Burnt Umber and Ultramarine 1978

Yun Hyong-keun created this oil on cotton work, Burnt Umber and Ultramarine. Its subdued palette and softly blurred vertical bands are suggestive of a personal engagement with the Dansaekhwa movement, or Korean monochrome painting. Born in Korea under Japanese rule, Yun Hyong-keun was later swept up in the Korean war and its aftermath. He was imprisoned for being politically left-leaning in the 1950s, and later was a victim of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. His personal history is essential to consider. The sombre tones in the work – achieved through layering thin washes of oil paint – can be seen to reflect a sense of displacement and loss. To understand such a work, we might turn to the history of Korean art institutions, the legacy of war, and the nation's evolving relationship with global modernism. Approaching art with an awareness of its social and institutional context allows us to appreciate its meanings more fully.