Fig. 38. Kim Whanki (김환기 金煥基, 1913–1974). Refugee Train (피난열차), 1951. Oil on canvas, 141/2 × 201/2 in. (37 × 52 cm). Private collection Fig. 39. Chang Uc- chin (장욱진 張旭鎭, 1917–1990). Ferry Boat (나룻배), 1951. Oil on panel, 53/8 × 111/2 in. (13.7 × 29 cm). National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Lee Kun- Hee Collection Artists Kim Whanki and Chang Uc- chin explore these representation, abstraction was heralded as a language of changes in two paintings produced in 1951. In Kim’s artistic freedom. But as a Euro- American art movement, Refugee Train, against a deep blue sky, a row of train cars abstraction in the Korean context was seemingly entwined travels on tracks running along a burnished red ground with Cold War politics and the horri昀椀c realities of war. (昀椀g. 38). The cars are full, over昀氀owing with rectangular In Chang Uc- chin’s deceptively simple-looking Ferry forms topped with red and peach dots. Due to the Boat, the 昀椀ve faceless 昀椀gures can be identi昀椀ed as a abbreviated style, the cargo is not immediately identi昀椀- ferryman, a boy with a bicycle, a woman carrying a heavy able as people, though this fact is con昀椀rmed by the title. bundle atop her head, a woman clutching a parcel in her The Korean War brought about an unprecedented level of arms, and a young man with a backpack, who may be movement. Masses 昀氀ed on foot and via crammed trains the owner of the cow next to him (昀椀g. 39).�� The subjects and boats. A昀琀er the formation of the DMZ, the peninsula are in passage, despite the relatively static quality of the was a divided entity for the 昀椀rst time since the seventh composition. Read within the context of the refugee century. Partition with an impermeable border was an crisis during the Korean War and considered alongside inconceivable outcome. The numerous refugee settle- Kim Whanki’s painting, this image seems to show how ments that sprang up were thought to be temporary; those Chang too grappled with the tide of people 昀氀eeing war in who had come south would return home a昀琀er the turmoil. search of shelter, carrying their lives on their heads and But with the DMZ, movement became displacement, backs. Chang’s straightforward painting style echoes his escape became migration, and momentary separation proclamation of being a simple man, but it does not limit became permanent rupture. Small as it is, Kim’s painting his expressiveness. Through his use of simple forms, suggests the ways in which the war placed pressure Chang is also able to convey loss, isolation, and bereave- upon the language of formal abstraction. Breaking from ment without formally depicting trauma. 36