Muan-gun O Seung-woo Art Museum, Special Exhibition Held to Commemorate 10th Anniversary of Opening

Theme of 'O Ji-ho, Oh Seung-woo, and the Vein of Namdo Conceptual Painting Group'

Exterior view of Muan Oh Seung-woo Art Museum (Photo by Muan-gun)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Oh Hwan-joo] The Osungwoo Art Museum in Muan-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Kim San) announced on the 6th that it will hold a special exhibition titled “The Pulse of O Ji-ho, O Seung-woo, and the Namdo Figurative Painting Circle” to celebrate its 10th anniversary this year.

The exhibition is being held at the Muan-gun Osungwoo Art Museum from the 5th of this month until May 11th. Due to social distancing guidelines related to COVID-19, the number of visitors is limited to 30 per hour through a reservation system, and starting from the 25th, an online exhibition will also be available (search Muan-gun Osungwoo Art Museum on YouTube).

Painter O Ji-ho (1905?1982) was a leading figure in the development of Western-style painting in Korea, who embraced Western Impressionism in the mid-1930s to express the natural beauty of Korea and also served as an educator teaching painting theory and expression methods.

Painter O Seung-woo (1930? ), son of O Ji-ho, is a senior artist in Korea’s figurative painting circle who went beyond Impressionist techniques to explore existential issues and the symbolic archetypes of the East.

“The Pulse of O Ji-ho, O Seung-woo, and the Namdo Figurative Painting Circle” consists of three parts: Part 1 - The World of O Seung-woo (Exhibition Room 1), Part 2 - Dialogue between O Ji-ho and O Seung-woo (Exhibition Room 2), and Part 3 - The Pulse of the Namdo Figurative Painting Circle (Exhibition Room 3), exhibiting a total of 128 works.

Part 1 features 25 works mainly from the museum’s collection, covering the overall flow of O Seung-woo’s artistic world from the 1950s to the 2000s.

Part 2, “Dialogue between O Ji-ho and O Seung-woo,” allows visitors to compare works by both artists. Notably, it includes 12 works by O Ji-ho held by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, as well as three Buddhist paintings (tanghwa) by O Ji-ho and O Seung-woo created in oil paint, showcasing rare pieces not previously exhibited.

Additionally, the exhibition features archival displays such as Korea’s first full-color painting collection “O Ji-ho & Kim Ju-gyeong Two-Person Painting Collection,” and two unpublished photographs of O Ji-ho by photographer Lim Eung-sik.

Part 3, “The Pulse of the Namdo Figurative Painting Circle,” is divided into three sections to showcase the tradition and flow of the Namdo Western-style figurative painting circle from the liberation period to the present.

The first section presents works by the first generation of Western-style painters who studied in Japan and the post-liberation Honam Western painting scene; the second section features works reflecting the emergence of the second generation of Western painters and activities of regional art groups such as the Sipdaejeon and Mokwoohoe; the third section exhibits contemporary artists’ works that represent new trends in sketching (saengseong).

A Muan-gun official said, “This exhibition will be a meaningful opportunity to view not only the works of the father and son duo O Ji-ho and O Seung-woo, who led the Namdo figurative painting circle, but also the overall flow of the Namdo figurative painting circle. Especially since rare original works, including those by O Ji-ho, are on display, we hope many people will visit and enjoy the exhibition.”

Meanwhile, the Muan-gun Osungwoo Art Museum is operating various non-face-to-face programs such as online exhibition guides and online experience programs to provide cultural benefits even during social distancing measures in response to COVID-19.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.