Saturday, November 17, 2012

Tributes to Irish missionary and expert on Korean art

Tributes have been paid in both Ireland and South Korea to a Dublin-born Columban missionary priest who became a world expert in Korean art.

Fr Frank Mullany’s efforts to absorb the culture of his host country drew him to study its art, in particular the ink brush painting that was an important strand of that culture dating back to the fourteenth century and the Choson Dynasty in Korea.  

He became an expert on the subject, which culminated in him publishing, in 2006, a book entitled Symbolism in Korean Ink Brush Painting that is regarded as the authoritative history and appraisal of it.

Leaving aside the significance of Fr Mullany’s work from an art academic point of view, it is also regarded as one of the most important books to emanate from the Columban order.

Born in Dublin in September 1931, he was educated in national Schools in Clontarf and in Ballina, Co, Mayo, to where his family moved.  

He subsequently attended St Muredach’s College in Ballina and St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam before joining the Columbans in 1949.

Following his ordination in December 1955, Fr Mullany was among nine Columbans posted to the mission in Kwangju diocese in the province of Chollanamdo in South Korea.  

The Columbans’ mission in Korea had been launched a mere sixteen years earlier and seven of its men had been killed in the 1950-53 Korean Civil War.

Along with his colleagues, Fr Mullany had to grapple with a very unfamiliar culture and new language but he relished studying both.  

In the immediate post-war era, life was difficult and the provision and management of relief supplies was a major priority of the Columbans.

Fr Mullany found himself generally on his own in rural parishes, and is recalled to have been remarkable in developing many skills, becoming a self-taught engineer and builder. He also served terms as the Columbans’ Regional Bursar in Seoul and Secretary to the Columban General Council before returning to Kwangju to work in a number of parishes until he retired to Ireland in 1999, when he reached 68.

He maintained his personal interest in Korean language and culture and in 1985 went back to formal language studies at Yonsei University. In retirement, he focused his attention back to the Korean art in which he had immersed himself for fifty years and seven years on, his book on the subject was published.

The book, illustrated with 200 colour plates, explores the vast heritage of Korean ink brush painting, explaining hidden messages and symbolism within it.

Korea had been late to open to outside world and from 1910 on, when it was annexed by Japan, its language and culture were suppressed.  

Liberation in 1945 was quickly followed by civil war and in the period of reconstruction afterwards, faced a challenge to retrieve its cultural tradition, of which ink brush painting was a unique part.

Fr Mullany died in the Columban Nursing Home in Dalgan Park, Navan, where his funeral and burial also took place.  

Among the first to pay their respects following his death was South Korea’s Ambassador to Ireland, Chang-yeob Kim.