People on the Street

Description

PARK SU-GEUN
Park Su-geun is one of the most popular, influential modernist painters in Korea. Largely self-taught, he focused on depicting farmers and ordinary people engaging in everyday activities. He used a distinctive technique to enhance the surface of his paintings, building them up by repeatedly layering and scraping the paint. This technique was developed after Park moved to Pyongyang (the capital of present-day North Korea) in 1940, where he encountered archeological photographs in reports prepared by the Japanese. He was particularly fascinated by the Goguryeo period (37 BCE–668 CE) rock tombs of Anak and their wall paintings, which inspired his characteristic stone-like surface.
Because he did not receive a formal art education, Park Su-geun’s style is often considered naïve. It is more likely that he consciously deployed it to resonate with his subject matter. His interest in depicting ordinary people was initially kindled by quiet images of peasants by the French painter Jean-François Millet (1814–1875). This evolved into his unique vision of modern Korea. The surface of People on the Street, coupled with the minimalist rendition of five men engaging in a conversation, seems to suggest the perseverance of the people who lived through the difficulties of Japanese colonial rule (1910–45) and then the devastations of the Korean War (1950–53).
This painting was recently gifted to UMMA by the family of the late Joseph T. A. Lee, who taught at the U-M College of Architecture and Urban Planning for over three decades. In 1962, Professor Lee toured Korea with Elder Sang-Yong Nam, future U-M graduate student in urban planning and generous UMMA benefactor, who acted as his guide and translator. Lee purchased this painting by Park Su-geun because to him it embodied the quintessential characteristics of Korea and its people. UMMA is pleased to have this important modernist’s work in the collection, and to be able to make known the story of the wonderful friendship between these two extraordinary people.
Natsu Oyobe
Associate Curator of Asian Art
Park Su-geun
South Korea, 1914–1965
People on the Street
1962
Oil on canvas
Gift of the Joseph T. A. and Elise Choy Lee Family, 2013/2.525;
Park Soo Keun, one of the most in uential modernist painters in Korea, concentrated on depicting farmers and ordinary people engaging in everyday activities. His interest in such subjects was initially kindled by quiet images of peasants by the French painter Jean-Francois Millet (1814–1875), but evolved into a unique vision of modern Korea. Because he did not receive a formal art education, Park Soo Keun’s style is often considered naive, but it is more likely that he intentionally developed it to resonate with his subject matter.
The distinctive surfaces of his canvas are built up by a repeated layering and scraping of paint, a technique inspired by the texture of granite commonly found in the rural region
where he grew up. In this minimalist rendering of ve men engaged in a conversation, it helps to suggest the perseverance of the people who lived through the di culties of Japanese colonial rule (1910–1945) and the devastations of the Korean War (1950–1953).