Art

In Art of Korean War
After the cold war as a result of the antipathy between the United States and Russia, 1950 became the most traumatic year in Korean history as the ultimate beginning of a war between North and South Korea. Artists from all over the world wove the miseries and the dreaded effects of war in terms of visual art, revealing the brutality of national tragedy throughout paintings, sculptures and posters. Their works unveiled the true nature of Korean War in many aspects. These war arts crafted to showcase the cruel event in Korea and eventually succeeded to evoke the empathy for the survivors in Western society. Both Korean and Western artists displayed similar emotions and themes in their works of art, yet there were clear differences in the perspectives on the Korean War. Korean artists, influenced largely by the great influx of Western culture, developed abstract symbolism and propagandas to represent the ideological conflicts and the lively experiences of common civilians in the war. On the other hand, Western artists focused more on the descriptive scenes of battlefields, suffering of American soldiers and difference in the disposition of human nature. While Korean artists tried to illustrate the brutality of Korean War itself, Western artists emphasized the consequences of ideological conflicts and its result of physical clash.

Kim Young-na, Professor of the Art history in the Seoul National University, pointed out on the fact that many of masterpieces of art were lost during the war and post-war years because of bad management and the willing of some Korean bureaucrats to diminish the evidences of the war. Besides, some artists preferred avoiding the work with political thematic.

In some sense, the Korean War, which broke out in 1950, is an unfinished war for the Korean people. The standoff between North and South Korea across the demilitarized zone, or the 38th Parallel, continues to wield invisible influence not only in politics but also over almost all other aspects of both countries, including their economy, society and culture. In a political climate created by an unresolved ideological conflict, South Korean artists tended to avoid creating works with a political character. Art history also has showed little interest. It wasnt until 2008 that the Ministry of National Defense, which had organized an official war painters unit, began to uncover the works and the documentations on Korean War art. However, many works have been lost or cannot be located due to poor management during the war. Therefore, descriptions of the wartime situation in this paper rest largely on interviews with living artists. However, their differing recollections mean that an exact account is not possible. (Young-na, 2009)

Korean War that went on between 1950 and 1953 was a dead blow to the country that caused tremendous devastation to both life and property causing the division of South Korea and North Korea. This change in the political scenario caused a deep impact on the artists who migrated between the North and the South. Some artists following the leftist ideology moved towards the North while some remained in the South. Even amidst this confusion and destruction, Korean artists continued to resume their activities. The National Art Exhibition, Kukjon, started again in 1953 and came to an end in 1979 inspiring many of the artists playing the most pivotal role in contributing towards reducing the gap between the Korean traditional art and contemporary art. However, all the works being shown in Kukjon came to be termed as traditional and conservative. Soon Modern art began to be emerged outside Kukjon. This resulted from the acceptance of Western current of art by new generation of artists such as Byun Young-won and Yi Chol-ui. (Lee, 1979, p37) Park Re-hyon, Yu Young-kuk, Yi Ung-no and Kim Hwan-gi were also famous artists that had shown their full creativity after the war ended. In 1957 again a movement started to give space to the contemporary art by the group known as the Korean Art Informel. (Kim, Online)

Soon after the Korean War, artists began to search for new methods to express themselves while pouring the creativity into the revival of scars from the war. Park Re-hyon, one of the greatest artists of the genre, once said, I think poverty was really the origin of creation for many artists right after the civil war, he continued, There was no food, no job opportunity, everything had gone back to ashes all conventional values and ideas were laid naked and bare. I had to raise questions. (Art Radar Asia News, 2008) Like Park, who was considered to challenge the established Japanese-mediated, French Impressionism style, (Art Radar Asia News, 2008) Korean artists were inspired by poverty and animosities from Korean War and adapted ways to break the deep-rooted convention so that they could more efficiently illustrate the reality of Korean War.

If half of Korean artists pursued the war-art as recording method, the other half concentrated more on the propagandist art. Whether originated from their philosophical belief or from governmental pressure, many Korean artists who joined to the propagandist trend contributed to the greater division in ideology. Both North Korean government under the Soviet Union and South Korean government under the United States could not be as stable as other independent countries, and they followed an ideal concept of reunification of Korea. Since the Korean War took on the ideological nature, the activities of war-correspondent artists and their production became largely animated during the era. (Choi, 2003, p 285-289) There were so many artists who defected to South Korea due to political freedom, but at the same time, many artists from South Korea defected to North Korea because of the ideological differences. This current was also reflected in war-art, where the artworks strongly have ideological colors. In North, art was defined under the leadership of Kim Il-Sung with portraits and paintings conveying message most effectively. The most popular theme of the anti-Japanese spirit was the national reunification displaying communists message and life, In city, town, and village there is Kim Il Sung everywhere there is Kim Il Sung, staring down from a billboard or in the subway or on the apartment wall (DPRK, 2007, Online) Similarly, in South, many artists painted Goddess of Liberty, which was a form of homage of Liberty Leading People by Delacroix. Following the idea of seeking liberty and justice, South Korean artists of 1950s commemorated the Korean War as inevitable conflict between evil and justice. Defense of liberal democracy became a holy subject to many ideological artists, and they represented the war as sacrifice for the ideal. The message was simple We are martyrs of Liberty. (----)

