What would you do if you were a woman in the early 1900s who was expected to be only a mother and wife and not have any interests? What would you do? If you are Na Hye-Seok (나 혜석), you become Korea’s first professional painter and first female feminist author. 

Na was born April 18, 1896 in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. Her father was a wealthy government official and she was the third child. 

Her family was progressive and helped Na get an education. She graduated as a top student in her class in March 1913. Immediately after graduation, she entered Tokyo Women’s College of Art where she majored in Western Oil painting. 

In 1910, Korea became a Japanese colony. Korea was a conservative country, and Na went to Japan when there had a new political era had just been put into power. As a result, there was an upsurge in women’s activities. While there, she became interested in the burgeoning feminist movement. She wrote “The ideal woman” (이상적 부인) and it was published in the magazine Hakchigwang 학지광 in December 1914. She wrote against the role expectations of women and how to become the ideal women.

“Then how can we become great women? It goes without saying that we have to acquire knowledge and skills. We need to develop our abilities to take care of worldly matters with common sense, no matter what befalls us. We need to become women who possess a clear sense of purpose and a consciousness to live up to their full individual potentials. … We ought to be ideal women ourselves, who are true and powerful sources of a mysterious inner light that brightens interpersonal relationships.”

When Na finished college and returned home, she was the first female Korean painter with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She continued to publish essays and paint, and worked for a time at her alma mater. However, she had to quit due to illness.

During this time, she made her artistic debut in Korea. She contributed two of her illustrations to the newspaper Maeil sinbo. 

In March 1919, Na participated in the Independence March against Japan. She helped organize underground circles, finance activities and get female students active. She was arrested on conspiracy charges and was in jail for five months, but she was eventually released due to insufficient evidence.

On April 10, 1920, she married Kim Woo-Yong. He was a lawyer and top official in colonial Korea. He would eventually become one of the highest ranking Koreans in imperial Japan and Na was able to pursue her painting and writing, with her production of both art and writing accelerating as a result. For instance, in June 1920, she contributed an article and illustration to the journal Sinyôja. Na and Kim would eventually have three children.

Na began to promote the importance of art to Koreans and to show how not knowing art affected their lives negatively. She wrote about how art lagged behind in Korea due to the tradition of regarding art in a lowly manner. She also wrote about how women had never been encouraged develop their art talents in the first place.

On 20-21 March 1921, she had her first art show where over seventy paintings were shown. This art show was the first ever art show by a Korean in Seoul.

Later that year, her family moved to Manchuria for her husband’s appointment at the Japanese Foreign Ministry as Vice Consul of the Japanese consulate. While in Manchuria, she helped Korean underground anti-Japanese fighters obtain safe passage between Korea and China. She provided money and cover when needed, and also taught in night schools for Korean expatriates.

In 1927, Na and her husband embarked on a world tour. They travelled to places such as Germany, Poland, France, and England. While traveling, she learned more about Western cultures and the difference in husband-wife relationships. She also discovered the British women’s suffrage movement by talking with former leading member Emmeline Pankhurst. 

When she returned home from her travels, Na began experiencing conflict in her personal life. After experiencing so much freedom, she had to move back to conservative Korea and go back to how life had been before the trip. As a result, she struggled with financial difficulties, managing a large house, and taking care of small children. Her husband had quit his government job and started a law practice so they did not have the income they were used to.

A year after their return from abroad, her husband filed for divorce after he heard of an affair Na had while he was away. Their divorce was a scandal. She was driven out of her home and forbidden from seeing her children. Her own family would not take her in as they felt her divorce was an unforgivable disgrace. After leaving her house, she stayed with friends who would help her out. 

Even with the upheaval in Na’s personal life, she continued to paint and write. She won special recognition at the 10th annual National Arts Exhibition in May 1931 for her painting titled “Garden.”

In 1934, she published one of her most infamous articles called “Confessions of My Divorce.” In the article, Na discussed details of her married life, affair, and divorce and her love for her children. She also wrote about her dissatisfaction with the double standard in Korean society, where women were expected to be innocent while men did not have to worry about such stereotypes. Given Korea’s conservative attitudes, this article brought about widespread disbelief and condemnation.

Her career was never the same as a result.

Na continued to write and paint even as she fell into oblivion. Her health eventually began to deteriorate and she became partially paralyzed. The last written document, from October 1944, about her, was when she was institutionalized in a nursing home. She did not stay long and she drifted from friend to friend as she had no place to stay. She died on the 10th of December, 1948 in Seoul in a charity hospital. 

In the 1990s, Na had a resurgence and became a popular topic among women scholars in Korea. Since she was the first Korean woman to do many things, it has become vitally important to learn more about her. Her writings and paintings stand out at a time when women were expected to be “perfect.”

Na shows that women do not have to be “perfect” to make meaningful art.

References:

• Fruman, A. Seungmin. 2023. “Apollon Undergraduate Journal.” Apollon Undergraduate Journal. December 11, 2023. https://www.apollonejournal.org/apollon-journal//defining-the-ideal-woman-korean-femininity-in-occupation-era-modernisms-c-1910-1945-1.
• Hwang, Kyung Moon. 2015. “Na Hye-Seok Advocated Social Changes.” Koreatimes.co.kr. The Korea Times. May 6, 2015. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/opinion/20150506/na-hye-seok-advocated-social-changes.
• Kim, YungHee. 2002. “Creating New Paradigms of Womanhood in Modern Korean Literature: Na Hyesŏk’s ‘Kyŏnghŭi.’” Korean Studies 26 (1): 1–60. https://doi.org/10.2307/23719324.
• “Na Hye-Seok, an Artist and Women’s Rights Activist.” 2011. Kbs.co.kr. April 14, 2011. https://world.kbs.co.kr/service/contents_view.htm?lang=e&menu_cate=history&id=&board_seq=60139&page=12&board_code=korean_story.
• “Rha Hye-Seok: Korea’s Most Daring Feminist Artist.” n.d. Google Arts & Culture. https://artsandculture.google.com/story/XwXBYpagiV90JQ?hl=en.
• Suh, Jiyoung. 2013. “The ‘New Woman’ and the Topography of Modernity in Colonial Korea.” Korean Studies 37 (2013): 11–43. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24575275.