This study will examine the works of Kim Ku-lim, <From Phenomenon to Traces> (1970), with the social and political background of their time. Around the year 1970, Korean society was in turmoil. Its economy had been developing quickly during short period, and the industrialization in urban areas increased the population of cities, which brought out the collapse of traditional values and the rise of new ideas. Korean conventional artistic style had reached its limit to convey the ideas of avant-garde artists. In addition, it was at that time, when the public was under high surveillance and strict censorship which were conducted by the military regime of President Park Jeong-hui. Due to all these reasons, the artist Kim Ku-lim brought body movements, the surrounding environment, time flow, and locations into his artwork. Since the late 1960's, Kim Ku-lim had started doing unconventional paintings, for example, burning plastic on canvas, and making holes on iron plates. In 1969, he gave up any forms and structures and moved to performances, happenings, and film making. In the year of 1970, Kim produced artworks, as known as <From Phenomenon to Traces>. There were all three of them produced in 1970: setting fire to grass, placing ice cubes on floors, and wrapping the Museum of Modern Art. The first work of <From Phenomenon to Traces>, setting fire on grass is the first Earth Work executed in Korea. It introduced the urban environment into his own work, visualizing the invisible flow of time. In addition, a photograph which was taken at that day captured students in military training, marching and passing by the place, and accidently disclosed the political censorship of the period. The second work was showed at the AG Exhibition of experimental artists, and helped people to see the process of time, ice to water, water into air. People couldn't understand this work and laughed at it. The last one, wrapping museum was un-installed within 26 hours by the host sponsor, and revealed how conservative the Korean art institution was. It was the use of body movements and natural phenomenon, which was most interesting during the research on this subject. In the similar time-line, Kim was one of artists who introduced these things into his work. Lee Seung-Taek's 'Wind' series, for example, shared the same idea/ method, in which artists' job is only to set the condition of works and it is nature (wind for Lee, time for Kim) which completes the works. Kim introduced nature and body movements, and it was because of Korean social and political condition of 1970. The Korean government promoted the economic development as its national goal, so the economic wealth became regarded as more important than the traditional customs and nature. Building and houses were built quickly to hold the fast-growing population in cities without long-term planning. During this process, nature was destroyed for buildings and houses. Moreover, the regime of military government seized its power for over ten years since the May 16th Coup and controlled the public with the threat of North Korea. Under the circumstance, Kim introduced natural phenomenon into his works and tried to evoke ideas, which had been often neglected during that period. And this is the reason why the works <From Phenomenon to Traces> has its value in the Korean art history.

This essay examines Rembrandt van Rijn(1606-1669)'s landscape etchings, focusing on their characteristic rendition of humans in a minuscule and shady form to embody the theme of rural life. Unlike conventional landscape paintings which foreground shepherds or farmers to convey peace and tranquility of idyllic atmosphere, Rembrandt's etchings of the same theme cover the humans and other objects with a dense hatching, rendering them nearly invisible. The mainstream view maintains that the painter intended to emphasize rural life itself by placing little distinction between humans and surrounding landscapes. This interpretation draws on the painter's personal history that he stayed for convalescence in the suburbs of Amsterdam in the late 1630s. Admitting the validity of the biographical approach as such, this study enacts a different angle to read the Rembrandt etchings in the social contexts. It pays attention to the fact that the Dutches of the mid-Seventeenth Century found in countrysides an emotional as well as physical resting place isolated from ever expanding cities. The trend among upper-classes was to purchase lands in rural areas where they built private resorts. Lower-middle classes, the largest segment of the population, couldn't afford such a luxury, but they sought the grace of nature in literature, meditations, and paintings. Therefore, there was a great demand for the landscape paintings portraying idyllic sceneries. Rembrandt's landscape etchings were conceived of to meet the demands of the paintings market. Yet they were not just consumer-oriented commodities. A great religious meditator himself, Rembrandt induced the potential viewer to have three phases of artistic experience or spiritual awakening. First, the viewer distances herself from the landscape portrayed on an etching work, but she finds it hard to locate the main motifs. Next, a long hard gaze enables the viewer to see the motifs of lovers, shepherds, and saints, but shortly afterwards she wonders why their shapes are masked by thick hatching lines. Finally, the viewer comes to understand what the style signifies: the humans are part of nature, a mere creation of God. This study concludes that Rembrandt invited his contemporaries, who longed for rural life, to his landscape etchings where he encapsulated his message that the true meaning of natural life is the life of religious devotion.

