Na Hye-sok

Na Hye-Sok
Born	18 April 1896(1896-04-18) Suwon, Gyeonggi, South Korea
Died	10 December 1948(1948-12-10) (aged 52) Seoul, South Korea
Occupation	Feminist, writer, painter
Nationality	Korean Empire, Korea
Period	1896-1946
Genres	Poetry, novel, essay, drama
Influenced New Woman, Fauvism, Post-Impressionism, Akiko Yosano, Raicho Hiratsuka

This is a Korean name; the family name is Na.

Na Hye-sok (羅蕙錫, Hangul: 나혜석, 1896–1946) was a Korean feminist writer and painter. She was the first female Korean artist of Western painting and the second Korean artist who held an oil painting exhibition. She became well-known as a liberal feminist with her criticism against the marital institution in the early 20th century.

Early life

Hyeseok Na was born in 1896 in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province as the fourth child of a wealthy family. She was called Agi (Hangul: 아기) and Myeong-soon (Hangul: 명순) her childhood. Hye-sok is the name given to her as she started attending Jin Myeong Girl's High School. Na demonstrated her artistic talent from her early age and graduated at the top of her class at Jin Myeong Girl's High School in 1913.^[1] Encouraged by her brother, Na entered Tokyo Women's Art College in Japan and studied western painting, which was thought impossible for a woman in men-centered Joseon society.

Career

Na Hye-sok (1896–1946) was a pioneering Korean feminist writer and painter. She was the first female professional painter and the first feminist writer in Korea.^[2] She created some of the earliest Western paintings in Korea, and published feminist novels and short stories.^[3][4] Her major written work, Kyonghui, published in 1918, concerns a woman's self-discovery and her subsequent search for meaning in life as a "new woman;" it is the first feminist short story in Korean literature.^[4][5]

After her graduation from Chinmyong Girls' High School in 1913, Na majored in Western oil painting at Tokyo Arts College.^[6] In April 1915, Na became the main organizer of the Association of Korean Women Students in Japan. It was around this time that she fell in love with Ch'oe Sung-gu, a student at Keio University and the then editor and publisher of the magazine Hakchigwang. The relationship between Na and Ch'oe was highly publicized among Korean students in Japan, as was Na's close literary and personal association with Yi Kwang-su. In the spring of 1915, Na's father summoned her back home and pressured her to accept a marriage proposal from a well-established family; Na was able to escape this by finding a teaching position in a primary school, according to her later account. After a year of teaching and saving money for her tuition, Na returned to Tokyo toward the end of 1915 to resume her studies. In April 1916, however, Ch'oe sung-gu died of tuberculosis, and Na had to temporarily stop her studies while recovering from a mental breakdown.^[5]

In 1920, Na Hye-sok, along with Kim Won-ju and ten men, established the literary magazine P-yeho.^[7] Early in the 1920s, both Kim and Na contributed a series of articles to the first magazine for Korean women, called "Sinyoja," on the subject of improving Korean women's clothing. They argued for a more functional and practical outfit for Korean women to help improve their hygiene, health, and self-image, and denounced traditional Korean dresses which were designed with no consideration for women's physical comfort, protection, and convenience.^[6]

Personal life

Na Hye-sok's husband divorced her on grounds of infidelity.^[3][6] It is not known whether she truly was unfaithful; her diary shows that up to her late thirties she tried hard to remain loyal to traditional Korean wifely and maternal roles in spite of the many humiliations and frustrations of her unhappy marriage. In any case, she came to be thought of and stigmatized as a woman who used her artistic pretensions as an excuse for sexual abandon. She is believed to have died on the street as a beggar. Her fate was often used to scold young Korean woman who had literary or artistic ambitions; "Do you want to become another Na Hye-sok?" was a frequent reprimand to daughters and younger sisters.^[3][8] However, she has recently been acknowledged in Korea for her artistic and literary accomplishments. For example, Seoul Arts Center opened a retrospective exhibition of her works in 2000.^[3]

Works

Works in English

Kyonghui (At Highbeam, so requires subscription)

Works in Korean (Partial)

Kyonghui

References

1. ^ Kim, H. J. (2002). The life and paintings of Rah, Hye-Suk. (Masters Thesis). Kyonggi University, South Korea.
2. ^ Places at the Table - Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Times Weekender; Na Hye-Sok Lived Flamboyant Life to Tragic End. - Korea Times (Seoul, Korea) | HighBeam Research - FREE trial
4. ^ ^{a b} Korean Studies, Volume 26 - Table of Contents
5. ^ ^{a b} Creating new paradigms of womanhood in modern Korean literature: Na Hye-sok's "Kyonghui".(Critical Essay) - Korean Studies | HighBeam Research - FREE trial
6. ^ ^{a b c} http://eng.buddhapia.com/_Service/_ContentView/ETC_CONTENT_2.ASP?PK=0000594132&danrak_no=&clss_cd=0002134733&top_menu_cd=0000000808
7. ^ Chronology of women's history - Google Books
8. ^ Most Feminine and Feminist

Persondata
Name	Na, Hye-Sok
Alternative names
Short description	Writer and painter
Date of birth	1896
Place of birth	Suwon, Gyeonggi, South Korea
Date of death	1946
Place of death	Seoul, South Korea