Another extreme form of propagandist art was the poster. The poster artist is specifically an agitator familiar with the period of the time and is endowed with the analytical judgment of the reality. They are called the bearers of the time arousing the revolutionary appeal and creative power among the people. One of the complete anti America propaganda posters was created with by line Lets drive the US imperialists out and reunite the fatherland (Comstock, 2008) Kim Sung Hwan, 78 a highly reputed cartoonist recorded the events of during the invasion by North Korea. He recorded the events of the war days with his own unique style blending the oriental colors with the pen. After 1950, he was appointed as the war artist by the Ministry of Defense, but his earlier sketches were more original sketching feelings of civilians on the war torn land. (Salmon, 2009)

In the article devoted to the 60th anniversary of Koren War, the work of Kim Sung Hwan was describes as the following

For years, his work graced this countrys two major newspapers he was twice interrogated under the authoritarian regimes and 200 of his strips were expunged. He has been lauded by fellow cartoonists including Malaysias Lat and Britains Frank Finch films have been made of his output and PhD dissertations on his work reside at Harvard and Kyoto universities. Today retired, with his collection displayed at South Koreas National Museum of Contemporary Art, this cheerful and sprightly little man can rest on his laurels. (Salmon, 2009) Kim Sung Hwan , also known as the Gobau (Strong Rock) met the Korean war at the age of 18. He already started to depict the surrounding events in his unique style sensitive pen cartoons and delicate Orient watercolors. Later this style became his trademark, but the real success came to him after the Seouls liberation on in September 1950, when he was hired by the Ministry of Defense as the war artist.

Andrew Salmon describes on of his works, named The Bleakest Midwinter

Catastrophe has struck. Out of the freezing north, China attacked. Defeated and demoralized, UN forces have given up North Korea in hopes that the victorious communists will halt at the 38th parallel. The hopes were in vain Peng Te-huai stormed south on New Years Day. Gobau was embedded with these ROK troops on Yeoiudo Airfield as they await evacuation down the Han River on tank landing craft, and thence to the sea, and the south. (Salmon, 2009)

The artist reminded that the troops had transport for evacuation, but the civilians didnt. Approximately million of civilians joined a trek going south by the winter road. Many of them was children, women, old people. Their hopeless mood was forsened with the news about the terrible defeat of the UN rearguard outside Koyang. Though the losses were significant, it wasnt the bloodiest battle of the Korean War, which was finished only 2,5 years after.

On the other hand, the anti-war artists emerged among the public. They were not like pioneers of fine arts. Nor were they like two preceding examples of propagandists. Anti-war artists were also ideological group which gained more popular support and sympathy due to their perspective on war. They painted the grotesque images of the farmers and the families dancing merrily under the blue sky, quite contradictory to the earlier propagandist. These artists were now exploring the themes of the social issues including hardships of the common man, improvised farmers and poverty of urban life but they were suppressed by the government as the mere illustrators or leftist ideologists. Minjung Misl can be considered as the break up from the dominance of Monochrome painting towards the post modernism. (Kim, Online)
Contrast to the activities of Korean artists, Westerners displayed their thoughts on the Korean Conflict in their own ways and perspectives. For Western artists, especially those in America, one of the most participating nations in Korean War, Korean War was the forgotten war. Unlike Korean press that named Korean War as the tragedy of fratricidal war, Western countries viewed it as one of ideological events in the world which was not successful enough to spread the greatness of Liberal Democracy. In other words, it was a police action led by the United States to protect the democracy, not the effort to keep the nation together. Thus the Western artists focused more on the heroic adversities of soldiers, the apparent gap in ideologies and miserable last of the enemies in battlefields.

