Manual Woodcut

Created before the 8th century in Korea the manual woodcut has been handed down until today, making a contribution to the development of the nation's fine arts. It is a form of woodcut by which pictures are manually made from woodblocks. Based on the principle of depiction of the Korean painting manual wood-block prints are clear and mild in colour, and feel clean and fresh.

Korea's manual black ink-based woodcuts, the earliest in the world, were created in the period of the Three Kingdoms, and a lot of similar works were produced in the period of both the Koryo dynasty (918-1392) and the feudal Joson dynasty (1392-1910).

In the 19th century Pyongyang in Spring, the first coloured woodcut, was created, and many other similar works were created. Typical of them are Outing (1956), Haircut (1962) and The Revolutionary Army Has Come (1971).

Like other prints, you can make a manual woodcut through such processes as drawing an original picture, engraving it on a woodblock and impressing the block on paper. In the course of this, the relevant technique is applied to create its unique formative depiction.

The woodcuts with a long history inspire people with diversified and delicate aesthetic feelings and national sentiments and help them improve their cultural attainments.

In Korea education in the technique of manual woodcut and creation of the woodcuts are becoming active, and the technique is developing.

Pyongyang in Spring, a coloured woodblock print