Hem Vejakorn
Encyclopedia
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. He is best known for his illustration
Illustration
An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...
s for the covers of 10-satang pulp novels, which have in turn influenced subsequent generations of Thai artists and illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
s. It is estimated that he produced more than 50,000 pieces of art, including pen and pencil drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
s, watercolors, posters and oil paintings. He portrayed rural life, Thai history
History of Thailand
Tai peoples who originally lived in southwestern China, migrated into mainland Southeast Asia over a period of many centuries. The oldest known mention of their existence in the region by the exonym Siamese is in a twelfth-century A.D. inscription at the Khmer temple complex of Angkor Wat in...
and figures from Thai classical literature
Literature in Thailand
Thai literature was traditionally heavily influenced by Indian culture. Thailand's national epic is a version of the Ramayana called the Ramakien. A number of versions of the epic were lost in the destruction of Ayutthaya in 1767. Three versions currently exist: one of these was prepared under...
. His works have been reproduced on Thai postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
s and featured in art galleries.
Early life
Hem was born in BangkokBangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
. He lived with a stepfamily
Stepfamily
A stepfamily, also known as a blended family or reconstituted family, is a family in which one or both members of the couple have children from a previous relationship...
of half-sisters and half-brothers. At age 11, he took up residence with his uncle, MR Daeng Tinnakorn, an architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
in charge of supervising the Italian artists and architects employed in the building of Ananda Samakom Throne Hall. Hem was then acquainted with artist Carlo Rigoli, architect Mario Tamagno and engineer Emilio Giovanni Gollo. Hem found himself drawn to the work in the Throne Hall, and Rigoli, who was the interior designer, allowed him to carry the paint.
Rigoli invited Hem to study in Italy, but the young man could not take the offer. Later, Hem was enrolled at Assumption College, Dhepsirindr School and Poh Chang College. He finished at none of those institutions. Authorities attributed his academic failure to a lack of parental care.
But Hem continued his artistic endeavors. He helped with the painting of another temple, Wat Raja Oros, he started writing and learned to play the viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
. He worked for a while for the royal irrigation department in Saraburi Province
Saraburi Province
Saraburi is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Lopburi, Nakhon Ratchasima, Nakhon Nayok, Pathum Thani and Ayutthaya. Saraburi has been an important town since ancient times...
and was a steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
mechanic.
He later began work in a printing house and turned to painting and preparing illustrations that he sold to magazines.
Emerald Buddha temple renovation
In 1930 Hem was selected as one of the artists to renovate the murals in Wat Phra KaewWat Phra Kaew
The Wat Phra Kaew is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. It is a "potent religio-political symbol and the palladium of Thai society". It is located in the historic centre of Bangkok , within the precincts of the Grand Palace.The main building is the central ubosoth, which...
(the Emerald Buddha
Emerald Buddha
The Emerald Buddha is the palladium of the Kingdom of Thailand, a figurine of the sitting Buddha, made of green jadeite , clothed in gold, and about 45 cm tall...
temple) during Bangkok’s 150th anniversary celebrations. He was responsible for renovating murals in room 69, which depicts a scene from the Ramayana
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
of Phra Rama killing Mangkorn Kan.
After the work was complete, Hem and some friends set up the Ploenchit publishing house, which printed a series of 10-satang graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
s between 1932 and 1935. Featuring illustrations by Hem, the novels were a hit and have since become collectors’ items.
In 1936, Hem opened his own publishing house called Hem Party, which published Phae Kao, written by Mai Muangderm and illustrated by Hem. Despite his success, Hem's business went broke, forcing the artist to seek work for the Pramuan Wan daily newspaper and the weekly journal Pramuan Sarn, both of which were owned by Prince Pithayalongkorn, who wrote under the pseudonym "Nor Mor Sor". Hem also illustrated such literary works as Khun Chang Khun Phaen and Sri Thanonchai.
Revered teacher
During the Second World War, the artist worked for the government, producing nationalisticNationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
illustrations for textbook
Textbook
A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...
s. When the war ended he went back to freelancing and wrote an illustrated series of ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
stories, which have inspired many Thai artists. Among students who sought him out was the animator
Animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...
and cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
Payut Ngaokrachang
Payut Ngaokrachang
Payut Ngaokrachang was a Thai cartoonist and animator. He created Thai cinema's first cel-animated feature film, The Adventure of Sudsakorn.-Early life:...
, who studied with Hem via correspondence
Mail
Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...
.
Among Hem's works is An Introduction to Phra Aphai Mani, a 1952 English-language book by Prem Chaya (Prince Prem Purachatra) and illustrated by Hem. It serves as an introduction to the epic poem by Thai writer Sunthorn Phu
Sunthorn Phu
Phra Sunthorn Vohara, known as Sunthorn Phu, is Thailand’s best-known royal poet. He was active in the Rattanakosin era....
. His old student Payut would go on to create Thailand's first cel-animated feature film, The Adventure of Sudsakorn
The Adventure of Sudsakorn
The Adventure of Sudsakorn is a 1979 Thai animated fantasy film. The only cel-animated feature film ever made in Thailand, it was directed by Payut Ngaokrachang. It was released in Thailand on Songkran Day, April 13, 1979...
, based on Sunthorn Phu's work. Another famous Thai epic poem, The Story of Khun Chang Khun Phaen, was also translated by Prem Chaya and illustrated by Hem, in the 1950s.
Much later, film director Wisit Sasanatieng
Wisit Sasanatieng
Wisit Sasanatieng is a Thai film director and screenwriter of Chinese descent...
paid tribute to Hem's ghost stories with his 2006 film, The Unseeable
The Unseeable
The Unseeable is a 2006 Thai horror film directed by Wisit Sasanatieng. The first film of another writer's screenplay by the director, the writer is Kongkiat Khomsiri, one of the "Ronin Team" credited with directing the 2005 Thai horror film Art of the Devil 2.-Plot:Set in 1934 Siam, the story...
. The Barom Khru Foundation, which claims to supervise Hem's works, issued a statement warning the film's producer Five Star Production
Five Star Production
Five Star Production Co. Ltd. is a Thai film production company. It was founded in 1973 by Kiat Iamphungphorn and is today headed by his younger brother, Charoen Iamphungporn, and Kiat's children, Aphiradee and her younger brothers Kiatkamon and Kiattikul...
not to violate the copyright of Hem's writing. The director countered that The Unseeable was not an adaptation
Adaptation
An adaptation in biology is a trait with a current functional role in the life history of an organism that is maintained and evolved by means of natural selection. An adaptation refers to both the current state of being adapted and to the dynamic evolutionary process that leads to the adaptation....
but was generally inspired by Hem's style of writing and illustrations.
Before his death in 1969, Hem was engaged by King Bhumibol Adulyadej
Bhumibol Adulyadej
Bhumibol Adulyadej is the current King of Thailand. He is known as Rama IX...
to create oil paintings that would be given as gifts to royal visitors.