culture

The national calligraphy festival and fine art exhibition for aged artists opened at the Pyongyang International House of Culture on April 9 in celebration of the 113th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung.

Strokes carry meanings

More than 250 calligraphic pieces are put on display at the national calligraphy festival.

Such pieces as “Eternal leader of the Korean people” and “We miss you, leader” leave deep impression on visitors as they represented the profound reverence and ardent yearning for President Kim Il Sung.

And calligraphers represented the pulse of the times and their excitement, pride and self-esteem by writing “A new history of creation and change” and “My powerful country” with powerful and slanting brushstrokes.

 “A new golden age of Pyongyang” is elegant and refined as the formative representation of strokes are in line with the meaning of the writing and the work is replete with emotion and sentiment.

The calligrapher selected a rising geometrical structure going well with the content of the writing signifying Pyongyang that has greeted a golden age through construction and adopted quick strokes to produce the sentiments of changing times.

Many exhibits reflect the dignity and pride of working and living in the country of independence that nobody dare provoke, a powerful socialist country with a rosy future, which advances and develops vigorously by dint of self-reliance, and the courageous mettle and indomitable fighting spirit to perform new miracles and achieve only victories under the leadership of the great Party,

Children’s works also draw the attention of visitors as they represented the happy looks of kindergartners and pupils growing healthily thanks to the benefits of the country.

Pak Jin Song, a seven-year-old boy at the Wonsan Orphanage, presented a calligraphic work “The orphanage is our home”.

He wrote the letters “orphanage” in comparatively short and thick strokes to give a comfortable and stabilized sense and the letters “our home” in large and bold strokes to produce the feeling of love and affection. Visitors highly appreciated the talents of the young calligrapher as they saw the work. 

Fine art exhibition eulogizes times

After seeing calligraphic pieces, visitors enter the venue of fine art exhibition for aged artists.

On display at the exhibition are more than 50 pieces of works, including Korean painting, oil painting and painting drawn with gold paint, which were created by old artists in reflection of their boundless respect for President Kim Il Sung and the Korean people’s deep admiration for the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un. 

Entering the venue of the exhibition, visitors can see oil painting “President Kim Il Sung’s old home at Mangyongdae” drawn by People’s Artist Ri Kum Suk (aged 76). “I still vividly remember my young days when I would visit President Kim Il Sung’s birthplace at Mangyongdae in the flowering season of April. I painted the President’s old home which has been visited by our people for decades,” she said.

Several works on the theme of Mangyongdae where all kinds of flowers are in full bloom are on display, including oil painting “Mangyongdae in spring” created by So Ki Un, a PhD in his 80s.

Korean painting “The pulse of Sangwon” also leaves deep impression on the visitors.

The artist, who portrayed the panoramic view of the Sangwon Cement Complex seething with an increased production drive, is a war veteran. Though in an advanced age of over 90, he went to the cement complex to represent the workers of Sangwon, who are working hard upholding the grand construction plan of the Workers’ Party, and completed the work with much effort.

Korean paintings “A new fairyland of rejuvenation” and “Sinpho in the morning” vividly represented the regional development policy which the Party pushes ahead to realize the centuries-old desire of the regional people and their ever-growing joy.

Korean jewel painting “‘Family members’ on the increase” created by Sin Pong Hwa shows a boy and pretty young goats in a new modern rural village done in a bright mood. And Korean painting “Our teacher” perfectly represented an age of educational development through the portrayal of pupils wearing new school uniforms and carrying new bags and a woman teacher piggybacking a schoolgirl.

Visitors said that through the works, they could see an era of creation and change, an era of overall rejuvenation in which the people’s ideals are realized.

At the exhibition, works reflecting the past era, as well as the present era, were also exhibited.

A work portraying a ploughed field against the background of a river and mountain where new buds are sprouting, a post in the field bearing the name of its owner and 3 000 phyong,  a bride standing shyly in the centre of the painting and a bridegroom drinking water from a jar without wiping heavy sweat perfectly reflects the happy Korean people who were filled with the joy of national liberation and grateful for the land reform. 

Korean painting “Soksa-ri in autumn night” shows villagers who turned out in the assistance of the Korean People’s Army at a moon-lit autumn night done in a bright and smart mood. It well reflects the indomitable faith and optimism of the Korean people who were hastening the day of victory in the great Fatherland Liberation War united in one mind.

“This exhibition is a very impressive show, I think. The exhibits tell me that the people came to enjoy happiness thanks to the people-oriented policy of the Party and the state and only when they pool their minds and efforts and support the country’s policy, can they lead a happy life,” said Kim Song U, staffer of the Central Industrial Design Administration, after looking round the venue of the exhibition.