Hye-sok Na (1896 - abt. 1948)

Born 28 Apr 1896 in Suwon, Incheon-bu, Joseon

Died about 10 Dec 1948 at about age 52 in Wonhyoro-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Korea

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Biography

Na Hye-sok Na is Notable.

Na Hye-sŏk was a pioneering Korean feminist writer and painter. Her art name was Jeongwol. She created some of the earliest Western-style paintings in Korea, and published feminist novels and short stories.^[1]

Na Hye-sŏk [나혜석] was born 28 April 1896 in Suwon, Incheon, now Korea. Her parents were Na Bi-jeong and Choi Si-ui. She was a member of the Naju Na clan. During her childhood, she went by the names Na Ah-ji (나아지; 羅兒只) and Na Myeong-sun (나명순; 羅明順). Hye-seok is the name given to her when she started attending High School.^[1]

She graduated from high school in 1913, top student in her class. She wanted to be a painter and an intellectual, rejecting the traditional "Good Wife, Wise Mother" archetype.^[1]

At that time, Korea was a Japanese colony. After graduation at age 17, Na entered the Tokyo Women's College of Arts to major in Western oil painting. Tokyo at that time was the scene of an upsurge in women's public activities, and promotion of gender equality. Na Hye-sok became involved with this movement when she arrived in Japan.^[2] Her major written work, Kyonghui (경희), published in 1918, concerns a woman's self-discovery and her subsequent search for meaning in life as a "new woman;" it is the first feminist short story in Korean literature.^[1]

Na Hye-sŏk married Kim U-yong on 10 April 1920.^[2] They had four children, with daughter Kim Na-yŏl born 29 April 1921, and sons Kim Sŏn born in 1924, Kim Chin born 19 Dec 1926, and Kim Kŏn born 20 June 1929.^[2](p.56)

Na gained national visibility as a painter at her first art show in March 1921 in Seoul. This was the first art show by a Korean in Seoul, and was also by a woman.^[2]

She and family accompanied her husband to Manchuria in September 1921, where he was appointed as vice consul of the Japanese consulate. She accompanied her husband on a world tour in 1927. She decided to stay in Paris, France for a year to study painting, while her husband studied law. They returned to Korea, via a four month visit of the United States, arriving in Pusan in 1929.^[2]

While in Paris, she had an affair with Ch'oe Rin, the Ch'ondogyo leader. Subsequently, after returning to Korea, her husband divorced her on 20 November 1930. ^[2]

Although Na continued to paint and contribute articles to magazines, the opportunities decreased in part because of her reputation now in the conservative culture of the time. After 1938, her health began to deteriorate. She had no means of support and relied on the goodwill of friends. She was present in a nursing home in Seoul in October 1944, but left after a short stay. It is believed that Na Hye-sŏk died in a charity hospital in Seoul on 10 December 1948.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Wikipedia:Na Hye-sok
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6} "Creating New paradigms of Womanhood in modern Korean literature: Na Hye-sŏk's "Kyŏnghŭi" ", by Yung-Hee Kim. Korean Studies, Volume 26, Number 1 (2002), pages 1-60. Available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/23719324

See also:

• Wikidata: Item Q466477, en:Wikipedia
• Na Hye-sŏk iltaegi: Emi nun sŏngakcha yŏnnunira, by Yi Ku-yŏl (Tonghwa Ch'ulp'ansa, 1974), biography of Na.
• Ingan uro salgosipta: yŏngwŏnhan sinyŏsŏng Na Hye-sŏk, by Yi Sang-gyŏng (Hangilsa, 2000), biography of Na.