In the domain of Korean arts history, the studies on the beginning of the Korean modern arts have been insufficient so far. But there have been attempted to deal with this issue in the various fields of Korean arts. But the field of crafts, compared to the fields of painting or architecture hasn't given us good results about this. This study aims at analyzing the beginning of modernization and the modernity of the ceramic crafts that appeared since the period of transition into modern era. In the late period of the Chosun dynasty, various ceramics used by royal class were intensively produced especially in Bunwon(分院) that was operated by government and the ceramics for the general public's daily life were produced actively in local kilns. But various foreign ceramics that were imported due to the opening of ports after the Treaty of Ganghwa-Island(江華島) in 1876 and the privatization of Bunwon in 1884 caused the traditional way of making ceramics to change a lot. And modern techniques of producing ceramics were imported from the West and experts from various countries were invited. Especially, in the period of Japanese colonial morden system of ceramic production was imported from Japan. From the end of 19th century to the early 20th century, the ceramic process and the distribution changed much, these aspects indicate the modernity of the Korean ceramics. This paper examined the progression of the aspects of the Korean ceramics that had undergone change since the late period of the Chosun in order to determine the period, the modernity of Korean ceramics began and established. The period of emerging modern ceramics were divided into two periods on the basis of the analysis of the system of manufacturing ceramics and the government policy in the late 19th century. The first period began when the Chosun opened her ports to foreign powers. After the reformation of systemin the late period of the Chosun, the opening of ports conclusively led to the different framework of the manufacture system that was new to the Chosun. And, in the period of the Great Korean Empire that succeeded the Chosun dynasty around the time of the privatization of Bunwon, modern factories research and education institute for ceramics were established foreign experts with technical skills came into Korea. However, Japan occupied Korea forcedly 5 years after they set up resident-general office in Korea, this caused the modernization. Japan adopted various policies in favor of them and made the manufacturing of the Chosun white porcelain declined fast. Partially the modern technique was adopted making vessels which changed the supply and demand of ceramics. Therefore, the period of Japanese occupation, of Korea when Korea faced the new modernization without voluntary agreement, can be classified as the second period of modernization. Especially in the period of about 40 years since 1910, the year when Japan began to occupy Korea, there were a lot of changes in the ceramic industry. So this period can be considered as a very important period of modernization. In the period of the opening of ports, the aspects of manufacture and the supply and demand of Korean modern ceramics began to change and the privatization of Bunwon caused the manufacture system to change rapidly. And through the period of Japanese occupation of Korea after the period of the Great Korean Empire, the modernization was pushed ahead forcedly without voluntary agreement. Therefore, it is required that the characteristics of the modernity of this period be analyzed by paying attention to the change of situation and system of Korea.

This is about Robert Mangold’s exhibition which was staged at Pace Wildenstein Gallery in New York in 2014. Mangold puts on an exhibition a lot but it’s been 3 years since his last exhibition of painting. Robert Mangold is an American Minimalism artist. While other Minimalism artist changes their work style as time goes by he’s been doing Minimalism work now. It took my attention to study his work. At first glance, it could seem to be an expansion of what he’s been doing in the past. However, he found a new figure from his work inside. In particular he newly chose a triangle found in his own 1970’s. If it’s said that a triangle worked in 1970’s has primary symbol and meaning, new triangle made in 2014 is a new figure combined each other and the meaning is expanded as well. A triangle has a direction in its figure. Because of its image of direction it gives an impression of open to upward. In contrast, the triangle in 2014 is a combination of all and it becomes perfectly closed space. This means an endless and it’s an utopia which everyone dreams of getting together. Delicate visual vibration in the picture he intended to show is mutual response with viewer. Viewer observe that triangle becomes quadrangle and polygon. Through this it makes viewer imagine various form cut and combined. Therefore, even though it’s a plane work it he leads viewer’s aggressive participation as the third dimension sculpture. These are gestalt effect. In this regard, what he really wants seems to be mutual response between viewer and artist. It’s an outstanding point when Mangold produces new work he utilize former work again. He did not only serial repeat but also repeat among works and I think it can be applied with contemporary conception. I hope his work can be observed with new views rather than standstill evaluation with existing critic views.

