Resistance Hero to Get New Portrait

The portrait scroll commemorating the death of Ryu Kwan-soon (1902-1920), the late patriot who led the March 1 Independence Movement, is being changed for the first time in 20 years.

At the request of Cheonan City in South Chungcheong Province, Professor Yun Yeo-whan of the Department of Painting at the College of Fine Arts and Music at Chungnam National University recently made two new versions of the portrait scroll.

One is based on a photograph of Ryu in prison, and the other on a group photograph that was taken during her days when she attended the Ewha School.

Yun is planning to combine the two pictures for the new portrait scroll. Her face, facial outline, and nose will be from her Ewha School days before she was tortured, and her eyes and mouth will be from a picture of Ryu while in jail, because they are portrayed much clearer in it.

He plans to create a portrait of Ryu as a young girl, with her love for her country in her eyes.

Artist Woljeon Jang Woo-seong created Ryu’s previous portrait scroll that is housed in the Ryu Kwan-soon Monument. His rendition was based on a photograph of Ryu that was taken after she had been beaten, and is of a middle-aged woman with a sad expression on her face.

Due to reports saying that Ryu always wore white, the color of her skirt will be changed from black to white. She will also be shown wearing traditional Korean shoes instead of the rubber shoes she wears in Chang’s portrait because rubber shoes did not exist back then.

Yun’s work was first reviewed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on December 1, 2005. He is planning to complete the portrait scroll around October after more ministry reviews.

Myung-Hun Jee mhjee@donga.com