Abstract:
From the late nineteenth century, works inspired by Western art spread to China and Korea through Japan. Thus, Western art came to be accepted in China and Korea as a reinterpretation of Japan’s development of Western art, rather than a direct transmission from Western sources. This act of reinterpretation went on to have a lasting effect on the practice of Western-style painters in East Asia with their own acceptance modes. This thesis provides a study of self-portraits and nude paintings, two categories of painting without precedent in East Asia prior to the late nineteenth century, created by Kuroda Seiki, Li Shutong, Go Hui-dong, and Kim Gwan-ho in order to illustrate how East Asian countries established their own versions of modern art.