ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the historical development of Korean modernist art and the concept of avant-garde. The transition to the modern age that occurred in the second half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century affected every conceivable aspect of human experience. As in the West, the modernist art of Korea sprouted from the radical changes sweeping the entire society. The promulgation of Western art was accompanied by the increasing awareness of artists working in the modernist style, instilling the idea that the freedom of art was evidence of privilege. The self-portraits of early Korean oil painters embodied the consciousness of the modernist elites, who perceived themselves as early adopters of the new culture. The rise of Minjung misul was part of a larger cultural shift in Korea, as people became more active in their resistance of the military dictatorship and neocolonialism, while seeking to reinterpret Korean history with an emphasis on the lives and actions of ordinary people.
