About the Artist

Chun Kyung-Ja (b. November 11, 1924 in Goheung, South Korea – d. August 6, 2015 in New York City) is the most prominent female artist of Korean modern and contemporary art history. Trained in traditional Asian painting, she developed an innovative painting style with vivid colors, strong expression, and powerful themes. Her paintings captivated the Korean people throughout her long career of seven decades, and even after her death, many regard her as kukmin hwaga, a “people’s artist.” As an artist, writer and cultural icon, she was a trailblazer and inspiration to generations.

Chun Kyung-Ja has often been described by critics as an artist who explored deep human emotions.  She is also known by the nickname of “the magician of colors” for her bold and intense color use.

She often depicted female figures and flowers, but the subject matter that launched her career in her late twenties was snakes. In 1952, during the Korean War,  her hyper-realistic painting of dozens of serpents tangled together revealed her as a deeply talented artist who is bold and unconventional.  She later said, “To survive the tragedies that happened in my personal life–the hunger and the war–I had to paint those abominable creatures. That was my scream to confirm my will to live.”   

Later she was appointed as professor of Oriental Painting at Hong-Ik University in Seoul where she taught for decades, was honored with many awards, and elected to be a member of the Korean Academy of Art. Her paintings came to be extremely popular and costly, but her relationship with gallery owners was not always smooth because she did not like selling her paintings unless she had to support her family or had other necessities.

She often spent months to finish a painting, adding layers of color and texture.  The layers on her works became thicker and more textured in the 70s and 80s. She also experimented with a variety of techniques, including scratching the surface of her paintings with sharp tools; through her intense work ethic and her consistent experimentation, she developed a truly singular style in Korean Oriental painting.

In 1991, when she was at the height of her career, a national scandal involving a forgery of her work erupted. A fake painting came into the possession of the Korean National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. The artist was appalled and insisted that the painting was not hers, citing differences in techniques and expression.  Although the museum admitted that they had never undertaken an appropriate authentication process, they collaborated with commercial dealers to launch a smear campaign against her. Always principled, she maintained to the end that the painting was a fake.

In 1998, she donated a large group of works to the Seoul City Museum of Art, and came to New York to live with one of her daughters. She passed away in 2015.

The Seoul City Museum of Art now houses her permanent exhibition, where art lovers can experience her work at any time.