‘한국화’의 현대화 담론과 이응노

Abstract

The concept of Western ‘Modernity’ is based on the progressive view of history, which regards history as a unilinear process of development. In the modern era, such ‘Modernization’ became a universal goal around the world, and same phenomenon occurred in colonized Korea. ‘Painting and Calligraphy(書畵)’ of Joseon was reclassified under the ‘Arts’ of the Western modernity as separate genres: painting(畵) and calligraphy(書). In accordance with the art world’s inclination to describe history linearly, traditional painting, which was newly defined as ‘Oriental painting(東洋畵)’, became mainstream, and calligraphy-along with the ink painting(墨畵) of the Four Gracious Plants(四君子- ousted to the periphery. The modernization discourse of ‘Traditional-style Korean painting(韓國畵)’ got serious after Korea’s Independence from Japan in 1945. As a medium of eliminating Japanese influences and developing an identity as ‘the fine and true painting of Joseon’, Oriental painting sought to initiate its modernization. Around the 1950s’, it was pointed out that the elements of literati-style painting, such as the ink-and-wash painting or sa-ui(寫意), not only denote the essence of the spirit and the tradition of Oriental paintings, but also share the features of the Western Expressionism. Due to the inf luence of international art world, Abstract Art, especially Informel, became a foremost art movement in Korea. Consequently, the art scene of traditional-style Korean painting considered abstract works as the top task of modernization. From the fact that Abstract Art and Informel were inspired by East Asian calligraphy and ink-and-wash art, an idea was derived: the aesthetics and methods that both sides share were consider as the most advanced East-and-West-combining art form that contains modernity and internationality. The modernization of Traditional-style Korean painting continued its progress; inkand-wash painting expanded in the 1960s, and Abstract Art became the general tendency in the 1970s’. To sum up, similar to the modernization of colony, it seems that in the discourse on the modernization of Traditional-style Korean painting, the theory of the East-and-West fusion-a theory regarding the tradition as an instrument that corresponds with the West-oriented modern codes in the context of the theory of unilinear evolution-was the mainstream. However, it is difficult to overcome this chronic misunderstanding-Western modernity has universality and Eastern tradition represents particularity- with such monistic modernization. It is demanded to bring another modernization that can essentialize, generalize, and pursue its own tradition-not the tradition that is created by modernism and nationalism.BR Having a cr it ical perspect ive on this problem cal ls attent ion to Lee Ungno(1904~1989)’s formative preference and his process of overcoming. Lee started his artistic career as a traditional Four Gracious Plants painter, but constantly changed his art work style from ‘expressive abstract’ to ‘calligraphic style abstract’ and ‘abstract of characters’. Through ‘People’ series in the 1980s’, the artist challenged to overcome the conventional modernism. By using ‘paper, brushes, and ink(紙筆墨)’ as a medium, Lee tried to reach the primitive state of creation where drawing and writing are undifferentiated, and also unified painting and calligraphy in that sense. As a result, he succeeded in practicing the true sa-ui which reinstates and recreates the formative property or naturalness of an object. As such, an alternative mode of creation would be able to be achieved through accepting the concept of plural modernization which considers both the West and the East possess universality and speciality at the same time -rather than regarding the West to be universal and the East to be special. This allows us not only to escape from the unilinear theory of fusion East and West, but also to achieve the true unity between Eastern and Western traditions. And the possibility can be found by overcoming singular modernization based on post-war modernism, which was the final formative preference of Lee Ungno, the artist who once dissolved the form and content apart, and then reintegrated them back together again.