Kwon Jin-Gyu (1922 – 1973) went to Japan in 1948 and studied sculpture at Musashino Art School, formally Musashino Art University. He received the Grand Prize at an exhibition in 1953, and returned to Korea in 1959, putting behind his flourishing artistic career in Japan. After his return, Kwon built up an original art world of sculptural works in terracotta and dry coating.
School Life
Bronze sculptures Standing Male and Young Man which Kwon produced in his school days demonstrate less of Kwon's own unique style and more of the influence from his teacher Shimizu Takashi who pursued structure and form based on accurate representation. Nabu, a nude sculpture in plaster produced for his graduation exhibition in particular exemplifies such methodology. Based on natural posture, this work expresses different sense of volume according to the angle it is seen. Kwon's work in the early 1950s for the most part comprised of sculptures of his own face as well as that of his first wife Domo. Kwon's deep affection for Domo can be felt from the diversity of materials he used to sculpt her face, such as stone, plaster and terracotta.. Continued on into 1970s, Kwon's Madu series and self-portrait sculpture demonstrate Kwon's early style.
Human Sculpture
The female sculptures Kwon produced after returning to Korea depict women in various positions, such as a woman gathering her knees, sitting with one leg bent, holding a baby, and sitting with her back propped up. From these works, one can see that Kwon tried to capture as many postures as possible within the limited size. Unlike his sitting and standing sculptures that express volume, his bust sculptures are brief. The busts drastically sever the body below the neck, and take an overall long and slender form. The sunken eyes, high nose, rounded head and slender face shape tell us that Kwon was pursuing the ideal face rather than Korean face. What Kwon was trying to arrive at through the human sculptures was to the sense of spirituality that transcends the boundaries of life and death as the most pure form of spirit. Eyes wide open have the power to penetrate essence, and the life-filled gaze seems to deliver an unspoken message while longing for something. His human sculptures are particular in that series of same forms are painted in different colors or are made of different material.
Self Portraits
Kwon portrayed himself often through drawing and sculpture, and he explained the relationship between the subject and the artist as the components of the art work. Better understanding of his subject enhanced Park’s work, since he always tried to reflect the inner world of the model in his work. The fact that Kwon superimposed his own face on his non-figurative works produced in 1969-70 demonstrates that Park was longing for something through his work. Park also created masks besides busts, and the heads in the form of death mask reveals the power to draw the human spirit at the middle point between life and afterlife. It’s evident that self-portrait forms the most important aspect in Kwon’s artistic practice, as Kwon made many drawings of himself, put the picture of a self-portrait on the poster of his first solo exhibition in 1965, and that the last most significant work as seen on his cv is a self-portrait.
Animal Sculpture
Kwon produced various animal sculptures like horses, cows, birds, cats, etc. He was not limited by structure or abstraction and produced them in various forms. Horses were a key inspiration for him in his art. His numerous ink drawings and sculptures of horses testify to the fact that the subject of horse deeply motivated him as an artist. In particular, Kwon’s humorous approach to expressing horses demonstrates his affection for horses.
Relief: Bridging Figurative and Abstract Art
Korean modern art from 1950s to 70s shows a mixture of figurative and abstract tendencies in art. Kwon’s relief works are an excellent portrayal of how he simplified the figurative to a level of abstraction. With rhythmic lines, use of colors and traces of craftsmanship left intact, these reliefs bear witness to the fact that Kwon truly enjoyed making art. There are hints of the artist’s pleasure in the traces of carefree dexterity left as scrapings and finger marks on the surface.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Aeja
Collection of National
Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo |
Chunyeopni Buddhist Nun
Private collection |
Self-Portrait
Collection of Museum of
Korea University |
Self-Portrait
Private Collection |
 |
 |
Comedy
Private Collection |
Fear
Collection of Hite Culture Foundation |
 |
 |
 |
Madu
Collection of National Museum of
Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea |
Black cat
Private collection |
Seated Male Statue
Collection of the artist's family |
