Melancholic Sensibility and Expression of Bae Un-Seong’ Self-portrait

Lee, Sieun and Eom, Soyeon (2023) Melancholic Sensibility and Expression of Bae Un-Seong’ Self-portrait, The Korean Literature And Arts, vol., no.48, pp. 431-459

http://dx.doi.org/10.21208/kla.2023.12.48.431

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ABSTRACT

Despite his pioneering career as ‘Korean first artist to study in Europe’, Bae Un-Seong was later discussed due to the inconvenience of being one of the artists who defected to North Korea. The purpose of this study was analyze Bae Un-Seong’s self-portrait from the aspects of melancholy sensibility according to the situation he faced, in order to find in more depth the inner side of him and the works that reflected it. Chap.2 examined his life in colonial Joseon and established himself as a painter in Europe in order to understand his life and inner-self, and Chap.3 searched the relationship and aspects of humans, mourning, and melancholy. In Chap.4, Bae Un-Seong’s melancholic sensibility and expression were explored through the analysis of his self-portraits in which the object of his loss was objectified. Unlike other self-portraits in which the self is otherization, Bae Un-Seong’s self-portrait can be seen as a ‘melancholic self-portrait’ that depicts himself with self-pity and self-identification rather than the objectivity of otherization, but still seems to be left as an empty existence.