Park Su-geun

Park Su-geun (February 21, 1914 – May 6, 1965) was a Korean painter.

Hailing from Yanggu County, Gangwon Province, South Korea Park attended Yanggu Public Elementary School when he was younger, and then taught himself painting as was a teenager. In 1932, he made his debut in painting circles with his work titled 'Spring Is Gone' when it was selected for the 11th annual Seonjeon painting contest. Park ended up being selected a total of eight times in the contest until 1944. In 1953, he participated in the 2nd annual National Art Exhibition and won 1st place. Soon after, he became a full-time painter and won numerous prizes on ten occasions. In 1959, he got a recommendation from the National Art Exhibition and served on the screening committee during the early 1960s.

In 1963, Park lost his sight in one of his eyes due to a cataract, and died of liver cirrhosis at the age of 52 in 1965. For much of his life Park struggled with poverty and loneliness but during the 1980s, he was posthumously awarded the Eun-gwan (silver crown) of Order of Culture Merit.

He predominantly used a light gray color, to depict simple yet Korea-like themes in a folklore sense, and is evaluated to have used the Korean folklore themes, in a common, yet outstandingly creative manner amongst all the Korean artists.

His work is kept in a variety of museums, including the University of Michigan Museum of Art[1][2] and the USC Pacific Asia Museum.[3]