Koryo Studio Commissions
Ship Building
Linocuts, by North Korean Artist Hwang In Jae
In March 2011, Nicholas Bonner commissioned and curated a body of work from DPRK’s (North Korea’s) most prestigious art institution. The subject matter was to study ship construction and its associated industry – the ‘Ship Building’ linocut series, a North Korean art masterpiece.
In April and May 2011, seven artists went to the east coast port of Wonsan for eight days. Three of the artists then visited the nearby west seaport of Nampo for five days. They stayed in small local hotels on the seafront, following the shipbuilders and the life of the port, sketching and photographing during the day and eating fresh fish, drinking soju (rice wine) in the evening.
Unfortunately, the project was suddenly cancelled by the art studio and the reasons were never made clear. The only pieces we received were the works by Hwang In Jae, one of the most famous printmakers in North Korea and a People’s Artist..
You can read more about this ‘Art Exhibition that Never Happened‘ here.
About the artist
Hwang In Jae (1943-2015)
Linocut artist and painter
Hwang was born in Changchun City China. He studied in Pyongyang and graduated from the University of Fine Arts in 1968. He moved to the major art studio in Pyongyang in the late 1970s and was honoured with various prizes and the title of People’s Artist (the highest award).
We had the honour of working with Hwang in the last decade of his life. Certainly, a wonderfully talented artist and a great personality. His works are extremely collectable (we have several older pieces in our collection) and we were fortunate not only to be the only foreigners to commission him directly but also to receive two other bodies of work ‘Heroines and Villains’, and ‘Women at Work’.
’A number of his works are in the collection of the British Museum and ‘The Fairy of the Kumgang Mountains’ (2009) is in the Queensland Art Gallery collection (commission by Koryo Studio for the Sixth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art).
His works are also to be found in Phaidon’s publication ‘Printed in North Korea’ by Nicholas Bonner.
The photograph below of artists at the docks working on the commission in 2011.
Worker at a Port
Year: 2012
Artist: Hwang In Jae
Linoleum
Size: 78 x 62 cm
Price: 1600 EUR
ID: L006
Edition of 10
Port at Night
Year: 2012
Artist: Hwang In Jae
Linoleum
Size: 52 x 80 cm
Price: 1200 EUR
ID: L007
Edition of 10
Sunrise at the Port
Year: 2012
Artist: Hwang In Jae
Linoleum
Size: 50 x 80 cm
Price: 1200 EUR
ID: L008
Edition of 10
Fisherman
Year: 2012
Artist: Hwang In Jae
Linoleum
Size: 72 x 52 cm
Price: 1500 EUR
ID: L009
Edition of 10
Great Harvest of the Sea
Year: 2012
Artist: Hwang In Jae
Linoleum
Size: 58 x 80 cm
Price: 1800 EUR
ID: L010
Edition of 10
Shipping is charged at 80 EUR or artworks may be collected from our studio in Beijing. Art may be returned to our office within 10 days of receipt for full refund less bank charges.
