Art Class - Rha Hye-Seok

March 24, 2021

Korea's first professional female painter and first feminist author.

She was born in 1896 and was known for her confidence, intelligence, and ambition - "qualities not typically hoped for in a young Korean woman of the era." She didn't want to be a good wife and good mother, she wanted to be an intellectual, an artist.

Her parents were fairly progressive for the time, and she went to Japan at age 18 to study at Tokyo Arts College, majoring in Western oil painting.

Hwaseong Fortress Gate in Suwan

Landscape

Harbor in Spain

Dancers

Carriage

Throughout her life, Rha became increasingly outspoken about the traditional roles of women. She published an essay titled "Thoughts on Becoming a Mother" in which she criticized her husband's lack of involvement in raising their children. She wrote articles for a women's magazine arguing for more practical and comfortable designs for women's clothing.

She had an affair which tarnished her image some, she was considered morally corrupt and promiscuous. Her lover wrote an indecent article about their relationship, and she sued him for defamation. Her husband left her and gained custody of their children. She then published "A Divorce Confession," attacking the male-oriented Korean culture. She admitted her marriage crumbled because her husband could not satisfy her sexually, and refused to even discuss it with her.

At this, people stopped buying her artwork. Discussing female sexuality was just too much for the general public. She spent her last years relying on the charity of Buddhist monasteries. She died in poverty in 1948, and the location of her grave is unknown.

Peonies of Hwayeongjeon Palace