Kim Yong-jun

Kim Yong-jun was born in Daegu, Korea, in 1904. He attended Jungang High School in Seoul. During this time, he entered and won a prize at the Government-General-hosted Joseon Arts Exhibition in 1924 with an oil painting titled Dongsipjagak, which led to the beginning of his career as an oil painter and artist. He studied Western art in Tokyo Fine Arts School in Japan from 1926 to 1931 and practiced oil painting as well as beginning to work as an art critic. He studied with fellow Korean artists such as Gil Jin-seop (1907–1975) and O Ji-ho (1906–1982) who were also students at a private painting studio that Kim Yong-jun attended in Seoul. The studio was established in 1923 by Yi Jong-u (1899–1979), who studied in Tokyo Fine Arts School and later became the first Korean artist who studied Western art in Paris from 1925 to 1928.

Throughout the 1930s, Kim Yong-jun took part in several group exhibitions and established artist groups. In April 1930, he participated in Dongmijeon, a group exhibition by Dongmihoe, an association consisting of Korean alumni of Tokyo Fine Arts School. The exhibition aimed to study all aspects of modern art in order to return to the finding or reinventing of Korean art. In December 1930, he established Baekman Western Painting Association in Tokyo with Gil Jin-seop, Gu Bon-ung (1906–1952), Yi Ma-dong (1906–1980), and Kim Eung-jin (1907–1977), and also established Mokilhoe in 1934 and attempted to fuse Western modernism with Korean painting traditions to create a localised and 'truly Korean' style of oil painting. After returning from Japan, Kim Yong-jun refused to submit works to the annual Joseon Arts Exhibition that was hosted by the Japanese Government-General. Instead, he entered in the Exhibition of the Society of Painters and Calligraphers (1921–1936), the annual exhibition hosted by Seohwa Hyeophoe (Society of Painters and Calligraphers). Kim Yong-jun also frequently wrote editorials and essays for magazines and newspapers, such as Donga ilbo. His writings expressed his support for Korean nationalism and opposition to contemporary proletarian arts movements from the late 1920s. This was in contrast to some of his earlier support for the proletarian arts. Kim Yong-jun believed in the need for revolutionary art and artistic expression that went beyond conventional bourgeoisie academism but argued that art should not be considered to be tools to achieving revolution and pressed for the retention of art for art's sake. His career-long investigation to the finding of modern Korean (Joseon) art was also in line with such retention of art for art's sake as he refrained from using art for the realisation of nationalist political agendas. In formulating modern Korean art, Kim Yong-jun argued that distinctly Korean art should be sought after and addressed the idea of the so-called 'local colour', that became dominant in defining what was seen to be the essence or trait of Joseon painting styles under Japanese colonial rule, particularly through the influence of the Joseon Arts Exhibition. Though Kim Yong-jun pointed out the fallacies of local colour in its lack of in-depth exploration of Korean aesthetics or spirit and used abstract alternative expressions such as 'refined' (고담한 맛) or 'graceful' (한아한 맛), he stopped short at providing concrete conceptualisations of the essence of Korean art and artistic style. By the end of the 1930s, Kim Yong-jun painted with ink rather than the mixture of Western and traditional painting he used in the early 1930s and painted illustrations and cover designs for an arts and culture magazine, Munjang and contributed essays on painting, literature, and their relation, as well as his views on traditional painting that marked the beginnings of his major research on Korean art history.

After liberation in 1945, Kim Yong-jun was appointed commissioner for Eastern Painting in the Headquarters for Construction of Korean Art, an artists association led by Go Hui-dong that attempted to reconstruct the Korean art field after liberation. After the disbandment of the association in 1945, he joined Korean Artists Association. Kim Yong-jun also began teaching Eastern Painting at Seoul National University from 1946 as the it became Korea's first national university with an arts school. Here he focused on teaching theory and art history rather than painting itself and also contributed to the institutionalisation of art education until he left the university in 1948. During the Korean War and North Korea's occupation of Seoul, Kim Yong-jun and his family decided to defect to North Korea. He played an influential role as a North Korean artist in developing Joseonhwa.

Kim Yong-jun's interest in the identity of 'Korean art' that noticeably grew from the 1930s resulted in his research on Korean art history. In 1948, he published Geunwon supil, a collection of his short essays, and Joseon misul daeyo, an encyclopedic take on Joseon art history, in 1949. Joseon misul daeyo covered Korean art history from before the Three Kingdoms period to the colonial period, and included various photographs. The volume is considered as the first comprehensive analysis of Korean art history written by a Korean author that is academically credible.