Han Youngsoo

Born in 1933 to an affluent family in Gaeseong, Han Youngsoo showed artistic talent from a young age and pursued photography as a hobby. After his military service in the Korean War, he became a member of the Shinsunwhue (New Line) group, an association of realist photographers who championed “everyday life photography.” In Seoul, they documented the resurrection of the city in the late 1950s and the social realities of the Korean people. South Korea’s economy saw explosive growth in the 1960s. In 1966, Han founded his photography studio, Han’s Photo, which pioneered the country’s advertising and fashion photography industries.

Han went on to take leadership positions in numerous photography associations and cultural institutes. In 1987, he published Life, a photography book that compiled historic scenes of Seoul in the aftermath of the Korean War. After his passing in 1999, his daughter Han Sunjung established the Han Youngsoo Foundation to promote Han’s legacy and preserve the estate of his negatives and other archives. The Foundation has garnered international recognition for Han’s photographs. His works were included in the Les Rencontres d’Arles (2014), and he has held recent solo exhibitions at the International Center of Photography in New York (2017), Baik Art Gallery LA (2018), and Harvard University Asia Center (2019). Han’s work has been included in groundbreaking international exhibitions such as The Space Between: The Modern in Korean Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in September 2022.

His works are featured in numerous major international institutions and collections including the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), Seoul Museum of History, National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, National Folk Museum of Korea, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), International Center for Photography (ICP), and the Hungarian Museum of Photography.

Han’s photography has been featured in various publications, including Seoul, Modern Times (2014), Once Upon a Time (2015), Time Flows in River (2017), and When the Spring Wind Blows (2020).