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Lot Essay
Nam Kwan was already an established and influential figure in the local art scene of Korea when he left for Paris in 1955. After witnessing the tragedy of the Korean War, which lasted for three years from 1950 to 1953, Nam felt his proficient technique for figurative painting in an academic style was not sufficient to express himself in his work. He felt that this accomplishment in technique became a sort of obstacle to describe fully the cruelty of the war and in fact impeded his desire to embody his ambivalent feelings of despair and hope for the future in his art. This urgency and sincerity to find his own visual language lead him to give up his stable career and life in Korea and depart for a new environment. Nam's experimental journey for his own style of abstract painting was very fruitful. In 1956, only one year after settling in Paris, Nam was invited into the group exhibition at the Mus?e d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. From 1958, he was regularly asked to participate in the Salon de Mai, which played a central role in the art circle of Paris during the 1950s and 1960s, until his return to Korea in 1968. The Grand Prize of the Menton Biennale in 1966 is probably one of the most visible laurels Nam acquired in France.
Even during his stay in Paris from 1955 to 1968, Nam's influence never ceased in Korea. Featured here, 1963 Fête Orientale (A Festive Day) (Lot 9), received a Grand Prize at the art competition organized by the Korean Times, one of the most sought-after awards among the established artists in Korea at that time. This piece represents one of the most captivating examples of artistic abstraction in Nam's body of work. By the early 1960s in Paris, through intensive experimentation with various materials and techniques, Nam began to develop his signature style and motif: unique shapes evoking letters, historical remains, and stones. As he recalls, "I am employing old themes from my motherland-ancient remains, masks, ancient plant pattern." Unlike renowned Western calligraphy abstract paintings by Hans Hartung, Mark Tobey, and Franz Klein, who pursued free brushstrokes of spontaneous energy and action, Nam preferred to meticulously construct the canvas using architectural shapes and letters. In F?te Orientale (A Festive Day) , the first thing that impresses the viewer is the richness of surface with many layers superimposed by various techniques which produces an interesting palette that combines a balance of restrained, muted colours with flashes of strong colours. By applying elements of condensation and diffusion, Nam reflects his profound pursuit of harmony between chaos and order, memory and unconsciousness, and the organic and inorganic. Unifying the form and content, Nam successfully displays hope, the nature of existence beyond futility and the agony of life, as the title signifies. In 1968, Jean-Jacques Lévê que, one among many noted French critics who praised Nam's works wrote, "Nam seeks for the truth and perpetuity. Through his horrendous experience during the Korean War, Nam has been searching for the substance, not the incidental. It is crucial to understand that he saw rebirth and hope from death."
Even during his stay in Paris from 1955 to 1968, Nam's influence never ceased in Korea. Featured here, 1963 Fête Orientale (A Festive Day) (Lot 9), received a Grand Prize at the art competition organized by the Korean Times, one of the most sought-after awards among the established artists in Korea at that time. This piece represents one of the most captivating examples of artistic abstraction in Nam's body of work. By the early 1960s in Paris, through intensive experimentation with various materials and techniques, Nam began to develop his signature style and motif: unique shapes evoking letters, historical remains, and stones. As he recalls, "I am employing old themes from my motherland-ancient remains, masks, ancient plant pattern." Unlike renowned Western calligraphy abstract paintings by Hans Hartung, Mark Tobey, and Franz Klein, who pursued free brushstrokes of spontaneous energy and action, Nam preferred to meticulously construct the canvas using architectural shapes and letters. In F?te Orientale (A Festive Day) , the first thing that impresses the viewer is the richness of surface with many layers superimposed by various techniques which produces an interesting palette that combines a balance of restrained, muted colours with flashes of strong colours. By applying elements of condensation and diffusion, Nam reflects his profound pursuit of harmony between chaos and order, memory and unconsciousness, and the organic and inorganic. Unifying the form and content, Nam successfully displays hope, the nature of existence beyond futility and the agony of life, as the title signifies. In 1968, Jean-Jacques Lévê que, one among many noted French critics who praised Nam's works wrote, "Nam seeks for the truth and perpetuity. Through his horrendous experience during the Korean War, Nam has been searching for the substance, not the incidental. It is crucial to understand that he saw rebirth and hope from death."