At the beginning of the Japanese occupation, traditional Korean painting was led by Cho Sŏk-chin and An Chung-shik. Cho was the last court painter of the Chosŏn dynasty, and An the last gentleman painter. But their styles were similar in their pursuit of the enervated Southern style of the Qing period, with its emphasis on fingertip technique. In 1911 the former Korean imperial family set up an academy of painting to foster the traditional style, and, though it dissolved in 1919, a number of important painters had been trained by that time. By the 1930s the pattern of Korean painting had begun to change under the impact of both Japanese and European influences. In 1922 the Japanese had inaugurated an annual exhibition for Korean artists, designed to promote a new academic style. The only modern facilities for studying painting, whether Asian or Western, were Japanese. Despite the resistance of traditionalists, the Japanese impact proved irresistible. Prominent painters during this period were Kim Ŭn-ho, Yi Sang-bŏm, Ko Hŭi-dong, Pyŏn Kwan-shik, and No Su-hyŏn. After World War II traditional painting began to assume a modern mode of expression, as may be seen in the works of a group of radical painters such as Kim Ki-ch’ang, Pak Nae-hyŏn, and Pak No-su. All of these artists were highly trained in the traditional mediums of ink and watercolour painting. Their paintings reflect a bold sense of composition and colour and also have the quality of genuine abstract art.
The introduction of the Western style via China in the 18th century had gone almost unnoticed. In 1899 the commissioning of a Dutch artist to paint the portraits of the king and the crown prince affronted the traditional court painters. When Ko Hŭi-dong had returned from a period of study of oil painting in Japan, he was so ridiculed in public whenever he went out to sketch in oil that he finally gave up and returned to traditional painting. Nevertheless, several students followed his lead by going to Tokyo to study oil painting, and soon the new art became the dominant field of activity. Throughout the Japanese occupation, the main trend of Korean oil painting was the modest, representational school that had its roots in Impressionism. Among the outstanding painters in this style were Yi Chong-u, To Sang-bong, Kim In-sŭng, and Pak Tŭk-sun.
In addition to the new medium of oil, Western art introduced realistic depiction with three-dimensional illusion, and a concept of art as a career to be pursued single-mindedly, not as a gentlemen’s avocation. But because most of the changes occurred during the period of Japanese occupation from 1910 to 1945, the modern art introduced in Korea was refracted through Japan.
Ultimately modern painting developed in two directions: Western-style painting as practiced by Japanese-trained artists, such as Ko Hŭi-dong, Lee In-sŭng, and Kim Hwan-ki; and Eastern-style painting, as practiced by artists such as Lee Sang-bom and Kim Eun-ho, who used either traditional ink or coloured ink.
In the mid-1950s a group of young artists formed a movement called Informel, which expressed an affinity for the spontaneity and subjective expression of contemporary Western abstract art. The Monochrome Art of the 1970s was an attempt to create a truly Korean art, taking the flat surface of the canvas as the ultimate ground for expressing passive, calm, and meditative harmony. During the 1980s the painters of the Minjung Misul (“People’s Art”) began to explore social themes and were linked to the political protests of that decade.