Louis Pal Chang, Korean, active in the United States, 1901–2001, Madonna and Child, 1965, oil on canvas, 30 x 22 in., Saint Vincent Archabbey Collection. Photo: Richard Stoner.
Louis Pal Chang became the first Dean of Seoul National University’s College of Fine Arts before retiring and relocating to Pittsburgh with his wife Helen in 1964. Chang was an artist-in-residence at Saint Vincent until 1967 where he created hundreds of abstractions –recurrently embedding an abstract mark within a field of color. In addition, Chang created dozens of landscapes inspired by the campus as well as religious works including this Madonna and Child. An active Christ is restlessly perched on His mother’s lap indicated by the moving hands offering a traditional gesture of blessing. The three primary colored halos of red, blue, and yellow represent the Trinity, while the Child emanates a white aura that forms Mary’s garment as she quietly gazes back at us.
As both an artist and an educator, Chang worked to dissolve barriers between East and West, tradition and modernity. Having studied art at Tokyo Academy in Japan and Columbia University in New York, Chang returned to Korea to pursue a career in teaching and as a working artist. One of two Korean lay Catholic representatives that attended the Vatican beatification ceremony of the 79 Martyrs of Korea in 1925, Chang recalled being captivated by the artistry of Saint Peter’s Basilica. A year later, he was commissioned to create a mural of the twelve apostles in the apse of the Myongdong Cathedral in Seoul while he taught painting at a local high school. Chang stressed the similarities between art and ideas from disparate origins and encouraged his students to not favor conventions of the past over those of the present.
As both an artist and an educator, Chang worked to dissolve barriers between East and West, tradition and modernity. Having studied art at Tokyo Academy in Japan and Columbia University in New York, Chang returned to Korea to pursue a career in teaching and as a working artist. One of two Korean lay Catholic representatives that attended the Vatican beatification ceremony of the 79 Martyrs of Korea in 1925, Chang recalled being captivated by the artistry of Saint Peter’s Basilica. A year later, he was commissioned to create a mural of the twelve apostles in the apse of the Myongdong Cathedral in Seoul while he taught painting at a local high school. Chang stressed the similarities between art and ideas from disparate origins and encouraged his students to not favor conventions of the past over those of the present.
Louis Pal Chang, Basilica, 1965, oil on board, 16 x 20 in., Saint Vincent Archabbey Collection.
