고희동 高羲東
Korea's first Western-style painter; involved in founding the Seohwa Hyeophoe
| Life | 1886 ~ 1965 |
| Era | 근현대 |
| Clan | 제주 고씨 |
Life & career
Go Hui-dong (高羲東, 1886-1965) was a painter born in Hanseong, of the Jeju Go clan, with the pen name Chungok (春谷). He studied French, worked in a court office, and learned traditional painting under Ahn Jung-sik and Jo Seok-jin. After the 1905 Eulsa Treaty he turned to Western art.
In 1915 he graduated from the Western painting department of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, becoming the first Korean to major in it. His Self-Portrait with a Fan (1915) is held by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. In 1918 he took part in founding the modern art group Seohwa Hyeophoe, which the Japanese authorities dissolved in 1939.
After liberation he led cultural bodies, judged early National Art Exhibitions, served as president of the Korean Academy of Arts and was elected to the House of Councillors in 1960 for the Democratic Party. His oil painting phase was brief and he returned to ink landscape with Western-style shading. His participation in wartime exhibitions organized under colonial authority has drawn criticism. He shares the Jeju Go clan with Goh Kun.
From Traditional to Western Painting
Trained by Ahn Jung-sik and Jo Seok-jin, he turned to Western painting after the Eulsa Treaty and studied in Japan, the starting point of Korean Western painting.
Self-Portrait with a Fan and the Seohwa Hyeophoe
The 1915 Self-Portrait with a Fan is a representative early Korean Western painting, in the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. In 1918 he helped found the Seohwa Hyeophoe, laying the base for modern art groups.
Postwar Career and Assessment
After liberation he served as head of the Academy of Arts and as a councillor. His late ink landscapes carry Western shading. His wartime exhibition participation has been criticized and both his contributions and faults are discussed. Go Hwang-gyeong of the same clan was active in other fields in the same era.
Grave
His tomb was not confirmed.