The most active Western artists in Korean art were photographers. Journalists and photographers caught many instant scenes in battlefields that many paintings could not regenerate. One of the most well-known Western photographers is Max Desfor. He was an Associated Press photographer who took number of verbal snapshots of the war. In dangerous battlefields and military camps, he did not stop taking pictures of soldiers, refugees and tragic sights afterwards. One of the most important roles was his arrangement to attain photographs of American prisoners of war from North Korea. He could take a picture of North Korean captives in Pusan area in order to show the dismal ends of the enemies and their mistake to go against the democracy. (----) Another famous journalist was Herbert C Hahn, who was a Navy Reservist and also a photographer who was called on the duty during the war. During the spare time, he was recording with his sketches and drawing all activities of troops on shore and off shore while Hugh Cabort who as a officer of the navy personnel recorded various ships and units during the war in his beautiful sketches. (Naval History  Heritage Command, Online)

However, the photographers were active from the Korean side also. It was the official politics of South Korea to deal with the war systematically.  South Korea government mobilized many official photographers to take part in the war. They disseminated their photographs through the press making the people of Korea and all over the world understanding the war. It is interesting that war photographers wasnt paid, but they obtained the necessary material from the well-known producers of the products for photography, such as Kodak film and Leica IIIB cameras, and could eat in the soldiers canteen.

Professor Kim Young-na writes in his research
Lieutenant Im In-sik, who led the Army Information Agencys troop of official war photographers, captured many images of the war until he was discharged in June 1952. Some of his pictures, such as American Soldier Captured and Murdered and Destroyed North Korean T34 Tank, were picked up by the Associated Press and released across the world, receiving widespread coverage in the U.S. press.
Interestingly, as photography in Korea before the war had been largely pictorial in nature and very few people were experienced in straight photography, war images by Korean photographers often tended to be artistic. Ims famous work, Destroyed North Korean T34 Tank, exhibited this tendency. The destroyed North Korean tank abandoned in the landscape loses its menacing look due to a ray of light in the frame. The photo almost appears to be a Romantic image of ruins (Kim Young-na).  

Among the other prominent photographers of the war  Lee Gyeong-mo and Honam Ilbo can be named. It is not the secret these days that all the photos were the object for censorship, however the most talented works delivered the suffering of the ordinary people without the expression of ideological positions. Thus, one of the most famous Lees pictures depicts the woman, which carries a baby on her back going through the battlefield. Woman tries to find the body of her husband among the row of dead bodies on the ground.  It can be concluded that the war photographers laid the popularity of documentary photography  for a long time working with a strong sense of duty.

In terms of paintings, Western artists displayed similar themes to the photographs, mostly the brutality of war. The most famous Western artist that critically analyzed Korean War within the painting is Pablo Picasso. Massacre in Korea, a well-known masterpiece representing brutality of Korean War, became the symbol of cruel result and suffering from the war. Ironically, Picasso, despite his identity as Westerner, supported Communism at the time and thus created large amount of Communist-praising pieces to appeal the French Communism Party. In the painting, many soldiers tried to shoot the women in different status and age. By contrasting the robotic, emotionless soldiers with strength to the weak and powerless females with tears, Picasso successfully depicted the horror of the war. Ironically, despite his identity as a Western artist, he was an advocate of French Communism. Perhaps his motivation was to appeal the loyalty toward the Communist party, yet his intention to illustrate the suffering of innocent and powerless civilians is revealed. Another example, War, drawn by the same artist, does also represent the brutality of Korean War. Yet, his intention this time was a little different from Massacre in Korea he contrasted two different sides in his own view. Picasso probably wanted to connect his painting with a prevailing rumor about the so-called germ-warfare, believing that world of democracy would be as cruel as the rumor. This was the clear indication of ideological barrier in front of the artist who tried to record the reality of the war.

Speaking about the art of Korean War it is worth to mention Korean War Aircraft Nose Art. This is a specific kind of art, which means decoration the noses of war planes. It was a largely American tradition since WWI. During the  Korean War this tradition went on, and the noses of planes were decorated with the girls in pin-up style, silhouettes of animals and the symbols of motherland.   About the most popular women images in the nose art the following information could be found

The B-17 Flying Fortress Sally B. doubled as Memphis Belle in the 1991 film by the same name. To save money during the production of the film, one side of the plane remained Sally B., while the other side was dolled up as Memphis Belle for the movie.

