김종영과 서울대학교

Abstract

Kim Chong Yung was born in 1915 in Changwon Kyungnam as the first son of a rich farmer. He visited Whimoon high school, where he met Chang Bal, later to become his teacher and longtime mentor. He studied sculpture at the Tokyo Art School (1938-41) in Japan. Until 1948, when he was appointed to be a professor at Seoul National University, Kim had been hiding in his hometown to avoid the compulsory service imposed by the Japanese government-general and the chaotic political situation in the just-liberated Korea. In the university he served as a professor in the Department of Sculpture and as the third Dean, and tried to produce many artists of distinguished talent until his retirement in 1980. In addition, he played an important role at the Korea National Art Exhibition as a judge a position he held 18 times. He is today regarded as a pioneer of Korean contemporary art. The Seoul National University was founded according to the bill for the establishment of a national university, on August 22, 1946. e College of Art was newly organized and integrated into the University. e relationship between Kim and the university was indivisible. He was a founding member of the institute, although his appointment came two years later. Together with Chang Bal, who introduced the American educational system for the new college, Kim made preparations for the modern curriculum. In those times, contemporary art began to directly influence the Korean art world. In 1953, namely during the war time, Kims work was awarded at the international competition in London for Monument for the Anonymous Political Prisoner. It was the first time in Korean art history that a Korean artist won official recognition from the international art society. Kim was probably stimulated by the actual trends in the catalogue he received from that competition. Since then he tried to produce modern sculptures. However, factors of producing modern sculptures can also be found in other places. One was the exhibition 8 Contemporary Artists of the U.S.A, which took place in 1957, and the other was an exchange exhibition between Seoul National University and Minnesota University during the same period. In light of this, Kim Chong Yung understood what came together, and thought seriously about the direction that Korean art should go. Kims works, Bird of 1953 and Legend of 1958, are regarded as signals for the opening of abstract sculpture in Korea. Above all, Legend was more noticeable, because it was made just when the abstract expressionism from the U.S. was regarded as the most contemporary style and influenced the Korean art world strongly. e work is a welded sculpture. Kim gathered scrap metal and made a form resembling a gate through welding. It shows a rough and accidental form and evokes a pathetic sense. He was not the first sculptor in Korea to use metal for his work, but was among others, such as Kim Jeong Sook, and Song Young Soo, who was his student. His art theory was based on traditional Taoism, and interpreted the modernism of Western art autonomously. Despite his intellectual thoughts on art, there were almost no theoretical lectures or books that delivered his idea and theory to his students. e only information available is the references he gave intermittently. For example, there is a quotation from Kim Chong Yung: Generally the making and the reflection are sufficient to instruct artists. e only way to humility, timidness and virtue of humans is the making. To Kim Chong Yung, art was not simply to produce a beautiful thing, but to train ethical attitudes through the act of making. His education of art transcended the style, formality or subject of the work. He established art as practical ethics and such education became an ethical guide for his students and himself during the worst political and economical situations of his time. Kim did not force his style and method upon others, but rather, he encouraged his students to create their work with passion for life and endeavor for making. It may be fairly said that he was the Socrates of modern art history in Korea. Although he did not establish or reform the institutions, education and exhibition system, Kim, as one of the founding professors, gave lectures on modern art and educated many students. Preferably, he did his best in the definite school system. Despite such positive evaluation, he also had responsibility for the situation in which the academic tradition of Seoul National University could not overcome the past Japanese one. In fact, the University made it even more solid. Consequently, the status and contribution of Kim could be devaluated. In view of his very temperate attitude and life path, we can say that though his influence on the Korean art world was not remarkable, he did stand at the center of development of the art institution.

1915년 6월 26일 경남 창원에서 출생한 김종영은 휘문고를 나와 일본 동경미술 학교에서 조각을 수학하고 돌아와 서울대학교에 재직하며 조각미술의 발전에 전념했던 조각가이자 미술교육자이다. 그는 1982년 12월 15일 67세의 나이로 타계하기 전까지 김종영은 서울대학교 미술대학 조소학과의 교수로 재직하면 서 한국현대조각계를 이끌어나갈 수많은 조각가들을 배출하였다. 그가 지닌 한국현대미술사 내에서의 입지에도 불구하고, 김종영에 대한 인지도는 동시대 다 른 조각가들에 비하면 상대적으로 낮다. 그와 함께 현대조각을 선도했던 김경승과 윤효중은 물론, 그가 배출했던 김세중, 송영수, 최종태 등과 비교해도 김종영 에 대한 대중적 인식이나 미술계 내의 지명도는 낮다고 하겠다. 그것은 그의 예 술인생과 교수로서의 삶이 긍정적이든 부정적이든 간에 주목할 만한 이슈를 불러일으키지 못한 점도 있지만, 무엇보다 그가 취했던 중도적 태도에 기인한다고 볼 수 있다. 졸고는 서울대학교 미술대학의 초기 역사 속에서 김종영의 예술과 교육행적을 고찰함으로써, 역사적 인물로서 김종영의 가치를 밝히려고 한다. 김종영은 1948년에 서울대학교에 교수로 임용되었으며, 1980년 정년퇴임 할 때까지 33년 간을 서울대학교 미술대학 조소학과에 봉직하였다.1 이 재직기 간은 한국현대미술이 일제지배시의 근대주의를 벗어나 현대를 거쳐 후기현대 로 이행하는 시기에 해당한다. 그러므로 그는 이 현대미술의 중심에서 활동하며, 현대미술을 견인했던 중추적인 인물이었다고 할 수 있다. 그는 고등학교 동 문이자 함께 동경에 유학했으며, 서울대학교의 동료로서 오랜 동안 친분을 유지했던 박갑성을 이어 서울대학교 미술대학의 제3대 학장을 역임했다.2 대외적 으로도 김종영의 활동은 주목할 만하다. 그는 대한민국미술대전(이하 국전)에서 무려 18회나 심사위원을 역임하였다. 이 기록은 한국의 미술가 중에서 김종 영과 김경승만이 보유한 최다기록이다. 김종영은 또한 한국미술협회의 대표위원을 지냈으며, 한국디자인센터 이사장을 지내기도 하였다. 1976년에는 대한민국예술원회원으로 선출되었다.