Kim Heungsou

Kim Heungsou (1919-2014) was a South Korean painter, sometimes nicknamed the "Picasso of Korea". Born in Hamheung under Japanese rule, he graduated from the Tokyo Art School. His best-known body of work is known as harmonism, an approach that combined structures and abstract forms and drew on the harmony of yin and yang and on the meeting of East and West. It blended ideas from surrealism, impressionism and abstraction.

After Korean independence he taught art in Seoul, including at Seoul National University. In 1955 he studied painting in Paris, where his works were submitted to the Salon d'Automne. He then began holding solo exhibitions, starting in Paris, and gained access to the European market. His works were shown in France and Russia and featured at international auctions.

After returning to Seoul he served as a judge at the 10th Korea grand art convention. From 1968 to 1980 he was an exchange professor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he also held travelling exhibitions. His partner, Jang Soo hyun, executive curator of the museum bearing his name, died of ovarian cancer in 2012. Kim Heungsou died on 9 June 2014.