1930년대 조선과 야나기 무네요시(柳宗悅)의 ‘민예’

The Movement of Yanagi Muneyoshi"s MINGEI and Chosun in the 1930s

  This paper examines the procedure of recognition and acceptance of the Yanagi"s MINGEI Movement in Chosun during the 1930s. Unlike the 1920s when the movement spreaded at the level of ordinary people with the help of the educated, the remarkable characteristic of the 1930s is that it was developed by the Chosun Government-general[ruled by the imperialist Japan]. That is, the policy of MINGEI of Chosun Industrial Art was carried out through "Chosun Art Exhibition".   "MINGEI" originally means the subversion, the attempt to weaken or destroy a political system or a government. First, it subverts of "beauty", and second, it includes the subversion of masterly society. But, there is some differences between the meaning of subversion in the MINGEI and the intention of encouraging MINGEI by the Chosun Government -general. The government of imperialist Japan regarded Chosun as one of the provinces of Japan and they tried to industrialize Chosun Industrial Art objects by developing the Industrial Art objects as MINGEI products with plenty of local color.   While MINGEI is considered as a branch which differ from Academism in Japan, it can be thought as a main stream developed by the government in Korea. Thus, the meaning of subversion against masterly society is excluded in the MINGEI Movement in Korea, and it was accepted passively as a form of MINGEI with local color in Korea.