- Title
- Hangang River, Seoul Korea 1958
- Culture
- Korean
- Date Made
- Post 1945, 1958, printed 2019
- Medium
- Toned gelatin silver print
- Dimensions
- 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.64 cm)
Image: 18 × 12 in. (45.72 × 30.48 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2019.232.16
- Collecting Area
- Chinese and Korean Art
- Curatorial Notes
During a time when photography was used primarily as documentation for newspaper reportage, Han Young-soo captured Seoul’s rapid transformation from war-torn city to modern metropolis in the 1950s and 1960s—a critical transitional period leading up to Korea’s first democracy. Han’s street portraits, taken with two Leica cameras that always hung around his neck (at a time when owning a camera was rare), show an impeccable eye for social detail and the serendipitous moment. Infused with optimism, his images established a unique style of portraying everyday Koreans, old and young, as they were, and not as a victimized people. Photo critics have noted the humanist sensibility shared with André Kertész, Robert Doisneau, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, as well as “uncanny overlaps” with the photographic work of Constructivist Alexander Rodchenko. Here, a young girl tends to a child on the banks of the Han River while women do their washing in the background. Leaning toward the toddler, the girl balances herself and her umbrella with acrobatic skill on the balls of her feet.
Virginia Moon
2021
