Private company
North Korean art studio
The Mansudae Art Studio is an art studio in Phyongchon District, Pyongyang, North Korea. It was founded in 1959, and it is one of the largest centers of art production in the world, at an area of over 120,000 square meters. The studio employs around 4,000 people, 1,000 of whom are artists picked from the best academies in North Korea.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0
Last updated Oct 21, 2026.
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The Mansudae Art Studio is an art studio in Phyongchon District, Pyongyang, North Korea. It was founded in 1959, and it is one of the largest centers of art production in the world, at an area of over 120,000 square meters. The studio employs around 4,000 people, 1,000 of whom are artists picked from the best academies in North Korea. Most of its artists are graduates of Pyongyang University. The studio consists of 13 groups, including those for woodcuts, charcoal drawings, ceramics, embroidery and jewel paintings, among other things.2
The Mansudae Art Studio was established in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, on November 17, 1959, six years after the end of the Korean War. Before his death in 2011, the studio operated under Kim Jong Il's "special guidance."
From Wikipedia’s article on Mansudae Art Studio, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3
Mansudae had its first overseas exhibition in London in July and August 2007 at La Galaria in Pall Mall curated by David Heather The then Ambassador attended the opening and it ran for six weeks. In 2009, Queensland Art Gallery approached Koryo Studio's Nicholas Bonner to commission works for the Asia Pacific Triennial the most prestigious exhibition for showing contemporary art from the Asia region. Despite much preparation by five invited Mansudae artists, an exhibition in Brisbane, Australia presented Mansudae artworks without their artists. Although only one of the fifteen pieces was socialist-realist, the Australian government denied the artists exceptions from a visa ban on North Korea because they came "from Pyongyang's propaganda machine and... are not welcome." On 10 October 2013, a popular Mansudae exhibition opened at a trade exposition in Dandong, China. The exhibition had no propaganda art and sold 30 pieces in its first three days. In 2014, David Heather, who curated the London exhibition in 2007, decided to recreate the success of the 2007 exhibition. The exhibition was held at the North Korean Embassy in the United Kingdom. The Mansudae artists involved with the event stayed in London for two weeks beforehand to prepare and were available to paint for people while in England.
Mansudae produces many paintings, including "all public images of Kim Jong Un, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Il Sung" and "One Can Always Lose, a series of 10 paintings depicting North Korea's 1-0 win over Italy during round one of the 1966 World Cup." Several of the paintings have a uniform style of depicting North Korea as a utopia. However, according to Klaus Klemp, the deputy director of Frankfurt's Museum of Applied Art, Mansudae artists can "produce kitschy knockoffs of several foreign genres" that are likely sold internationally. Mansudae's official website has a gallery of paintings ranging "from propaganda posters to lucid landscapes, flower bouquets, and even family portraits," as well as the occasional rare jewel painting. Jewel paintings are unique to North Korea and are made by grinding gems into powders that are put on a canvas by hand and never lose their strong shine.
From Wikipedia’s article on Mansudae Art Studio, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3
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