Rha-hyeseok Museum of Art

Editor by Youvin Choi

Known as Rha-hyeseok's Self-Portrait, the painting is a portrait of a woman full of screens. The dark background, clothes, and black hair create a dark and heavy atmosphere as a whole. Only the face, neck, and hands are emphasized in bright colors, in contrast to the dark background, and the gloomy and lonely expression adds to the overall subdued atmosphere. The features were described as strong, exaggerated, Western-looking with large eyes and a high nose. Due to this Western women's mask, there is a controversy in academia over whether it is Rha-hyeseok's "self-portrait." However, it can be seen as a portrait that clearly reveals the author's psychological state regardless of whether it is him or not. The resigned expression and firm gaze express the author's psychological and emotional state along with the contrast of the light and dark on the screen.

The year this work was produced is not clear, but it seems to reflect the influence of the new art trend centered on Paris, France, as he traveled around the world in the late 1920s and toured various countries for about a year and eight months. During her stay in Paris, Rha-hyeseok sympathized with the Beast Wave style of intense brushwork and free color, which is in fact well illustrated in this work, which is characterized by simplifying, flattening, and active brushwork, away from the reproducible human portrayal. Rha-hyeseok was the first female Western artist in Korea to study at a girls' art school in Tokyo in 1913 and graduated in 1918. Unlike the first generation of Western painters such as Ko Hui-dong, Kim Kwan-ho, and Kim Chan-young who quit painting shortly after returning home or turned to oriental painting, she continued to work passionately after returning home.

It is a portrait in which the pioneering self-consciousness of Korea's first female Western artist is well revealed along with expressive painting style, and has great historical meaning and art history value.