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20 Colorized Photos from Early 20th Century Korea

February 22nd, 2016
"Straw mat maker." 1915-1930. (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
"The shop of miscellaneous goods." 1915-1930. (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
"A poultry market." 1915-1930. (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
"Traditional loom." 1915-1930. (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
"The picnic of old man." 1915-1930. (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
"Straw sandal vendors." 1915-1930. (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
"Needlewerk [sic] of high-class Lady." 1915-1930. (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
"Traditional wedding." 1915-1930. (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
"The work children." 1915-1930. (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
"Woman carrying water jar and baby." (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
"The Kokwamon Gate, Keijo." 1910s. (Tokyo Design Printing Co./New York Public Library)
"Dance troupe." 1915-1930. (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
"Village street scene." 1915-1930. (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
"Traditional family clothing." 1915-1930. (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
View of the police station and Y.M.C.A., Keijo. 1915-1930. (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
"The street of Korean, Keijo." (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
Palace of Ryuhi Shakuo-ji. 1915-1930. (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
"View of Nantai Street, Keijo." 1915-1930. (Hinode Shoko/New York Public Library)
"Todaimon gate, Keijo." 1910s. (Tokyo Design Printing Co./New York Public Library)
"The Nandaimon Gate, Keijo." 1910s. (Tokyo Design Printing Co./New York Public Library)
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Related

On February 25, photographer Matjaž Tančič will join Asia Society New York in Brooklyn to share his one-of-a-kind images depicting people across North Korea using a 3D stereoscopic technique. Learn more

In 1910, Korea was annexed into Japan's expanding empire and would remain a colony until the end of World War II. In the intervening 35 years, Japan pushed industrialization and development on the peninsula but ruled strictly and often violently.

Japanese leaders tried to assimilate Koreans into the empire through measures like the mandatory adoption of Japanese names and a push to dissolve use of the Korean language. However, Korea's national identity and traditional culture would not be easily supplanted, and many Koreans pushed on with their own way of life.

The era also saw Japanese and local publishers in Korea producing photograph postcards colorized artificially though photocrom processes, a practice that was hugely popular in Europe and the United States in the early 20th century and introduced to Asia by Western publishers.

Recently, the New York Public Library released a cache of 180,000 digitized public domain images previously only available in its New York City locations, which included the above postcards from Korea during the early colonial period. The surrounding context and precise date of the photos have been lost to time, so they are presented here only with their original title, publisher, and approximate year of origin.

Also see colorized photographs from this period in China and Japan.

Related Links

  • New York Public Library Digital Collections
  • 40 Colorized Photos from Early 20th Century Japan
  • 19 Colorized Postcards from Early 1900s China
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About the Author

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Eric Fish was a Content Producer at Asia Society New York and is author of the book China's Millennials: The Want Generation.

 @ericfish85
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