Varlen Pen

Pen Varlen was born on September 29, 1916, into a Korean refugee settlement located in Shkotovsky, Primorski Krai (southeast Siberia). He completed his primary education in Shinhanchon (New Koreatown) located in Vladivostok. Afterwards, his parents sent him to study art in the Sverdlovsk Art School near the Ural Mountains in current day Yekaterinburg. In 1937, while Pen completed his studies in the Sverdlovsk Art School, his parents were forcefully relocated to Central Asia under Stalin's efforts to deport minority groups from within Russia. With his parents no longer there, Pen remained in the country and after graduating from the Sverdlovsk Art School, enrolled in the prestigious Ilya Repin Leningrad Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (established in 1764). He worked closely with his supervisor, Alexander Osmerkin, on the completion of his dissertation work titled "Fishermen in Choson" (1947), also known as "Korean Fishermen". However, shortly after Pen's graduation, Osmerkin became ostracized in the Soviet art scene due to his support of foreign, non-Soviet art. Nonetheless, Pen's work remained prominent both in the Iliya Repin Leningrad Academy of Painting, and the wider Soviet art scene. In 1951, a few years after his return to Russia, Pen earned his doctorate degree and began working as a professor of the Drawing Department at the Ilya Repin Leningrad Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. He spent 35 years as an educator at the Academy. Additionally, Pen became a member of the Leningrad Union of Artists. During his time at the Repin Institute, Pen focused on portraying Korean ethnic subjects with the influence of pro-Soviet themes, highlighting the victorious role that the Soviet Union played in liberating Korea from Japanese colonial rule. Additionally, Pen had work featured in Moscow during the 1950 all Soviet Art Exhibition. The works included in the exhibition featured a portrait of Kim Il Sung, a portrait of Mao Zedong, and a painting of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin titled "Lenin and Stalin in the Resort". In 1953, Pen traveled to North Korea under the orders of the Soviet Ministry of Culture. == Career ==

North Korea Pen arrived in North Korea in 1953, shortly before the July 28 armistice treaty between North and South Korea. As such, Pen witnessed some of the crucial events of the armistice, including the return of Prisoners of War which took place at Panmumjeom. This event was eternalized in his painting titled "Repatriation of North Korean Prisoners of War at Panmunjom" (1953). This included the Pyongyang Art Academy, also known as the Pyongyang College of Arts. Pen, who was fluent in Korean, was sent to help restore the Pyongyang College of Arts with the expectation of integrating Soviet education and policy into the North Korean art scene. Pen often took his students on field trips to various locations throughout Pyongyang in order to encourage them to draw realistic subject matter as part of their 'field sketching' training. Pen also used this training method as a means to eradicate Formalism in the North Korean art scene, which he believed stemmed from the previous Japanese Colonial rule. As an addition to his 'field sketching' technique, Pen traveled into North Korea with plaster busts of Western ethnic heads as to teach accurate depiction of physiognomy to his students. After his departure from North Korea, the Pyongyang College of Arts replaced Pen's busts with ones showcasing Korean faces and physiognomy, which remain as a tool used in classes today. This replacement of the busts was implemented as part of the introduction of the "Juche" ideology, created by Kim Il Sung in order to distance North Korea from the Soviet Union and its influence. In February 1954, Pen traveled to China where he met with the ink-painter Qi Baishi. After his return to North Korea, Pen successfully integrated a division for ink and brush painting at the Pyongyang College of Arts. This division was referred to as "Chosonhwa". However, Pen was unable to fully realize his vision for 'Chosonhwa' as he left North Korea and returned to the Soviet Union in September 1954. Return to the Soviet Union In September 1954, Pen Varlen returned to the Soviet Union due to an illness prompted by overworking himself in North Korea. According to Chong Gwanchol (1916–1983), a colleague of Pen's at the Pyongyang College of Arts, Pen had spent over 2,103 hours training both students and faculty during his 15 month stay in North Korea. Pen originally planned a short visit to the Soviet Union in order to heal and restock on art supplies. However, shortly after Pen arrived in Russia, Kim Il Sung began to target Soviet-Koreans living in North Korea, which was referred to as the "August Faction Incident". In 1955, Pen was offered North Korean citizenship due his Korean ethnicity. His offer originated from an agreement made under the "Juche" ideology between Kim Il Sung and the Soviet Union with the aim to abolish dual citizenship. However, Pen refused to give up his Russian citizenship. Thus, he was no longer able to travel back to North Korea or continue to be a part of the North Korean art scene. Even though his "field sketching" technique and the 'Chosonhwa' division he was responsible for creating at the Pyongyang College of Arts remain today, Pen is no longer credited for them. Once back in the Soviet Union, Pen greatly missed North Korea and continued to create art based on sketches he had made during his time at Pyongyang. Most of these paintings were of scenes such as small rural towns or of Mount Kumgang. == Death ==

Pen died on May 26, 1990, after suffering from a stroke in 1985. His last words were a request to have his ethnic Korean name, Byun Wol-ryong, engraved on his tombstone. This request was realized by his family and his body now lies to rest at the Severnoye Kladbishche Cemetery in Saint Petersburg. == Exhibit ==

A retrospective exhibition honoring a century from Pen Varlen's birth was organized by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art's Deoksugung Museum. The exhibition ran from March 3 to May 8, 2016. Moon first learned about Pen during a trip he took to Russia in 1994, where he came across one of the paintings of the Russian-Korean artist hung up on a wall. He immediately recognized the inherent connection to Korean culture in Pen's painting and began his research into the artist's life. Many of Pen's artworks continue to be displayed in Russian institutions and buildings, while the location of others remain a mystery. ==See also==