Celebrating the centennial anniversary of the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, The Dreams of Modernity: Planting a Flowering Tree examines the changes in the lives and social consciousness of Korean people brought on by the wave of modernization, and explores the expansion of modern visual culture during the period. The title of the exhibition is inspired by Lee Taejoon’s novel, “Planting a Flowering Tree,” where the flowering tree may symbolize both modernity but also those left behind for the sake of modernity. Therefore, the reality it represents may be harsh and severe, but abundant and splendid at once, reflecting an era that evokes both nostalgia and despair in people’s memory. Ridden with contradictions, this period of modernization in Korean history still remains impossible to define even after a century, yet the changes it has brought fundamentally shapes the Korean society today. Looking back on the dreams and aspirations of artists from this period, this exhibition hopes to examine how their meaningful accomplishments resonate in our culture today.
1. The Birth ofthe Modern Man
Since theintroduction of modern Western culture, the lives of Korean people began tochange rapidly. Modern conveniences and education not only changed thestructural aspects of society, but fundamentally transformed the wayindividuals recognized their self-identity and subjectivity, and reshaped therelationships between the individual and society, as well as the subject andobject. Modern men and women sought to escape the traditional boundaries ofclass and family, aspiring to achieve individual goals through one’s owntalents. The modern profession of being an artist became a symbol ofindependence, while a new generation of women emerged as the new leaders ofmodern education. Relationships within family also changed dramatically, asportrayed in the paintings of modern family openly expressing affection betweenspouses, and toward their children.
2. Expanded Visibility
The educated modern man broke away from the idealism and abstract mindset of the past, and instead began to closely examine the everyday life and its surrounding. This shift in intellectual thought sparked a new desire to represent reality as it is, not only in the academically-trained classical style but also in a wide range of formal experimentations including the fragmentation of objects through scientific vision and composition of the picture plane according to lighting. Still life and landscape paintings of objects and nature reflect the changes in the ways of viewing the object. Still life no longer relied on conventional symbolism but focused on projecting one’s emotion onto the objects, while landscape paintings shifted from the idealistic scenery to everyday surrounding.
3. Towards Universality
Driven by colonialism, the modernization of Korea was riddenwith contractions, but nevertheless, artists strived to capture the changes inpeople’s lives amidst the tumultuous times. Abstract art dominated the globalart world during this time, and likewise artists in Korea delved into the trendas they aspired to create art that was universal. The last section of theexhibition examines how the movement of abstract art in Korea came to form anddevelop autonomously. Going beyond simply following the style of their Westerncounterparts, artists attempted to develop a new formal expression that embodiedthe essence and tradition of Korea, and based on this uniqueness, maintaintheir relevance in the global contemporary art world.
