Art activities in Daegu began to keep pace with those in Seoul circa 1922, the year in which the Joseon Art Exhibition was organized. The formation of a western painting circle in Daegu was not solely a regional cultural phenomenon, but one that was directly connected to the dynamics that lay at the heart of the formation of western painting circles at the national level. More to the point, Daegu played an important role in the formation of the dynamics that led to the emergence of western painting circles at the national level. This study seeks to identifythe reasons why the Daegu western painting circle was characterized by watercolor paintings, and to shed light on the actual reasons for the establishment of the Hyangtohoe in 1930.
The core figures during the early stages of the modern period in which paintings exhibited the regional characteristics of the locale known as Daegu were: Seo Byeong-o (1862-1936), Lee Sang-jeong (1897-1947), Lee Yeo-seong (1901-?) and Seo Dong-jin (1900-1970). These individuals were the intellectuals, pioneers, and nationalists who best represented the Daegu area at the time. At a time of crisis in which national sovereignty had been usurped, these leaders initiated independence movements and did their utmost to protect Korea’s history and traditional culture. They exhibited a cultural orientation under which poetry, calligraphic writing, and painting were integrated into what effectively became an extensionof the sadaebu culture that had prevailed during the Joseon dynasty. The features of Western painting gradually became part of this cultural orientation. For these individuals, Western painting was the beacon of a new era and a symbol of the new age that was afoot. The works of Lee Sang-jeong and Lee Yeo-seong, both of whom were interested in new art forms, are characterized by watercolor paintings that shared many similarities with traditional sumukhwa (水墨畵, inkpainting). The watercolor paintings created by Lee Sang-jeong and Lee Yeo-seong were similar in style to the works produced bySeo Dong-jin, Park Myeong-jo and Choe Hwa-su. In this regard, Daegu came to be regarded as the center of watercolor paintings. While these pioneers’ painting style shared many similarities with traditional painting, they nevertheless exhibited elements of the Western painting style. To this end, their paintings were referred to as examples of western painting (seoyanghwa).
What were the intentions behind the establishment of the Hyangtohoe in 1930? Individuals such as Seo Dong-jin, Kim Yong-jun, Choe Hwa-su, and Park Myeong-jo who were the main actors behind the Hyangtohoe saw the latter as a means to actualize the Korean identity based on the promotion of a nationalistic love for the motherland (local area). Their attempts to embody the hyangtosaek were rooted in their love for the rivers and mountains of Korea. In this regard, the term ‘hyangtosaek (indigenous colors)’ came to refer to more than indigenous colors rather, it took on the meaning of an ‘expression of the true Joseon.’ This wasclosely connected to the movements led by enlightened Koreans who since the late 1920s had sought to define and promote the Korean identity. The members of this organization focused on the production of works which depicted new architecturalbuildings such as the Gyesan Cathedral, ditches, and alleys in urban areas. In fact, one would be hard-pressed to find any pastoral agricultural landscapes. Nevertheless, the expression hyangtosaek had been regarded by some scholars to have been in keeping with the intentions of the members of thereview committee of the Joseon Art Exhibition, who asserted that, from the standpoint of the colonizer Japan, the depressed atmosphere found in agricultural paintings constituted the main theme and image of the controlled country known as Joseon.