The National Gallery Singapore presents City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s–1940s, a landmark exhibition that sheds light on the overlooked contributions of Asian artists to Paris’s vibrant interwar art scene.
Currently running through August 2025, the exhibition features over 200 artworks and 200 archival materials, exploring themes of identity, cultural exchange, and resilience. It traces how Asian artists shaped and were shaped by their time in Paris, offering new perspectives on global modernism.
Among the highlighted artists are two pioneering Koreans: Lee Chongwoo and Pai Un-soung.
Lee, born in Bongsan, Hwanghae-do, was one of the earliest Korean artists to study in Paris. After training in Tokyo, he exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in 1927 and adopted a French Impressionist style influenced by Cézanne. Returning to Korea after World War II, he played a central role in art education and policy, eventually receiving the Order of Cultural Merit in 1962.
Pai Un-soung, the first Korean painter to live and work in Europe, spent 18 years in Berlin and Paris. His work combined Eastern themes with Western techniques, such as translating traditional ink snow scenes into oil paintings. Despite colonial pressures, Pai sought artistic independence, achieving a major solo exhibition in Paris in 1938. He returned to Korea in 1940 and later moved to North Korea after the Korean War.
The exhibition gives particular attention to these Korean artists’ efforts to assert their creative identities amid colonial and diasporic complexities.
Horikawa Lisa, the Senior Curator and Director (Curatorial & Collections) at National Gallery Singapore, oversees the strategic development and enhancement of accessibility for its collections, including artwork and archives.
Her current research interest is on comparative examination of intersecting modernisms in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and beyond in the first half of the 20th century.
We talked with her about her thoughts on the collection and the 50-year anniversary of Korea-Singapore relations.
With this being the 50th anniversary of relations between Singapore and Korea, why did you think this exhibition is important?
City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s – 1940s at National Gallery Singapore is the first major comparative exhibition dedicated to Asian artists in interwar Paris. Featuring artworks by artists from across Asia, the exhibition challenges conventional art historical narratives by straying from the conventional Eurocentric perspective and offering visitors a chance to draw connections and comparisons across the diverse practices and perspectives these artists brought to the Parisian art scene.
This exhibition is particularly timely and meaningful as we mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between Singapore and the Republic of Korea. It highlights the shared histories and transnational exchanges between Asian artists, including Korean artists such as Lee Chongwoo and Pai Un-soung, whose works are featured. In doing so, it allows visitors to draw possible connections between the experiences of Korean artists and other artists from Singapore/Asia in Paris, and to appreciate the diversity of artistic practices across Asia.
Why was it important to include Korean artists in this exhibition, and how do they help reshape our understanding of the Paris art scene during the interwar period?
With City of Others, we wanted to present a comprehensive look into the Asian artists’ experience in Paris. To do this, we had to ensure that artists from different parts of the region are represented in the exhibition.
Pai Un-soung was particularly important to us as the first artist from Korea to study and work extensively in Europe.
He spent 18 formative years in Germany and France, synthesizing Impressionism with cultural references to Korean culture and Japanese ukiyo-e prints that reflected his complex cultural identity: both as a cosmopolitan Korean artist and subject of Japanese colonial rule.
During his time in Paris, he navigated the support from Japanese authorities and communities whilst also seeking and securing artistic autonomy of his own, leveraging on his Korean identity to engage European audiences.
Within our exhibition, one may draw connections between Pai’s experience with those of other artists from Taiwan (who was also under the Japanese colonial rule), Vietnam (under the French colonial rule), as well as those of Japanese artists, many of whom, but in particular Foujita Tsuguharu, shared acute sensibility towards incorporation of unique cultural signifiers in their oeuvre.
Could you share more about Lee Chongwoo and Pai Un-soung’s experiences as Korean artists in Paris? What challenges or opportunities did they face?
Lee Chongwoo was in Paris from 1925 to 1928. Interestingly, he studied in Paris under the Russian emigre artist Vasili Ivanovich Shukhaev, which may explain the motif he used in Still Life with a Doll, with an East-European icon.
It may be possible to argue that through encountering “cultural others” in Paris, he may have cultivated his awareness and sensibility for searching deeper into his own cultural tradition.
After his return to Korea and in the post-World War II period, his interest shifted towards landscapes that reflected the refined aesthetics of the Chinese Southern Song dynasty.
What drew Korean artists like Lee and Pai to Paris in the first place, and how did their training or networks evolve while there?
Paris, with its developed art infrastructure (e.g. exhibition system, a wide range of schools one could attend) and thriving art community attracted numerous Asian artists, including Lee and Pai.
In the case of Pai, he held a solo exhibition at the Chapentier Gallery, Paris, in 1938. This exhibition was favourably reviewed by the critic Assia Rubinstein, whose portrait was painted by Pai (this work is on display). He also participated in the 1938 and 1939 Japanese Artist Exhibitions, facilitated by the Franco-Japanese Association.
“City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s – 1940s is a landmark exhibition spotlighting the Paris experiences of artists from different parts of Asia during the peak period of artistic migration to the city.
We hope that visitors will learn about the varied yet resonant experiences of these artists from various parts of Asia, including the Korean artists that have been featured.”
What do you think audiences can learn from this exhibition? And what do you have planned for the future at the gallery?
City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s – 1940s is a landmark exhibition spotlighting the Paris experiences of artists from different parts of Asia during the peak period of artistic migration to the city.
We hope that visitors will learn about the varied yet resonant experiences of these artists from various parts of Asia, including the Korean artists that have been featured.
We also hope visitors will be inspired by the artworks, grow curious about the fascinating histories behind the works, and deepen their appreciation for the art and artists from our region.
In addition to the audiences, our sincerest appreciation goes to the artwork lenders (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Korea, and Centre culturel français de Daejeon) and scholars from Korea who generously provided their support to this exhibition. We have collaborated with MMCA several times in the past, and we look forward to continuing our collaborative relations with Korean cultural institutions for future projects.
As the Gallery celebrates our 10th anniversary this year, we remain committed to retelling modern art history with a unique Southeast Asian perspective, fostering dialogue between art from Singapore, Southeast Asia, and the rest of the world. We also aim to become a more accessible and inclusive people’s museum while we expand our focus from modern to contemporary art from the 19th century to the present.
An upcoming exhibition to look forward to this year is the new long-term exhibition in the DBS Singapore Gallery – Singapore Stories: Pathways and Detours in Art. Building on the inaugural exhibition on local art, Siapa Nama Kamu? Art in Singapore since the 19th Century, the revamped exhibition features over 200 artworks and artefacts and expands on the narrative of the former exhibition to present a more comprehensive examination of Singapore’s art history, showing how artists have used their artworks to reflect and respond to societal changes over time.
Another exhibition to watch out for is Into the Modern: Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which will open in November this year. Visitors will get to see iconic Impressionism artworks by renowned artists Renoir, Monet, Manet, Cézanne, and Degas, for the first time in Singapore.
Developed in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the landmark exhibition will highlight the continuing relevance of Impressionism through themes of urban life, gender, land and environment, expressing the emergence of modernity from the unique perspective of the artists.
Tickets are available via the National Gallery Singapore website, priced at $25 ($15 for Singapore citizens and PRs).
