A Korean Female Artist, the Pioneer Hae-Seok Rah

Miwon Choe

Miwon Choe Western Kentucky University

Abstract

A personal story is a powerful tool. It validates womenâ€™s ability to draw upon their tacit knowledge and intuition to explain experiences as well as answer questions that have personal meaning to them. This is a story of Hae-Seok Rah, the first Korean female artist of Western painting in the 1920s. She introduced Western painting to Korea during a time of upheaval and transition in modern Korean history. Through the fifty years of Hae-Seokâ€™s life, she wrote numerous articles promoting a modern education and an equal opportunity for Korean women. Sadly, Hae-Seokâ€™s story is one of resistance to societal oppression and prejudice against a talented, strong, and independent woman. It is also the story of her empowerment through her struggles as an artist, writer, and feminist ahead of her time.

Author Biography

Miwon Choe, Western Kentucky University

Miwon Choe, Ph.D., is assistant professor of art education in the Department of Art at Western Kentucky University. She coordinates and teaches undergraduate and graduate art courses in methods and materials, art education history, non-studio approach to art education, and contemporary issues of art education. Her research has involved a field study in Cuba entitled Cross-cultural Studies of Cuban Art: Implications for Art Education, as well in the areas of professional development, and art as metaphor of personal experience. She has served as assistant editor of Teaching Voices, the newsletter of the United States Society of Education Through the Arts.

Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to the author at miwon.choe@wku.edu