Min Chung Sik

From the 1880s to the 1940s, Min Ch'ung-Sik experimented with artistic trends before liberation from Japan through portraits of family, landscapes, objects, and places.

His works can be categorized throughout the early stages of Korean art photography, whilst breaking away from the norm of studio or landscape photos.

He mainly worked with portrait photography and drew inspiration from Korean ink paintings that date back to the Joseon dynasty, which are still deeply rooted in symbolic origins.

Photography reflects Min's strong artistic emotions and reactions to modernization, while living under a colonized country of the early twentieth century.

[1] On the other hand, there are photos that depicted various places and events such as the church, busy streets, a wedding ceremony and a young child.

[6] These include his a portrait of a young boy, the Magican Series, Yeondong Church, Wedding Ceremonies, and a mini-scale of a still life replicating Mount Geumgang.

This allowed Min to capture and experiment with the moments and perspective of everyday life and culture in a modernizing, yet colonized era.

[1] During the first half of the twentieth century, Min Ch'ung-Sik heavily influenced the history of Korean photography during Japanese colonization.

[1] Photography has created its foundation through the process of its historical unfolding, and has close relationships with other art genres, intellectual, and cultural contexts.

[2] The works of Min can be categorized into the early stages of Korean art photography, whilst breaking away from the norm of studio or landscape photos.

[citation needed] Min Ch'ung-Sik experimented and expressed beauty during times when Korean culture was struggling due to the flood of colonialism and Western foreigners.

[citation needed] Overall, his exhibition reflects artistic emotions and reactions to modernization, His experimentation went beyond the confines of the norm by examining the representation of how western and eastern thematics blend together to underscore portrait photography.

Through his influence and later as a teacher, Min revealed everyday life through visual diversity as important aspects of Korea's nearly forgotten past.