WANG YUXUAN
A Socialist Utopia The Developmental Path of Socialist Art in the DPRK 
 (1948-present) 2018
Academic Research By Wang Yuxuan
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
!1
WANG YUXUAN
INTRODUCTION This thesis is a dedicated study of unveiling the art and cultural situation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), which presents objective factors and accurate analysis in order to introduce it to the world-map of contemporary art. Due to the closed door policy of North Korea, it is always been difficult for the outside to understand their actual social status and humanistic culture. Naturally, North Korea has seemly become a lost part in north-east Asian art, although it does objectively exist. The purposes of this study are four-fold. First, to demonstrate the developmental art history of the DPRK, with an analysis of key factors (political and economic) affecting the cultural environment of North Korea. Second, to present primary forms of contemporary art in North Korea, which includes the propaganda art, developing new forms and a forecast of future trends. Third, a discussion on cultural influences caused by other nations to the art of the DPRK. Finally, in order to understand the creative motivation, the artists of North Korea will be analyzed though their creative ideology, characteristic style of works and expression technics to put together this study as a whole. In order to serve the above research questions and purposes, a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods have been used. In the absence of reliable data from North Korea, an exploratory study was undertaken with help from two artists, whom also double as cultural experts on North Korea, Doctor Nicholas Bonner, and Mr Wang Guofeng. Their contributions have deep understanding of the art reality and the surrounding cultural environment of North Korea. The insights gathered, together with related art works from these experts, led to the analysis of the DPRK artists’ characteristic styles and further development of growing new trends in art. The results of this study were obtained through first hand material, gathered from the two artists mentioned above, with field trips and gallery/museum visitings. An extensive amount of readings and analysis on second hand academic papers and journals also provided important perspectives and resources. Conducted findings of the research uncovered new insights, especially with foreseeing art future development of the DPRK.
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
!2
WANG YUXUAN
ANALYSIS Originating from ancient Greece, the word ‘Utopia’(οὐ “not" and τόπος "place") means the non existent fantasy land of fulfillment, happiness and satisfaction. As for today, it is often naturally linked with North Korea. There are comments from publicists, conjectures from conspiracists, and even their own government claims themselves to be ‘almost’ the best country in the world. Although in the book, “The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia” by Bernard Suits, assumes that if all aspects of human needs and wants are satisfied in a Utopia, it would become a place without science, morality, labor, art, sex, love and all things that make us human, but the DPRK is apparently not so by definition. John Malkovich once said: “Utopia means elsewhere.” In the most recent survey result of a 'Happiness Index (Gross National Happiness) of each nation' released by Chosun Central TV of the DPRK, the happiest country in the world is China, and North Korea is ranked no. 2. As for utopian socialism, exemplified by the work of modern socialists Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet and Robert Owen, it is the presentation of visions and outlines for theoretical or futuristic exemplary societies, with positive ideals being the main reason for moving society in such a direction. This concept has been perfectly demonstrated in North Korea and throughout every respect, including art and culture. With their people’s belief in the system and most importantly, the three generations of leadership from the Kim Family, that future Utopia will certainly come true. Within ten years of the county’s establishment and only six years after the end of the terrible Korean War, North Korea built the world’s largest art center. Mansudae Art Studio, with a labor force of approximately 4000 people, about 800 of which were artists. With an area of over 120,000 square meters, 80,000 of which indoor, this is a great accomplishment. As the national art center, it was founded under the direct order of the supreme general Kim Il-sung, whom defines it as “a very high-quality art production center”. Mansudae Art Studio artists have made the vast majority of important artworks of North Korea. Before 1994, under the ruling of Kim Il-sung, North Korea was widely characterized as a totalitarian state with widespread human rights abuses, including mass executions and prison camps. Back then, the art of the DPRK was also strictly limited as tools for political uses, almost all of the
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
!3
WANG YUXUAN
