Commercial Art Education in 1930s Colonial Korea: Japanese Origins and Colonial Limitations

Abstract This article examines the education of commercial art in colonial Korea in the 1930s. Focusing on the historical aspect of commercial art education, it investigates how this form of design education emerged and how the economic, social, and political contexts shaped the educational activities and outcomes of commercial art. The article adopts a design historical methodology with a global and transnational perspective to compare the development of commercial art education in Korea and Japan. By examining Korean and Japanese publications such as newspaper articles, school histories, textbooks, exhibition catalogs, and government documents, I articulate how the developments in commercial art education in Japan were transferred to Korea by educators and civil servants, particularly in relation to the policy of “practicalization of education.” I argue that despite the surface connections and similarities between commercial art education in Korea and Japan, the meaning of such education was very different at the professional level due to the social and economic conditions of the colony.