KJCKorea
Journal Central

This study examines the visual representations of the Daedong River in modern Pyeongyang, focusing on paintings and photographs produced during the early twentieth century. As landscape painting grew in popularity, the Daedong River emerged not merely as a scenic background but as a profound symbol of personal and local identity for artists native to Pyeongyang. However, during the period of Japanese colonial administration, depictions of Korean landscapes often underwent a process of decontextualization, whereby narratives of Korean history and everyday life were obscured or distorted by imperial discourses and the colonial gaze. Building upon Yi-Fu Tuan’s concept of topophilia―which refers to the emotional bonds and intimate connections between people and places―this paper examines how landscape imagery articulated personal sentiments of place attachment, both explicitly and implicitly, through an analysis of works produced by Pyeongyang artists. Furthermore, by positioning landscape images as hybrid spaces where the aesthetic language of “landscape” intersects with the conceptual understanding of “place” in the colonial era, this study elucidates how the unique sense of place, Pyeongyang, was visually and artistically constructed through the landscape paintings and photographs. In addition, by analyzing contemporary paintings created by artists who fled North Korea after the Korean War, alongside the Daedong River, which is now inaccessible, this paper explores the continuities and transformations in the perception of the river within modern and contemporary psychological landscapes.

In the late 1950s, Pyongyang changed its atmosphere as the war-torn city was restored and traditional buildings were newly dancheonged. Looking at Pyongyang, which was transformed into Dancheong, the painter Jeong Jong-Yeo suggested several opinions regarding the development of the field of color painting in Joseon painting. In this way, discussions based on the direction of the traditional inheritance of Joseon painting, especially how to implement national traditions in art, centered on color painting in the 1960s. The fierce debate over Joseon painting ended on October 16, 1966, when Kim Il-Sung made a statement after watching the Ninth National Art Exhibition, which signaled the establishment of North Korean-style national art emphasizing subjectivity. This article is the subject of research on the postcard collection of Joseon Art (Foreign Literature Publishing Co., 1967), consisting of works representing this period. These postcard paintings, consisting of works which won prizes at the National Art Exhibition in 1965 and 1966, are characterized by a variety of themes, a concise overall composition, and an active use of color. This article is meaningful in that it examined the aspirations and characteristics of North Korean-style national art in the mid-1960s through specific works and through artist analyses.