천경자의 베트남 전쟁 기록화

서지정보

ㆍ발행기관 : 한국미술연구소 ㆍ수록지정보 : 美術史論壇 / 29권
ㆍ저자명 : 이성례, 양선하

영어 초록

Throughout the life of Chun Kyungja (1924~ ), an artist who has cultivated a unique style of painting under such themes as flowers, women and snakes, artistic pursuit has come into contact with travel. However, it is little known that she participated in war correspondents during the Vietnam War. Korea’s entry into Vietnam War saw the first overseas dispatch of troops by the Korean Military, a commitment which lasted for eight and a half years from September 1964 to March 1973. The general atmosphere of the world at that time was solving the Vietnam War peacefully, but the Korean government forced the dispatch of its troops, emphasizing the great cause of ‘anticommunism’ and its responsibilities and duties as one of the members of the free world. This is closely connected with the experience of the Korean War, which was both a civil war and an ideological war, as well as with the circumstances of the times, when Korea was under the control of a military dictatorship.
The war correspondents of the Vietnam War were organized to depict the activities of the Korean army in Vietnam and to commemorate their achievements. They visited battlefields, military camps, field hospitals, and such like from June 14th to July 2nd 1972, produced works upon their return to Korea, and held a ‘Pictorial Record of the Vietnam War’ exhibition at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea, from Dec. 8th to Dec. 22nd of the same year.
Twenty-one pieces of work were displayed at this exhibition, which was held seven years after the first dispatch of the Korean army to Vietnam, but most of them reflected neither the essence of war nor the unique personal style of the painters. However, the pictures of Chun Kyungja followed a somewhat different aspect.
She painted ‘Aim’, and ‘Flower, soldier and the sound of firing’. ‘Aim’ depicts a scene from an ambush operation in which a group of soldiers armed with M-16 rifles watch the movements of enemy troops hidden in the tropical rain forest. The painting contains such elements as butterflies, lizards, flowers and fruits of various sizes, revealing the exotic atmosphere of a tropical region. Adding decoration to the painting, they make strong colors and elate fantastic atmosphere. ‘Flower, soldier and the sound of firing’ shows a company of the Maengho(Tiger Division) searching a village in Songkau. The painting uniquely produces rich, colorful effects.
Although Chun Kyungja personally observed and witnessed the war, her pictures do not really reveal the misery of war. Rather, the sensitivity of the artist as a traveler is found after her overseas trip before and after working in the war correspondents. It may also be said that the fantasy element which penetrates the art of Chun Kyungja is reflected in her pictures of the war, which means that she looked at the war as a unique experience which stimulated her sensitivity rather than approaching it as a matter of life and death or as an issue of political ideology.

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