권옥연 Kwon Ok-yon, 1923-2011

Born in Hamheung, South Hamgyeong Province, Joseon during the Japanese colonial period (Currently Hamheung, South Hamgyeong Province, Democratic People's Republic of Korea) | Died in Seoul, Republic of Korea

일제시대 조선 함경남도 함흥 출생(현재 조선민주주의인민공화국 함경남도 함흥시) | 한국 서울 사망


부운(浮雲) Floating Clouds
연도 미상 Date unknown, 종이에 먹 Ink on paper, 10x19.4inch, 개인 소장 Private collection

Kwon Ok-yon was born in 1923 as the fifth-generation only son of a prestigious scholarly family in Hamheung, North Hamgyeong Province. He learned calligraphy and Chinese classics from his grandfather when he was young, and familiarized himself with musical inspiration from his father, an enthusiastic violin player. At the art department of Gyeongseong 2nd High School (currently Gyeongbok High School in Seoul), he opened his eyes to Fauvism, Cubism, and Surrealism through his art teacher Sato Kunio and later went to study Western painting in Japan.

Later, as he encountered Art Informel movement in Paris, France, he began to pay attention to folk materials, recalling oracle bone scripts, ancient tomb murals, old gates and tiles, and Chinese characters he learned from his grandfather, which were embedded in his memories of homeland.

Kwon liked to write calligraphy all his life, always carrying a brush in his pocket. It is said that there was no day without paint or ink under his fingernails.

His Western-style paintings such as a subdued blue-gray-colored portrait of a sorrowful woman carry a pure and classy decadence and a sense of futility and solitude. However, the penmanship in his later years is extremely pictorial, unfeigned, and stylish. "Life is like a piece of floating clouds!" You can get a glimpse of his attitude toward life. It also seems to represent his thoughts as a native of the North that it is no good to mourn for a lost hometown as well as a dream he had in his later years.

1923년 함경북도 함흥의 유서 깊은 명문가 권 진사 댁 5대 독자로 태어났다. 어릴적 할아버지로부터 서예와 한학을 배웠고, 바이올린에 심취한 부친을 통해 음악적 영감을 익혔다. 경성 제2고등보통학교(경복고) 미술부에서 미술교사 사토 쿠니오 (佐藤九二男)를 통해 야수파와 입체파, 초현실주의 등에 눈떴고 일본 유학을 갔다.

이후 프랑스 파리에서 앵포르멜 운동을 접하며 그는 오히려 자신이 떠나온 조국 땅에서 체화한 기억들 속의 갑골문자, 고분벽화, 낡은 대문과 기와, 할아버지 아래서 배웠던 한자 습자(習字)를 떠올리며 민속적 소재에도 관심을 기울이기 시작했다. 권옥연은 생전에 늘 주머니에 붓을 넣고 다니며 붓글씨를 쓰는 걸 좋아했다. 손톱밑에 물감이나 먹물이 배어 있지 않은 날이 없었다고 한다.

가라앉은 청회색빛 감도는 애수어린 여성을 그린 그림 등 그의 서양화 작품에는 청순하면서도 고급스런 퇴폐미와 허무감과 고독의 정조가 감돌고 있다. 그런데, 화가인 권옥연이 말년에 붓으로 쓴 글씨 '부운(浮雲)'은 지독하게 회화적이며 고졸하면서도 멋스러움을 보인다. '인생은 한 조각 뜬 구름 같구나!(人生如一片浮雲)' 삶에 대한 그만의 태도를 엿볼 수도 있고 북조선이 고향인 그가 가졌던 실향의식의 덧없음에 대한 소회이자 말년에 꾼 꿈이기도 한 것 같다.


 
Taehyun Hwang