North Korean art makes impression in China
Beijing has a growing number of art galleries featuring North Korean works. The Beijing Mansudae Art Gallery houses a large collection of oil, ink and water colour paintings from one of the most secretive countries in the world. Apart from sceneries and landscapes, the collection also includes pieces that depict everyday life in North Korea.
With little exposure to the outside world, North Korean art and painting have often been described as pure, and faces little outside contemporary influence whether in terms of style, colour or technique. The pieces were acquired by its North Korean owner Kim Song-mi. “In North Korea, artists do not have their art studios. Most of them graduated from Pyongyang Fine Arts University. They are assigned to art studios or other government departments where they receive a monthly salary.
Their works belong to the work units, and not to the individual,” said Song Lian, Beijing Mansudae Art Gallery. North Korean artists have to abide by the country’s strict political philosophy. This means that only socialist realism themes are allowed, while abstract art is banned. Socialist realism first became popular in the 1940s when it was first imported to North Korea by painters who studied in the then Soviet Union.