Saint Meditant

The Korean War (1950–1953) is an unavoidable background for understanding Art Informel in Korea. During the 1950s, Korean artists collectively experienced the need for a new visual language to express the trauma of the war. As this print shows, abstract art became a favored form of artist Kyu-Baik Hwang, who had served in the military during the war. Information about the New York and Paris art scenes had circulated in Korea since the Japanese colonial period (1910–1945) through Japanese art magazines. After the Korean War, the American government put a great emphasis in promoting cooperative cultural exchange programs, which stimulated greater presence of Korean artists in the West. Hwang was one such artist who benefited from this endeavor. He went to Paris in 1968 and briefly studied at the renowned Atelier 17 print workshop before moving to New York, where he remained for thirty years. - Chi-Lynn Lin, "Echoing Overseas" label text, Fall 2022