Although the B-17 is the plane most people think of as the standard WWII bomber, there were actually more B-24s in service. The B-24 had a long range and carried more bombers, but was much less attractive than the B-17. Million Dollar Babys name referred to the fact that during the war, the U.S. government paid 1 million for each B-29. Many of the B-29s were decorated with nose art in a variation of the Million Dollar Baby theme. Other bombers had nose art meant to look intimidating to enemies or names and mascots with sentimental value to the crew. (Existing visual, 2009)

The examples of this kind of art are very rare because of their very nature. Many bombers were lost during the war, and the valueless masterpieces of nose art were lost, too. However, this question is rather contradictory the researches arent still have a single opinion about the nature of nose art can and have it be saved.  It is worth mentioning that the themes of nose art usually are far from the politics just girls, animals and pictures of the sweet home. However, this kind of art represents the proper era in the history of the art war, and this era still continues.

It would be the mistake to consider the Western art on the theme of Korean War as single-sided and biased. The example of the western artist who felt deeply the pain and sorrow of the Korean War is Ray Simon. He created has created a memorial painting in the honor of Korean War veterans. The artist claims he wanted to remind the mankind about the tremendous sacrifice made by Korean soldiers in the fight for their freedom.
The painting features U.S. infantryman being comforted as casualty tags are made out. Featured to the left of the Korean War memorial painting by artist Ray Simon are U.S. troops moving through hilly terrain to establish defensive positions. Blended above the troops is the U.S. Infantry firing a 75 mm recoilless rifle at the advancing enemy. The top of the Korean War painting, A Nation Remembers, depicts U.S.  paratroopers descending towards earth from C-119 planes in an attempt to block the retreating enemy forces. Painted to the right of the Korean War memorial painting are members of Company L, 7th U.S. Infantry. Exhausted from all-night combat, they illustrate the vacant expression that was commonly referred to as the thousand-yard stare. Below the members of Company L is a U.S. Marine raising our flag over the American Consulate in Seoul . This painting serves as a constant reminder that Freedom is not Free... (Freedom is not free, 2009)

Both the Korean and Western artists had a profound impact of war that was seen in their works. The Western artists as shown by Navy Combat Art Program and others gave the memorable account of the war with the dramatic events and realistic pictures of the various happenings during the war like experiences of soldiers and the peoples sufferings. They have captured the intense moments of the wars with the camera lens and fused the earliest moments with their images. While on the other hand Korean artists were more of the propagandists raising the effects of the wars on their lands, arousing hatred towards Japan and America through the portraits and artifacts. Their creative works of art also raised the social consciousness among the citizens towards several social issues like poverty, impoverished farmers and others. Social realism was most popular among communist societies and North Korea was not different, only with the exception that there was complete state control over their art while Westerners were free to display their thoughts and creative endeavors.
 
The most contradictory kind of art connected with the Korean War is the art of war monuments. The war had a great influence on the all Korean art for many years. The construction of the monuments was mostly inspired with the government. These monuments are the reflection of the ideals of that time. One of them is the monument by Park Chil-seongm, which was erected in 1952 under the name Mother and Child Commemorating the Recovery of Lost Territory. The theme of mother and child was very important because during the wartime many families lost their members. The 1950 was the time of massive construction of monuments of the war.  The anti-communists thematic was the common policy in South Korea, which predetermined the ideological composition of the monuments.

Citing the work of Kim Young-na, An example of such memorials can be found in Kim Gyeong-seungs A Monument to the Dead Soldiers of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, which was erected in the Mt. Yongdoo Park, Busan, in 1957. The monument features three figures that symbolize the three branches of the military holding rifles, bayonets and grenades, while the central figure is holding a dove. The figures muscular physiques and the monuments overall heroism are reminiscent of the Socialist Realist style. Nevertheless, there was no criticism of this similarity at the time of its unveiling, and its idealized images of heroes served as a model for later monuments. (Kim Young-na, 2009)

Conclusion
The place of Korean War in the history is unique it wasnt the war for the territory or for the power within the one state or among several states it wasnt even the resource war  the most popular type of the war in the 20th century. It was the war between democracy and communism. The ideological wars happened in the history before, but they rarely were the war among the people who share the same history. It could not go without the influence on the Korean art. Professor Kim Young-na claims Because the Korean War broke out soon after an independent government had been established, the war art did not produce works for explicit propaganda that distinguished clearly between allies and enemies. Even though official war artists units were formed, artists who belonged to them assert that their art witnessed the war not through the organizations they belonged to but through their own eyes. (Kim Young-na, 2009)

The works of art of this period was focused on the unique problems  but these problems can be felt deeply with all of the mankind because freedom, purity, pain and sorrow are the universal problems of the mankind. These works can be the significant art of the education for the young people who never saw the war, and the great remind for others. From the culturological point of view the art of Korean War is the example of Socialist Realist style.