paintings and sculptures were of the socialist realist genre, propaganda posters, and leader statues. Content of the artworks are often inundated with giant fists, fields of golden corn, or bloody US soldiers impaled on bayonets. It may be fascinating, mystifying or just plain disturbing, however, as other socialist countries have shed their ideologies, it’s certainly unique. A form of art in itself, once popular in China and in the Soviet Union. These posters are hand-painted typically using tempera, by artists most of which make also other kinds of paintings. Besides their artistic value, these posters, with their writings and their messages, offer a view on the unique North Korean society and have a strong political interest. For graphic demonstrations see Appendix 1. After Kim Il-sung's death in 1994, directives on painting were relaxed and sometimes completely abolished under Kim Jong-il. New art forms, including a kind of impressionism peculiar to North Korea, which rose to complement posters. Art forms other than socialist realism are sparsely seen in the patriotic films that dominated that culture from 1949 to 1994. The reawakened architecture, calligraphy, fabric work and neo-traditional painting, has only occurred from 1994 till now. A series of vintage movie and lifestyle posters painted by North Korean artists between 1985-1996 have unambiguously shown these extensive style changes. Foreign features indicate personage, traditions, objects and opinions, the contents not only reveal westerners and their lifestyles in the eye of a North Korean artist, but also expressions about South Korea, which includes people, social scenarios and household products. For graphic demonstrations see Appendix 2. While propaganda art still remains to be an essential part of the art of the DPRK, with the developing open-door policy and the younger generation of leadership - Kim Jong Un’ active diplomatic activities of ‘tender the olive branch’, the art of North Korea is finally slowly and cautiously going abroad through official channels, which has brought strong rising interest though the international collectors’ market, despite UN sanctions. There are new forms and subjects budding and sprouting, and some works done in recent years even give us more signs of styles shifting and innovating inspirations. By retaining its own characteristics, the artists of North Korea have also started to pay attention to technological and modern subjects. In a serious of works named ‘Utopia Tours’ released by Koryo Studio and North Korean architects, the innovative designs and ideas all suggest a new kind of idealism in
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
!4
WANG YUXUAN
North Korea; intertwining nature, tradition and technology. For graphic demonstrations see Appendix 3. Eva Hesse once said: “Art and life are inseparable.” The uniqueness of the social system and its isolation nature also leads the art of North Korea to develop in a distinct way. The mainstream of art works are generally produced in the aesthetics of Socialist realism, under the influence of Soviet and Japanese visual expression, to convey a sentimental loyalty to the social system. As DPRK’s neighbor, with a long friendly history and identical polity, China has crucial influence on the art of North Korea as well. A recent collection, organized and created by Koryo Studio with Plastered 8 and North Korean artists called ‘The Beautiful Future’, represents the rituals of life in today’s China set in a stage of early Chinese socialism. As outsiders looking in, the artists imagine a China that retains its socialist traditions with the icons being great symbols of Chinese society today. For graphic demonstrations see Appendix 4. The art of the DPRK is state-supported, prolific and primarily serves to educate people about the government and revolution. This gives artists freedom of subject matter, except for abstract art because something open to interpretation is without a message. As one of the very few secluded countries in the world, the artists of North Korea sit in a politically delicate, though peculiar situation. All artists in North Korea are required to join the Artist’s Union, by following the planned economy under its Soviet social system, artists have no rights to sign names on their artworks, and do not receive profits from trading. However, to become a member of the Mansudae Art Studio represents significant praise of an artist’s accomplishment. Artists of the studio age from mid 20’s to mid 60’s and almost all are graduates of the very demanding Pyongyang University. Over half of the Merit Artists and the People’s Artists, the two highest awards an artist can receive in DPRK, are or have been associated with the Mansudae Art Studio. The DPRK artist’s creative style and methods, are actually filled with an unexpected curiosity and extremely explorative sprit. The general appearances are rich and diverse, differentiating from the Chinese style of the 1940s. The artists of North Korea do not hesitate to use colors, and they deliver visions, opinions and the mental strength of the artists upon their expressed objects. With time and development, the themes of North Korean art remain distinctive and at the same time diverse, aside from the propaganda and/or anti-imperialist paintings, which are most commonly known. The art of
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
!5
WANG YUXUAN
North Korea also includes works of the people’s daily lives, of their imaginations about the world outside North Korea, or of their visions about the beautiful coming future. The spiritual force of the art of the DPRK is strong, clear and not only restricted to the art works produced by artists of the North Korea. From a series of photos taken by the famous Chinese photographer/artist Wang Guofeng over five years from 2011 to 2015, also through four films (The Game of Their Lives, A state of mind, Comrade Kim Goes Flying, Aim High in Creation) produced by British movie director, producer/cultural specialist Nicholas Bonner, the artistic formality and the dynamics of life represented show great passion and vitality. North Korean artists’ medias of creation are also various and abundant, paintings range from Korean Paintings (ink on paper), gouache (opaque watercolor on paper), acrylic (mainly used to present shinier hair, richer uniforms, and so on on paper), to oil on canvas. Other mediums range from fine print (on enlarging paper) to anaglyph 3D printing; from bronze sculptures to ceramics; from woodcuts to embroideries; from jewel paintings (made with precious and semiprecious stones reduced to powder) to charcoal drawings and much more. For a country with such limited resources, the artists of North Korea are apparently not stingy, and the methods they use for art creation is surprisingly manifold and unique.
