Byun Wol-ryong (Pen Varlen, 1916-1990, Primorsky Krai, Russia) was a Goryeoin (ethnic Koreans in Russia and Central Asia) artist with a Russian nationality, who was active after the Korean War. He had distinct identity and pride as a Korean, and especially took on a significant role for the advancement of North Korean Art. Despite him being a principal artist who would bridge the gap of Korean modern and contemporary art history, he has not been adequately recognized nor researched on up to now; because he was ostracized by North Korea because he refused to be naturalized as a North Korean citizen, and was not well known in South Korea until recently. Byun was first introduced to the South Korean audience with his large-scale retrospective exhibitions held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Deoksugung (Seoul) and Jeju Museum of Art (Jeju, Korea)¹ in 2016 as a momentum. At the time, former head of the Cultural Heritage Administration, Yu Hong-june highly praised him by saying, “The fact that there was a magnificent overseas Korean artist in the 20^th-century Korean modern art’s blind spot is truly a bliss.” Poet, Ko Un also commented, “Tears were shed automatically.