Kim Whanki (Korean: 김환기; hanja: 金煥基; April 3, 1913 – July 25, 1974) was a painter and pioneering abstract artist of Korea, born in the village of Eupdong-ri on the island of Kijwa, of Anjwa-myeon, Sinan County, South Jeolla Province in Korea under Japanese rule. Kim lived and worked in a number of cities and countries during his lifetime, including Tokyo, Japan; Seoul and Busan, Korea; Paris, France; and New York City, USA, where he died.
Kim belongs to the first generation of Korean Abstract artists, mixing oriental concepts and ideals with abstraction. With refined and moderated formative expression based on Korean Lyricism, he created his characteristic art world. His artworks largely dealt with diverse hues and patterns. Kim's early works were semi-abstract paintings which allowed viewers to see certain forms, but his later works were more deeply absorbed abstract paintings, filled with lines and spaces.
The artist's partner Hyang-an Kim established the Whanki Foundation in 1978 and opened the Whanki Museum in 1992. The Museum, located in Seoul, was built by Korean American architect Kyu Sung Woo.
A pioneer of abstract painting and the godfather of the Dansaekhwa movement, Whanki Kim established his place in Korean history and art at an early age. Whanki Kim was an artist whose profound impact on the history of Korean art was seen in the first wave of abstract art. His nomadic lifestyle led him to many different places, like Japan, France, and the U.S., which differentiated his artwork from other artists, who created their art based in Korea, due to the lack of opportunities for travel. As a peripatetic artist gaining inspiration from artists of other origins, Whanki Kim's style of abstract art transformed from geometric abstraction to art with traditional Korean motifs to monochrome paintings of dots and lines. He balanced keeping Korean values and beliefs close and incorporating new foreign techniques into his works, which evidently reflect his personal identity and Korea's national identity, impacted by the political and social conditions of the mid-1900s.
Biography
Early life
Born as the fourth child and only son of wealthy farmer and local landowner Kim Sang-hyeon (김상현), Kim Whanki grew up comfortably on Kijwa island. After graduating from elementary school, Kim was sent to Seoul to live with his older sister and attend Choongdong Middle School (중동중학교). His family then supported him to study abroad in Tokyo, Japan, where he attended Nishikishiro (錦城) Middle School. During his five years of study, he learned to play the violin. Once Kim returned home in 1932, his father objected to Kim's wishes to continue his studies and set Kim to marry.
His great-nephew is Choi Seung-hyeon (b. 1987), an artist, actor, and rapper active under the moniker T.O.P as well as a member of Big Bang.
Tokyo, Japan: 1932–1937
Having decided to become an artist against his father's wishes, Kim secretly boarded a vessel bound for Japan. Thus in 1933, at the age of 20, Kim enrolled in the 3-year program offered at the Department of Arts at Nihon University in Tokyo. During his second year into the program, Kim joined the Avant-Garde Western Painting Institute (アヴァンギャルド洋画研究所, AbuangyarudoYōga Kenkyūjo), led by Japanese artists who were introducing to Japan Cubism, Futurism, and Surrealism based on their experience living and working in Europe. Among his mentors were Togo Seiji and Tsuguharu Foujita. In 1935, Kim is awarded for his first submission to the prestigious Second Section Association (二科会, Nikakai, 이과전, Igwajŏn), When the Skylarks Sing (종달새 노래할 때), marking his debut as an artist. The painting portrays a woman dressed in hanbok, whose body was rendered in geometric, simplified forms. The basket upon her head is "transparent" by showing its content at an impossible angle, revealing Kim's interest apart from realism and towards abstraction. His experiments of incorporating Korean motifs as simplified forms onto the flat picture plane continued, as can be seen in House <집> (1936) and Sauce Jar Terrace <장독대> (1936). Features often seen in traditional Korean houses, such as wooden gates, paper screen doors, stone walls, stairs, and pottery, are also noted to have added a sense of order and repetition to his paintings, further illustrating his development towards pure abstraction.