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
!6
WANG YUXUAN
CONCLUSION "Culture is not just an ornament; it is the expression of a nation's character, and at the same time it is a powerful instrument to mould character. “The end of culture is right living." These words by the famous playwright William Somerset Maugham well define the significance of culture in reshaping the destiny of a country. Likewise, the art and culture of North Korea also represents the rich heritage of the country which has been an intrinsic part of its growing national identity, even long beyond the establishment of its current government. Like other perspectives of people’s life in the DPRK, without a doubt that politics have put heavy influences on its art, more than any other country in the world, and at the same time, the art of North Korea still remains to carry stunning creative characters of their nation’s tradition. With sincere respect, despite the unsatisfying living condition, the artists of North Korea produced plentiful amazing works of high sprit and beliefs of their dreams of a Socialist Utopia. The seclusion of the DPRK have shut the outside world out about this nation in almost every perspective. Fortunately, there are glimmers of hope that start to show from the dawn of a new chapter in North Korean history. What is worth mentioning for the world to understand North Korea is just as important as for North Korea to know about the world. This research was done holding an objective and respective attitude with acceptance and understanding, there’s no privileged standings in culture and art. Victor Pinchuk once said: “Art, freedom and creativity will change society faster than politics.” Not to say art will necessarily open a new chapter for this very curious country who just started its own ‘open door policy’, but it would certainly lead the people’s eye to see the world in a brand new way.
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
!7
WANG YUXUAN
READING LIST / REFERENCES Bartlett, V P. (2008) Spectacle as Myth: Guanxi, the Relational and the Urban Quotidian in Contemporary Chinese Art 2005- 2008. PhD diss., University of Arts London. "Freedom in the World, 2006". Freedom House. Archived from the original on 14 July 2007. Retrieved 13 February 2007. “Citizens of North Korea cannot change their government democratically. North Korea is a totalitarian dictatorship and one of the most restrictive countries in the world.” Rossabi, Morris (1983-05-20). China Among Equals: The Middle Kingdom and Its Neighbors, 10th– 14th Centuries. University of California Press. p. 323. ISBN 9780520045620. Retrieved 8 November 2016. Yi, Ki-baek (1984). A New History of Korea. Harvard University Press. p. 103. ISBN 9780674615762. Retrieved 8 November 2016. Kim, Djun Kil (2005-01-30). The History of Korea. ABC-CLIO. p. 57. ISBN 9780313038532. Retrieved 8 November 2016. Seth, Michael J. (2010-10-16). A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (published 2010). p. 306. ISBN 9780742567177. Archived from the original on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2015. Lee, Sung-Yoon (26 August 2010). "The Pyongyang Playbook". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 4 September 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010. Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Foreign Languages Publishing House. 2016 [Amended and supplemented on June 29, Juche 105 (2016), at the Fourth Session of the Thirtieth Supreme People's Assembly]. Chapter I, Articles 1–3. Retrieved 22 May 2018. "Human Rights in North Korea". hrw.org. Human Rights Watch. 17 February 2009. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2010. John K. Fairbank, Edwin O. Reischauer & Albert M. Craig (1978). East Asia: Tradition & Transformation. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. ISBN 978-0-395-25812-5. Andrei Lankov (13 February 2011). "Socialist realism". The Korea Times. Archived from the original on 26 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014. "Benoit Symposium: From Pyongyang to Mars: Sci-fi, Genre, and Literary Value in North Korea". SinoNK. 25 September 2013. Archived from the original on 13 June 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2014. Crocker, L. (2014, December 22). North Korea's Secret Movie Bootleggers: How Western Films Make It Into the Hermit Kingdom. "Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: Korea, 1–500 A.D." Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
!8
WANG YUXUAN
