Kyung Hee University to Hold Western Painting Exhibition of the Late Professor Choi Deokhyu

Revisiting the Artistic World of an Independence Activist

Kyung Hee University will hold an exhibition of works by the late Professor Choi Deokhyu, titled "Choi Deokhyu: The Seat of Blue Resolution," at the CN Gallery in Jongno-gu, Seoul, from April 29 to May 14.

'Choi Deokhyu: The Seat of Blue Spirit' Exhibition Poster. Kyung Hee University

This exhibition is hosted by Chungcheongnam-do, Professor Choi's birthplace, and Kyung Hee University, and organized by the College of Fine Arts. Support has been provided by Kyung Hee University's Office of External Relations, the university-affiliated Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Choi Deokhyu Memorial Association.

The exhibition features a total of 27 works, including 18 oil paintings and 9 watercolors, through which visitors can appreciate the traces of sensibility Professor Choi accumulated as a painter and the formative language imbued with Korean sentiment.

The core of the exhibition lies in the painter’s formative exploration through his signature “blue-green” color. Audiences can examine works centered on rocks, mountains, and the sea, following the texture of colors layered with time, experience, and formative thinking.

Professor Choi, a Western-style painter and independence activist born in Hongseong, Chungcheongnam-do, graduated from the Western Painting Department of Tokyo Imperial School of Fine Arts in 1943. After being drafted as a student soldier, he escaped and served as a member of the Korean Liberation Army. After liberation, he nurtured younger generations at Seoul National University and Hongik University, and from 1966, he served as a professor and dean of the College of Education at Kyung Hee University.

Following his passing, retrospective exhibitions were held at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts (2003) and the Seoul Museum of Art Nam-Seoul Living Arts Museum (2011). Professor Choi was awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Patriotism Medal, and the Order of Civil Merit, Moran Medal.

Art theorist Han Youngji, who wrote the exhibition’s preface, explained, "His life, which traversed a turbulent era, is revealed not directly in his works but seeps into his gaze and sensibility, showing the accumulation of time rather than events." She added, "His practice, rooted in the nature of Korea, resonates with Western modernism, and his restrained colors and brushstrokes create a stable structure and condensed density."

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