The Oriental painting world of the 1950s suggested diverse discourses and creative methods to solve issues regarding ‘the establishment of national characteristics’: a challenge the art world directly faced after the Liberation. Oriental painters after the Liberation chose certain techniques like ink wash brush strokes and light colouring to shed Japanese styles from their work. Consequently, the first National Art Exhibition displayed paintings that rejected the traits of Japanese paintings -- mainly represented by the abuse of whitewash and delicate brush strokes -- and concentrated on the clear light colouring. However, after the Korean War, the epochal characteristics of the 1950s instead emerged as a methodology to establish the sense of nationality. Oriental painters chose contemporary customs to actualize the epochal characteristics and actively embraced the styles of Western art.
Furthermore, abstraction arose as an alternative when the national traits elicited Western art by summoning the epochal characteristics in assessments of Oriental painting. Simultaneously, the modernity of Oriental painting was also mentioned. This was an argument that its modernity would be accomplished through certain methods such as contemporary customs and abstract, which was considered the freshest style then. Such a phenomenon was present notably when the assignment of establishing the national traits converted to materializing epochal characteristics beyond simply shedding Japanese styles. The epochal characteristic discourse that defined national art was, unlike the shedding of Japanese styles, expressed more actively outside the National Art Exhibition. Moreover, since the mid-1950s, it changed from the selection of materials to the embracement of modes. Such transformations were witnessed in the assessments of solo exhibitions by Lee, Ungno and Kim, Younggi. Hence, the Oriental painting world in the 1950s proposed various methodologies to construct national characteristics, a destined task of the discipline. Contemporary customs, abstraction, and modernity -- three things that do not appear very accordant at a glance -- were a solution to establishing the national traits Oriental painters put together with difficulty to bequeath traditions and construct the epochal characteristics of the 1950s.