This paper examines the contemporary relevance of the philosophy of art developed by the late Korean philosopher Zoh Johann on the occasion of the centenary of his birth. Previous studies have contributed to a broader understanding of his major works, including Philosophy of Art (1973) and An Exploration of Korean Aesthetic Beauty (1999). However, they have shown certain limitations in reading Zoh’s philosophy of art as a response to the shipwrecked realities of modern Korea and as an act of ‘Philosophizing (Philosophieren)’. Drawing upon not only Zoh’s published writings but also unpublished primary materials — including lecture notes, diaries, correspondence, and personal letters — this study explores the motivations underlying his intellectual pursuits as well as the formative processes through which his scholarship developed. It argues that Zoh’s philosophy of art emerged from diverse aesthetic experiences and unfolded as a sustained reflection on contemporary aesthetic theories and issues within the artistic world. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates that Zoh’s philosophy of art, grounded in his lifelong engagement with Greek philosophy and Christian faith, was itself an act of philosophizing that confronted a shipwrecked reality while remaining oriented toward eternity. It also functioned as a philosophical practice aimed at mediating and reflecting upon the conflicts and fractures that shaped modern life, including those between scholarship and reality, reason and faith, tradition and modernity, East and West, and industrialization and democratization.