Exhibition raises question: Who took these photos?

Children in hanbok, traditional Korean attire, play in a street in Seoul in this 1948 photo taken by an unknown photographer. Courtesy of Noonbit Publishing

Gallery owners piece together information to identify unknown photographer of 35 photos on display

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Dozens of old photos taken in 1948 are on display in a dimly lit gallery in Insa-dong, Seoul. Under those images hung on the wall, stacks of photo books published by Noonbit Publishing are placed on a long, narrow table in the center of Gallery INDEX.

The photography exhibition ― together with this "small book fair" ― are called, "That Winter Was Warm," when directly translated into English. It is the gallery's first exhibition since its current owners, Lee Kyu-sang and his wife Ahn Mi-sook, purchased the space from an acquaintance last year.

It would have been a typical exhibition showcasing vintage photos if not for the missing information about their author. Nobody knows who took the photos.

"I'm curious about the unknown photographer and would like to know about the person," Lee, also the founder and president of Noonbit Publishing, said on Tuesday.

Lee Kyu-sang, left, founder and president of Noonbit Publishing, and his wife Ahn Mi-sook, director of Gallery INDEX, look at photobooks on display at their gallery in Insa-dong, Seoul, on Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Lee's ties with these photos go back 15 years, when he first saw nearly 60 Kodachrome slides for sale on eBay. As a veteran expert who has developed an eye for photography while publishing over 700 photo books over the past 35 years since he founded the publishing house in Seoul, Lee said, his eyes lit up when he discovered them.

He recognized their value as historic visual documentation showing Korea and Koreans' way of life three years after Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule. He bought them right away.

The photos were a no-brainer as the subject for the Lee couple's first exhibition in their new gallery.

Out of the 60 works, Lee handpicked 35 photos taken in January and February 1948.

With the monthlong exhibition, which will end on Feb. 13, the couple is longing to get any clues that help them learn about the photographer.

"We're anxious to know about the photographer and what kind of lived experience the person had in Korea," Lee said.

Women do laundry in the icy Han River in Seoul in this 1948 photo. Courtesy of Noonbit Publishing

Lee's wife Ahn, director of the gallery, said the photo works by the unknown photographer are not only historically valuable, but also artistically outstanding.

"These photos tell about many different aspects of Seoul and its residents' way of life 75 years ago. There were trolleys. Those photos also testify to the wardrobe and fashion that were in vogue as both children and adults are featured in hanbok (traditional Korean attire). There were bicycles and even a bicycle lane," she said, pointing to each photo. "There is something in there that makes those photographs stand out artistically, too. The photographer did not just capture subjects of interest, but also thoroughly examined other details to make them great."

The couple hopes that word of the exhibition will spread quickly outside of Korea through media coverage or social media influencers, so those who know or have information about the photos or the photographer are encouraged to contact them.

Two men wearing hanbok walk in Seoul in this 1948 photo. Courtesy of Noonbit Publishing

Based on the limited information given to them, the couple has put together pieces of evidence to figure out who the photographer was. They have concluded that the photographer is an American having worked with or having been involved in the U.S. Army Military Government in Korea, which had operated between September 1945 and August 1948.

"There is a photo featuring a Western woman in uniform. She is posing near a military jeep in central Seoul," said Lee. "My guess is that the photographer probably took the car with the lady and they parked the vehicle in central Seoul for a portrait photo of the woman."

His guess work is based on the fact that the photo was taken months before the U.S. military government wrapped up its mission in what was then the southern part of Korea in August 1948 before the establishment of the United Nations Commission on Korea (UNCOK), to deal with Korea issues and to arrange for a withdrawal of foreign troops and the peaceful reunification of Korea. At that time, Korea was divided into the Soviet-controlled northern region and the U.S.-ruled South. The UNCOK's initial goal of the reunification of the peninsula has remained unfinished business with the outbreak of the Korean War on June 25, 1950.

Another photo on display shows that it was taken in 1948. There is a banner welcoming the UNCOK delegation's Seoul visit. The delegation arrived in Seoul on Jan. 8.

Lee and his wife believe the photographer must have been part of the public affairs division of the U.S. military government as military photographers were usually part of it.

"I presume the person would have been assigned with chronicling the military government's works via photography," said Ahn. "It's obvious that the person who took those photos was a professional photographer, considering the way subjects were captured, their angles and the quality of these works… Everything in those photos points to a professional photographer being the author."

Two girls dressed in hanbok chat while walking down a street in Seoul in this 1948 photo. Courtesy of Noonbit Publishing

The 35 works on display are snapshots of life in Seoul 75 years ago.

In one photo, two girls in colorful hanbok jump on a seesaw in the front garden of a traditional house. Several other girls wait their turns, looking at them enviously. Two older male adults squat on the floor near them, watching the girls. Their outfits indicate that the photo was taken on or near Lunar New Year as Korean kids used to wear colorful hanbok on the holiday.

In another photo, four women do laundry in the frozen Han River. Near each woman are big holes they cut in the ice to be able to access the water. Clothes made of white fabric, soaked with water, are piled up on the ice. The freezing winter weather and icy cold water made their hands visibly swollen.

The Korean people in these old photos look carefree and make viewers feel that they seem unaware of the turbulent times they were to face just a few years later. The Korean War broke out two years later when the North invaded the South. The bloody war lasted for three years. Political and economic chaos then repeated for decades in the war-torn South as it underwent major bottom-up protests and a military coup that took down the government at the time.

The winter of 1948 was harsh with record snowfall.

When asked about the exhibition's title, "That Winter Was Warm," which defies the logic of the freezing winter that year, Lee said he intentionally used the irony to highlight a message through the exhibition. "Back then, Korea was seen as being full of hope, as the nation was liberated from Japanese colonial rule ― which officially lasted 35 years ― with the surrender of Japan during World War II. The Korean people were full of energy for a fresh start for the nation," he said.

However, a more convincing explanation of the irony of the exhibition's title and the cold spell of 1948 can be found in Lee's remarks about the old photos. "If you look at these photos, you'll feel warmth. The photographer captured Koreans as they were, without biases or prejudices. Those photos are not seen as the products of conquest," he said. "See these two Korean men walking proudly."

A brother and sister are captured in this 1948 photo / Courtesy of Noonbit Publishing