Woman

During the 1990s Cho Duckhyun produced a series of works focusing on Korean women. He found images of women in faded old photographs and transcribed them in black and white. Cho did not use mechanical or electronic means to transfer the images, but rendered every small detail on canvas with charcoal and Conté crayon. In this work Cho's subject appears to be a courtesan. She sits on a stylish Western chair and holds a Korean stringed instrument (yanggeum). Her hairpin, the ornaments (norigae) on the front of her jacket, and her silk shoes are meticulously painted, as are such details in other works that Cho adapted from old photographs. The floral patterns on the carpet have a cloudlike appearance, which invites viewers to focus on the background, which looks like a distant sky and adds a sense of mystery to the work. Here Cho seems to have transformed a faded photograph into a document of the somewhat mistfilled history of Korean women.