In this study, the artistic background and formative nature of representative 19th century realist artists Gustave Courbet and Honoré Daumier were analyzed and applied in a fashion context. By displaying representational desires (necessary adhesions of man and society) in their work, they became characteristic matrixes of critical realism and to perceive critical realism. The purpose of the study was to apply the characteristics of critical realism to the contemporary fashion collections of Alexander McQueen. Research was conducted to analyze the characteristics that appear in the field of fashion and to review methods of expression and internal aesthetics displayed through various aspects of fashion design. Characteristics of critical realism were analyzed by researching the formativeness and periodical background of the paintings of Courbet and Daumier. Based on these characteristics, analysis was conducted to identify critical realism in the fashion collections of Alexander McQueen. Data and scope included fashion information sites, internet photo data, and video material. Critical realist characteristics were categorized into five types as follows: ‘The proper borrowing of extremely realistic subjects signifies’, ‘satirical reconstruction and narrative composition’, ‘antipathetic distortions and abject representations’, ‘critical reproductions based on technology’, and ‘the maximization of ambivalent sexuality’. It was concluded that the characteristics of critical realism (recognized by the common formation of Courbet and Daumier) also appeared in Alexander McQueen's fashion collection but were inherited in a form that transcended pictorial expression due to the overall difference in use of visual arts.

This paper intends to examine the significance of the “Minjoong Misool(People's art)” of the 1980s emerged in Korea in its social, cultural, and art historical context. This paper also aims to provide an analysis of the meaning and form of the individual artist's works, which have been overlooked under the dominant discourse that has emphasized their political role as a collective group. In particular, this paper scrutinizes the work of “Critical Realists” by examining the way in which they perceived Korean society in the early 1980s and visualized their experiences of the period. The figurative art newly emerged in the early 1980s challenged the formalist Modernism, which was adopted into Korea and translated into monochrome paintings and the work of the conversative academicism of the 1970s. The figurative art encouraged a social communication and moreover it intended to criticize the conflicts in the political, economical, and social domains in Korea. The targets of its critique include the unavoidable results of the unprecedented development of economy, various social phenomena of the post-industrial society, and the growth of the commercialized kitsch culture. Along with Shin, Hak-chul's work that incorporates collage technique since the 1980s, the work of some members of “Reality and Utterance” and “Im- sul-nyun” exemplify their critical interests in disclosing the false dream of wealth and happiness by both referring to and drawing on the utopian fantasy manipulated and distributed by mass media and commercial advertisements. This paper pays particular attention to Nouvelle Figuration emerged in France and Europe during the 1960s, which is comparable to the new figurative art emerged in Korea during the 1980s. Nouvelle Figuration criticized the autonomy in art isolated itself from political and social reality after WWII, in particular the indifference of Informel and abstract art as well as American abstract art. Moreover it became rather politicized around May of 1968. Given that French Nouvelle Figuration was introduced in Korea in 1982 and made a significant contribution to the formation of figurative art in Korea, it should be noted that the new figurative art emerged in the 1980s in Korea cannot be categorized merely in relation to People's Art. This paper intends to critically redress the notion that People's art was formed in the particular political, economical, and cultural context of Korea independent of the contemporary artistic practices outside Korea. It will provide a critical examination and analysis of the content and form of the new figurative art, from which People's Art was germinated, in the global context.