Dissertation
Aestheticized politics : the workings of North Korean art
This dissertation is a study of North Korean art as a site where politics, history, and culture meet.
- Author
- Min-Kyung Yoon
- Date
- 18 March 2014
- Links
- Full text available in Leiden University Repository
Art in North Korea fulfills a clear purpose. This is most apparent in the depiction of historical themes in North Korean art. History serves the political legitimization of the North Korean state and its leaders.
This dissertation analyzes how art addresses historical themes in support of the revolution and its leaders based on North Korean art theoretical writings, reviews and critiques of paintings, art yearbooks, and history textbooks. The analysis reveals how North Korean art dramatizes and thereby creates an idealized reality that the viewers can emotionally relate to.