Han Youngsoo

Han Youngsoo, born in 1933 to a wealthy family in Gaesong developed an interest in photography based on his artistic sensibility, which had stood out since childhood. After serving in the Korean War, he settled in Seoul, having paid attention to social realities, and began his serious photo works through Shinsunwhue, Korea’s first realism photography society. During the rapid economic growth of the 1960s, Han played a pioneering role with a new perspective in the fields of advertising and fashion photography. Then in 1966, he founded Han’s Photo, which became an important foundation for professionalizing commercial photography in Korea as he continued to play a key role in various photography associations and cultural institutions.

After his passing in 1999, the Han Youngsoo Foundation was established to preserve the film archives and records he left behind, and continues to carry his legacy domestically and internationally through both exhibitions and publications.

Han Youngsoo became the first Korean photographer to hold a solo exhibition at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York in 2017, and participated in large-scale international exhibitions such as ‘Han Youngsoo: Photographs of 1956-1963’ at the Harvard University Asia Center, Korea Institute in 2019, and ‘The Space Between: The Modern in Korean Art’ at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in September 2022, gaining worldwide attention. In 2026, he is scheduled to participate in a group exhibition at Tate Modern, London. Han Youngsoo’s works are held in the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul Museum of Art (SEMA), Seoul Museum of History, National Folk Museum of Korea, National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, LACMA, ICP New York, and the Hungarian Museum of Photography.