", a special exhibition of the Kwangju Bienalle which will take place on March 29.


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