The Directive Functions of The Korean Images in the Colonial Period (1910∿1945) : On Japanese Painters' Works in Kanten

Abstract

This paper focuses on the images of Korea represented in winning pieces of works by Japanese artists at the Kanten (Japanese governmental Exhibition) during the colonial period (1910-1945). This paper has two main objectives. The first is to examine how Korea was represented during this time. The second is to consider what kinds of directive/active functions such images exerted toward Japanese viewers, and to make clear the characteristics of colonial art. This paper claims that three images of Korea were created at different periods and that each image had its own individual function to Japanese viewers under various political situations. In other words, the first period (Japanese Force Policy 1910-1921) was symbolized by <A Korean Wayside Inn> by Bunto Oka, which depicted Koreans as inferior people and had the function of inducing the colonization of Korea ; the second (Japanese cultural policy 1922-1936) was represented by <Holiday> by Toshio Yamamoto, which expressed Korean people as strange and had the function of advising or warning Japanese to guard themselves against Koreans ; the last and third (Japanization 1937-1944) was represented by <Crossroad> by Masa Kawasaki and <Paradise> by Kyouchyu Suda, both of which depicted Koreans as powerful and had the function of propagandizing Japanese to war.