Moon, So-young. "Exhibition defies conventions of Korean painting". Korea JoongAng Daily. JoongAng Ilbo. Retrieved 5 April 2018. "'Artist of the Year 2009' - Seo Young-Sun". National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2011. Tertitskiy, Fyodor (6 June 2016). "The good things in North Korea". NK News. Retrieved 20 July 2016. "Mansudae Art Studio - North Korean Art, Korean art, North Korea, Pyongyang, Mansudae, DPRK, woodcut, socialist realism, propaganda art, embroidery, Korean exhibition, Kim Jong Il, jewel painting, Kim Il Sung". www.mansudaeartstudio.com. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2015-12-07. "North Korea's Arts Scene Is Just As Mysterious As The Nation Itself". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2015-12-07. "Mansudae Art Studio, North Korea's Colossal Monument Factory". BloombergView. Retrieved 2015-12-08. "The Controversial Senegalese Monument Built by North Korean Propaganda Artists". Slate. 2014-08-04. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2015-12-08. "LONG LIVE MANSUDAE | 艺术界 LEAP". leapleapleap.com. Retrieved 2015-12-08. "Mansudae Grand Monument - Lonely Planet". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 2015-12-08. Bernard Suits (9 November 2005). The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia. "North Korea's happiness index rank: China top, US bottom (Photos)". https://www.ibtimes.com/ north-koreas-happiness-index-rank-china-top-us-bottom-photos-706828. Retrieved 2011-05-27. "This North Korean Art Is More Than Propaganda". https://news.nationalgeographic.com/ 2016/07/north-korea-propaganda-art-socialist-realism-display/. Retrieved 2016-07-20. "What art from North Korea looks like". https://life.spectator.co.uk/2017/02/art-north-korealooks-like/. Retrieved 2017-02-13. "Former propaganda artists for North Korea denounce Trump-Kim meeting". https:// www.theartnewspaper.com/news/former-propaganda-artists-for-north-korea-denouncetrump-kim-meeting. Retrieved 2018-06-12. Casey Lesser (17 August 2016). ”North Korea’s Artists Are Breaking Out of 70 Years of Isolation". https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-north-korea-s-artists-are-breaking-out-of-70years-of-isolation. Nicolas Bonner. (2017) Made in North Korea: Graphics From Everyday Life in The DPRK. Phaidon. "Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism". Public Broadcasting System. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
!9
WANG YUXUAN
Frederick Engels. "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (Chpt. 1)". Marxists.org. Retrieved July 3, 2013. J. C. Davis (28 July 1983). Utopia and the Ideal Society: A Study of English Utopian Writing 1516-1700. Cambridge University Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-521-27551-4. "Thomas More's Utopia". www.bl.uk. Retrieved 14 May 2017. "Utopian Socialism - The Utopian Socialism Movement". www.utopiaanddystopia.com. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
!10
WANG YUXUAN
APPENDIX 1
Wave the Red Flag and Implement the Party’s Economic Policy from Mansudae Art Studio
Love Our Machines like the Anti-Japanese Guerrillas Who Loved Their Weapons Like the Pupils of their Own Eyes from Mansudae Art Studio
Seed Revolution is the Core of Agricultural Development from Mansudae Art Studio
US Imperialists Cannot Let Their Children Know the Truth from Mansudae Art Studio
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
!11
WANG YUXUAN
Don︎’t Be Fooled by Their Art of Disguise! from Mansudae Art Studio
Destroy US Imperialists from Mansudae Art Studio
Unite the Nation to Crush the US Nuclear War Plan from Mansudae Art Studio
Don’t Worry About the Construction from Mansudae Art Studio
150-day Campaign, Let︎s All Advance! from Mansudae Art Studio
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Let︎s Introduce Successful Scientific Study to Economic Development from Mansudae Art Studio
!12
WANG YUXUAN
APPENDIX 2
Famous Healing Ointment from Mansudae Art Studio
Gun Fighter from Mansudae Art Studio
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Nylon from Mansudae Art Studio
Space Story from Mansudae Art Studio
!13
WANG YUXUAN
Café, Tonight is Your Paradise from Mansudae Art Studio
O.K. Grand Show from Mansudae Art Studio
Oasis from Mansudae Art Studio
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
!14
WANG YUXUAN
APPENDIX 3

Utopia Tours III
Utopia Tours IV
Unsigned by North Korean architects
Unsigned by North Korean architects
Utopia Tours I
Utopia Tours II
Unsigned by North Korean architects
Unsigned by North Korean architects
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
!15
WANG YUXUAN
APPENDIX 4
Beautiful Future I Unsigned by North Korean artist
Beautiful Future III Unsigned by North Korean artist
Beautiful Future IV Unsigned by North Korean artist
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Beautiful Future II Unsigned by North Korean artist
!16