한국근대미술사에서 두드러진 특징의 하나로 다수의 여성인물화 제작을 들 수 있는데 근대기 사회변혁과 여성운동, 그리고 교육과 여성의 사회진출에 의해 여성에 대한 전통적 사회통념과 인식의 변화가 일어나게 되면서 바느질이나 육아로 대표되는 전통 여성상과 함께 새로운 형식인 여성누드화와 개량한복과 양장을 입은 신여성에 이어 후반기로 갈수록 근대적인 풍물이나 소재와 관련된 근대적인 여성상이 등장한다. 즉 1920년대부터 등장하는 침선이나 육아에 관련된 여성상은 그 이후까지도 꾸준하게 제작되지만 1930년대 중반부터 여성교육의 결과로 교양과 미를 겸비하며 독서와 음악 감상, 스포츠를 즐기는 여성상이 증가하고 지적 능력을 갖춘 전문직 인텔리 여성상이 출현한다. 또한 여성상은 당시 빠른 속도로 이행되어가던 근대화 양상을 잘 보여주는 장르로서 재봉틀이나 축음기 등의 다양한 첨단 제품들을 통해 경제와 문화예술의 단면을 재현하고 이러한 과정을 통해 근대사회의 여성관과 여성들의 자기인식의 변화, 여성교육과 여성운동의 영향에 의한 한국근대여성상의 성격과 특징 그리고 후반기로 갈수록 여성상의 변화를 통해 근대여성교육 및 여성운동과 긴밀한 상관관계와 발달 양상을 연구, 분석할 수 있다.

One distinctive feature in the history of Korean modern art is the production of various female figure painting. Owing to the social revolution, the women`s movement, and increasing social and educational opportunities for women during the modern period of Korea, changes started to occur in the traditionally-accepted ideas about and perception of women. As a result, traditional paintings of women, who were portrayed in their tasks of needling or child-rearing, were gradually replaced with female nude paintings or images of modern women wearing modernized hanbok(traditional Korean clothing) or Western clothes. Toward the late modern period, the paintings of modern women related to modern cultures or materials started to appear. That is, the painting of women doing needling and child-rearing, which started to appear from the 1920s, was steadily produced until later, but from the mid-1930s, owing to the increased educational opportunities for women, the painting of beautiful, refined women who enjoy reading, music, and sports, or the painting of professional, intellectual women, started to appear. Female figure painting is a genre of art which clearly reflects the fast-moving modernization of Korea. This study was conducted to investigate and analyze changes in women`s perception of themselves in an era of technological innovation and widespread availability of technological products, such as sewing machines or gramophones, which represent modern society`s economy, culture and art, as well as the characteristics and features of the paintings of modern Korean women. This study also investigated the relationship between educational opportunities for women and the women`s movement, as well as their development patterns, through tigure paintings.