Park Su-geun (; also transliterated as Park Soo-keun; February 21, 1914 – May 6, 1965) was a South Korean painter known for his depictions of daily life in rural Korea. He was one of the very few Korean artists active during the colonial and post-war period who had no official art education. As a self-taught artist, Park Su-geun formulated a unique painting style using textured surfaces, geometric shapes, bold lines, and muted colours. Early Life and Career Park Su-geun was born in Yang-gu County (양구, 陽穀), Gangwon-do Province, South Korea. Park graduated Yanggu Public School (양구공립보통학교), after which he had to learn to learn to paint without official training or further education due to financial difficulties. However, with the help of his teachers such as O Deuk-yeong (오득영, 吳得泳, 1904-1991) and Shimizu Kiyoshi (靑水靑), Ishiguro Yoshiyasu (石黑義保, 1890-1977), Hara Takeo (原竹男), he was able to continue to study painting. He is known to have been inspired to seek a career as an artist after he came across a coloured print of Jean François Millet’s (1814-1875) “L’Angelus.” (ca. 1857-1859) In 1932, he made his debut in painting circles with his work titled "Spring Comes" (봄이 오다) which was awarded a prize in the 11th annual Joseon Arts Exhibition (조선미술전람회, 朝鮮美術展覽會). He moved to Chuncheon (춘천, 春川) in 1935 and received help from O Deuk-yeong and Miyoshi Iwakichi (三吉岩吉), and went on to win prizes in the Joseon Arts Exhibition eight times from 1936 to 1944. In 1939, Park Su-geun married Kim Bok-sun (김복순, 金福順, 1922-1979), who would later be the model of many of his paintings of women. Pyeongyang Period Park Su-geun moved to Pyeongyang (평양, 平壤) in 1940 to work as a clerk for the provincial government of South Pyeongan-do Province, with the help of Miyoshi. He continued to paint while working in Pyeongyang and became a member of artists’ group Johohoe (주호회, 珠壺會) from 1940 to 1944 and participated in group exhibitions. During his stay in Pyeongyang, he submitted key works of art such as "Woman Grinding Beans" (맷돌질하는 여인, 1940), "Woman Washing Clothes" (망질하는 여인, 1941), "Mother and Child" (모자, 母子, 1942), and "Woman Doing Needlework" (실을 뽑는 여인, 1943) to the Joseon Arts Exhibition Park’s wife became the model for these paintings of ordinary women at their daily chores. It is in the 1940s that Park Su-geun developed his unique use of stone-like paint surfaces, of which