Old Korean Men. Newspapers. Pipes. This photo collage is from Pre-War Korea. Both pics were snapped by the late photographer, Helen Hehnke. It's part of her Old Korean Man series.
There isn't much about Helen Hehnke online—so I can't say how noted a photographer she was in her day. However, I do know she was American—from Corvallis Oregon, perhaps. She may have been in the military, and she had her own stamp. Many, many thanks in advance to anyone who can offer more information on the life and times of Helen Hehnke.
I feel lucky to own two Helen Hehnke originals. They were both taken in Korea in the mid- to late-1940's, and both spotlight the youngest of the Seoul Sisters, Lena. I find it awkward to write about established (or even semi-established) artists because I'm so incredibly bad at art speak. I mean, um, "it's difficult to enter into this work because of how the metaphorical resonance of the facture brings within the realm of discourse the eloquence of these pieces."
"When the girl and the apple are juxtaposed it creates a range of possibilities. The artist's juxtaposition of these organic relationships creates a real symmetry in the piece. It's Hehnke's deconstruction of the post-modern metaphor."
"The young girl is conceptualizing duality, while still investigating complex systems to find visual order. Hehnke successfully accents and examines fields of emergence, en plein air."
Phew! Anyway, here is the young girl grown up (far-right), sitting next to Helen Hehnke. These Kodak prints were most likely snapped in the very late-1960's at Seoul Sister Svetlana's house in Santa Clara, California—either to commemorate Thanksgiving, or to immortalize a loud outfit contest of some sort.
I do recognize the lone mustachioed fellow (far-right) as my foxy Uncle David "Scotty" Thomson Jr. I love how the napkin in his lap looks like a diaper.
No comments:
Post a Comment