Presentation
Born in South Korea in 1940, during the Japanese occupation, Kim En Joong will experience the war of the two Koreas, communism, deprivation. His father, a calligrapher, raises his eight children in the Taoist tradition.
In 1956, his decisive encounter with a professor of calligraphy oriented him to the graphic arts, he returned to the School of Fine Arts in Seoul and parallel courses in French provided by the foreign mission. Soon he made the conscious choice to study Western painting, and was interested in Impressionism, Cubism and Abstract Art.
During those years, as he painstakingly painted to support himself, he became a professor of drawing at the Catholic Seminary in Seoul. He discovers the Catholic religion, its rites, the liturgy, peace and silence of the parish church of Hai Wha. The message first blurred, will become quickly accurate. Kim En Joong asks and receives the baptism in 1967.
Then Kim realizes his dream, he goes to Switzerland to study the history of art, then theology and metaphysics. His meeting with the Dominicans strengthened his vocation and on August 4, 1970, Kim En Joong dressed for the first time the white coat of the Friars Preachers, his priestly ordination will take place four years later. He will be assigned to the convent of the Annunciation in Paris, which will become, and still is, his place of community life and artist.
If he has already exhibited in Seoul, during his studies at the Beaux-Arts, it is at the gallery Massol, in Paris in 1973, he exhibited his first works in black and white and he succeeds over the years to reconcile his two vocations, encouraged by both his Order and art critics. He is called "painter of the white" or "painter of the light".
In 1976, Kim made her first visit to Vence, near the Maeght Foundation, as a chaplain to nuns. It has a small workshop, garden shed. He will return to this place every summer.
The horizon seems to clear: Kim's path crosses the borders of France: the galleries Pauli in Lausanne, Mée in Seoul, Artes in Oslo, Kutter in Luxembourg, Hannan Feldmann in Berne, Guillaume Daeppen in Frankfurt welcome the man in white.
Then the artist abandons acrylic for oil painting and realizes large formats where the whites fade, where the colors assert themselves delicately.
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In 1956, his decisive encounter with a professor of calligraphy oriented him to the graphic arts, he returned to the School of Fine Arts in Seoul and parallel courses in French provided by the foreign mission. Soon he made the conscious choice to study Western painting, and was interested in Impressionism, Cubism and Abstract Art.
During those years, as he painstakingly painted to support himself, he became a professor of drawing at the Catholic Seminary in Seoul. He discovers the Catholic religion, its rites, the liturgy, peace and silence of the parish church of Hai Wha. The message first blurred, will become quickly accurate. Kim En Joong asks and receives the baptism in 1967.
Then Kim realizes his dream, he goes to Switzerland to study the history of art, then theology and metaphysics. His meeting with the Dominicans strengthened his vocation and on August 4, 1970, Kim En Joong dressed for the first time the white coat of the Friars Preachers, his priestly ordination will take place four years later. He will be assigned to the convent of the Annunciation in Paris, which will become, and still is, his place of community life and artist.
If he has already exhibited in Seoul, during his studies at the Beaux-Arts, it is at the gallery Massol, in Paris in 1973, he exhibited his first works in black and white and he succeeds over the years to reconcile his two vocations, encouraged by both his Order and art critics. He is called "painter of the white" or "painter of the light".
In 1976, Kim made her first visit to Vence, near the Maeght Foundation, as a chaplain to nuns. It has a small workshop, garden shed. He will return to this place every summer.
The horizon seems to clear: Kim's path crosses the borders of France: the galleries Pauli in Lausanne, Mée in Seoul, Artes in Oslo, Kutter in Luxembourg, Hannan Feldmann in Berne, Guillaume Daeppen in Frankfurt welcome the man in white.
Then the artist abandons acrylic for oil painting and realizes large formats where the whites fade, where the colors assert themselves delicately.
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When was Eun Joong Kim born?
The year of birth of the artist is: 1940