Finding the origin of life-centrism in East Asia, especially a longevity, you can find a harmony of the nature and mankind in Ancient Chinese myth and rarity about a idea of afterlife. In Chinese important trend, Confucianism and Taoism, their attitude to life shows a life-centrism. Confucianists' final aim at life is remaning their name in real life, so they don't care about afterlife. They put emphasis on the immortal fame and the happiness, comport in life. Taoists think the lifespan is the absolute objective because they believe the penalty for faults is lifetime shortening. The Ten Traditional Symbols of Longevity is a group of the long life stuff symbolize the longevity. The first record of them appeared in the royal paintings in Goryeo Dynasty. These symbols used in the folding screen, windows and doors in palace and expand to ordinary people because of the development of commerce after the 18th century. After that, symbols have widespread popular support so appear in the folding screen, woodcraft and embroidery. The Ten Traditional Symbols of Longevity describes the hermit's world, it contains the real organisms of sky, underwater and land. Symbols are the combination of objection to life, desire of longevity and transcendence in life. They show us the concentration of real life.

A new type of women started to appear in Germany during 1920-1930s and unlike his previous work, Klee began to create works, which related to this new type of modern woman. This paper is a study of Klee’s image of New women in the 1920-1930s, and reflects on Klee’s professional achievements and his perception of these times, based on their social background, which was reflected on the shapes of the ‘New women’ that he portrayed. The labor power shortage that resulted in the aftermath of the First World War provided women with employment opportunities and they were therefore able to actively contribute to the economy. Klee recognized the fact that the female gender role that had been limited to being a wife and mother at home, changed drastically as women participated more in politics and social activities. This was illustrated by the diverse images and activities of contemporary women in the performing arts, and portrayed in magazines, newspapers, and film. The liberation of bodies was expressed through dance or gymnastics and the social atmosphere of the time promoted the performances of modern female dancers. Consequently, there was a significant increase in the number of new women who enjoyed dancing and this led to the production of a large number of dance studios and professional dancers. Klee’s images of dancing women shown in his works at the beginning of the 1920s were formed using mysterious and erotic shapes and vibrant lines. However, towards the end of the decade, expressionistic and dark black lines were more prevalent in his dance related works. Clearly repeating straight lines and curves produced geometric and pictorial structures, which expressed perfectly the dynamic motions of dancing women. The 1920s in particular can be said to have been an innovative period of expressionistic dances, and dancers expressed the inner world of human emotions through free movements. The leaping dancers produced by Klee could also be connected to the gymnastics performed at the Bauhaus. At that time, gymnastics was seen as a link between pop culture and the practice of high class art. Overwhelmingly, many participants in gymnastics were women who embraced pop culture and saw themselves as being popular modern women. During the late 1920s, Klee focused on jumping and shifting shapes while concentrating on the creation of geometric abstraction, which meant that the geometrically simplified shapes lost their concreteness and comprised of crosses of planes. Therefore, the gymnastic rhythms that appeared in Klee’s works emphasized movements based on the geometric body shapes, which were connected to an observance of the participants in physical activities.

This study focused on the relief <Recreation of Man>(1937-1938) installed in the League of Nations’s building and the relief is the biggest work of Eric Gill. Unlike <Christ and Moneychanger>(1922-1923) in which Gill accused and directly rebuked the contradictions of society through the episode that appeared in the New Testament, <Recreation of Man> is the work of interpretation on the theme related to creation of man in the Old Testament from Gill’s view, and of Christian imagery towards the international community. Eric Gill decided the topic, to maximize both the position of the League of Nations as a leader of international order of postwar and the British government as a donor. In this process, Eric Gill was figuratively shaping Christian vision and the critical view against industrialized countries, including the United Kingdom government. Also, borrowing some of the Michelangelo’s <Creation of Adam> known in art history, he took the form of a unique three-sided altarpiece. Confirming the meaning of this work can be achieved by comprehensively analyzing the image and the inscribed sentence that can be seen in the unique method of Eric Gill. The Actual content of the religious poetry of the United Kingdom written in English and Latin, in the work, convey the idea that Eric Gill created the new world that built on the spirit of Christianity. Finally this sculpture work presents the role of the international organization called League of Nations expressed as art and, at the same time, the religious beliefs of Eric Gill about the world was manifested in the international monument.