The Discourse of Local Color and the Pursuit of Korean-Style Landscape Painting in the 1930s (1)

One of the key concepts and ideological frameworks for understanding colonial Korean art is hyangtosaek(local color as national identity; hereinafter local color), or what was often referred to at the time as Joseon-ness(Korean-ness). Actively promoted and demanded by the imperial ambitions of Japan, this notion rose to prominence as a central discourse. It first emerged in the late 1910s through Japanese painters residing in Korea and became more fully developed during the mid-1920s Shōwa-era “Second Restoration,” particularly through the Joseon Art Exhibition, under the influence of pan-Asianist Orientalism and anti-/post-Western modernization theories. Rather than being perceived as impoverished, backward, or regressive—qualities associated with colonial degeneration— local color was regarded as the pure essence and distinctiveness of Joseon-ness, untouched by Western modern civilization. This understanding generated various lines of discourse, often developed through collaborative dynamics between naisenjin( Japanese and Korean people in Korea) artists, collectively referred to as the so-called École de Joseon. The “distinctiveness of Joseon art” functioned to evoke and express local color, regarded as a visual embodiment of Joseon-ness. This distinctiveness may be expressed through subject matter or technique, but more fundamentally, it emerges through the emphasis on the innate temperament and sensibility of the ethnic community. These qualities are understood as genetic and developmental traits shaped by the place of birth and the conditions of one’s upbringing, and are seen as manifestations of the spirit of Joseon and the soul of Joseon, reflecting emotional and spiritual attachment to the native land. Furthermore, aligning with imperial expansion and the intensification of pan-Asianism, Joseon art was envisioned as both the forerunner of human culture and the ultimate realization of beauty, in support of a new world order that aimed to transcend Western modernity and position Japan as the leader of the East.