유선형이란 움직이는 물체에 작용하는 외부의 저항을 최소화하여 최대 속도를 얻기 위해 고안된 형태이다. 1930년대에 유선형은 속도를 넘어 매끈한 곡선의 이미지로 산업 제품에 적용돼 모든 계층이 누릴 수 있는 시대의 보편적 스타일이 되었다. 유선형 양식이 국제적으로 확산하면서 1930년대에 조선에서도 유선형 열풍이 일어났다. 본 논문에서는 ‘유선형 시대’라 불린 1930년대에 조선의 신문 잡지에 실린 이미지와 텍스트를 분석해 ‘유선형’이 표상하는 당대의 시각적⋅심미적 관점을 추적한다. 유선형은 속도의 기호가 되었고 간결한 곡선의 형태로 이미지화했다. 나아가 기능이나 외형에 국한되지 않고 근대적인 태도, 사고방식, 시스템 등을 가리키게 되었다. 조선에서 유선형의 유행은 자본주의로의 급속한 변화를 따라 근대화를 이루려는 강한 열망을 반영한다. 유선형은 시대의 키워드로서 ‘모던’의 신화가 되었고 문화적 코드를 형성했다.

This research deals with “streamline” as an integral symbol of modern visual culture and “modern” image. Originally, streamline was a form designed to acquire the maximum speed by minimizing the external resistance that is applied to a moving object. The streamline design, which has begun to be used mostly for transportation, exudes a sense of agility with its simple and smooth yet functionally efficient form. Streamline elevated the aesthetic sense of machinery and speed. The concept of modern “streamline” which began to spread in the 1930s in the United States and Europe, immediately attained global recognition. The streamline design was also introduced to Korea shortly after and became popular during the Japanese colonial period in the 1930s. This study aims to identify changes in perspective and aesthetic consciousness in Korea by tracking the concept of streamlined in Korean newspapers and magazines in the 1930s. Streamline was recognized as a concise, functional, and up-to-date form and is regarded as an innovative image that represented progress. However, streamline is not a term limited to form; it has also been used more broadly as a concept representing speed, style, trend and newness, that is “the modern”. Streamline became a culturally significant concept during its times. Greatly influencing on a generation it emerged as a type of social and cultural sign that represented the value system prevalent in as well as the changes occurring in the society. Despite the special circumstances of colonial Korea, streamed models were quickly introduced and became popular, reflecting the desire for modernization and social change toward capitalism. The trend of streamline in the 1930s can be seen as a visual culture phenomenon that occurred in close relations with politics, economy, institutions, military and others. Streamline has become an image and symbol of “modern” as a keyword of the times and it has become a modern myth as a cultural code.