(b Ongjin, Hwanghae Province, 1899; d Seoul, 1976). Korean painter. Under the influence of his maternal grandfather, CHO SOK-CHIN, a painter and calligrapher, he was encouraged to become a painter. In 1916 Pyon graduated from the Department of Ceramics at the Government Technical Training Centre and then became a research student with the Sohwa misulhoe (Painting and Calligraphy Arts Group). In 1922 he was selected in the oriental painting section at the first exhibition held by the Japanese-sponsored Choson misul chollamhoe (Korean Art Exhibition). In 1923, along with YI SANG-BOM, Yi Yong-u (1904–52) and No Su-hyon (1899–1980), he organized the Tong’yonsa, which became the first Korean group of traditional artists endeavouring to amalgamate East Asian and Western styles. After study in Japan (1925–9) Pyon returned to Korea to work as the secretary-general of Sohwa hyophoe (Calligraphy and Painting Association) and continued to exhibit. In 1937 he left Seoul to visit famous sites all over the country, including the Kumgang (Diamond) Mountains, where he sketched the landscape and devoted himself to the formation of a new painting style. From the latter part of the 1940s his characteristic style of wavy lines and use of Chinese ink began to emerge. While he was living in Chinju (South Kyongsang Province) in the years to 1954, he produced many paintings in ink of local landscapes, all charged with the lyricism typical of his approach. In 1954 he moved to Seoul, where he became a judge at the National Art Exhibition; however, in 1957, in common with several other artists, he turned his back on the Exhibition and until his death concentrated on his own painting styles. Taking a bird’s-eye view as his perspective and working in coarse, strong waving lines, using Chinese ink in layers and light wash colouring in brown, he painted the landscape of the Kumgang Mountains together with scenes of farms. He and Yi Sang-bom are regarded as pioneers in the modern style of painting Korean landscapes. Good examples of his work are Solitary House in a Riverside Village; Farmhouse (1957; Seoul, N. MOMA) and Autumn Colours of the Crag of the Three Immortals in the Outer Kumgang Mountains (1959; priv. col., see 1979–81 exh. cat., pl. 256). His works were signed with his pen-name (ho), Sojong.

• Pyon Kwan-sik
  • Cho Sok-chin
  • Yi Sang-bom