Korean painting
Encyclopedia
Korean painting includes paintings made in Korea or by overseas Koreans on all surfaces. It includes art as old as the petroglyphs through post-modern conceptual art using transient forms of light. Calligraphy
rarely occurs in oil paintings and is dealt with in the brushwork entry, Korean calligraphy
.
Generally the history of Korean painting is dated to approximately 108
C.E., when it first appears as an independent form. Between that time and the paintings and frescoes that appear on the Goryeo
dynasty tombs, there has been little research. Suffice to say that until the Joseon
dynasty the primary influence was Chinese
painting though done with Korean landscapes, facial features, Buddhist topics, and an emphasis on celestial observation in keeping with the rapid development of Korean astronomy.
Throughout the history of Korean painting, there has been a constant separation of monochromatic works of black brushwork on very often mulberry paper or silk; and the colourful folk art or min-hwa, ritual arts, tomb paintings, and festival arts which had extensive use of colour.
This distinction was often class-based: scholars, particularly in Confucian art
felt that one could see colour in monochromatic paintings within the gradations and felt that the actual use of colour coarsened the paintings, and restricted the imagination. Korean folk art, and painting of architectural frames was seen as brightening certain outside wood frames, and again within the tradition of Chinese architecture, and the early Buddhist influences of profuse rich thalo and primary colours inspired by Art of India
.
Korean painters in the post-1945 period have assimilated some of the approaches of the west. Certain European artists with thick impasto
technique and foregrounded brushstrokes captured the Korean interest first. Such artists as Gauguin, Monticelli
, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Pissarro
, and Braque have been highly influential as they have been the most taught in art schools, with books both readily available and translated into Korean early. And from these have been drawn the tonal palettes of modern Korean artists: yellow ochre, cadmium yellow, Naples yellow, red earth, and sienna. All thickly painted, roughly stroked, and often showing heavily textured canvases or thick pebbled handmade papers.
Colour theory has been used over formal perspective, and there has yet to be an overlap between painterly art and pop-graphics, since the primary influence on painters is ceramics art.
showing the Buddha, or Buddhist monks, and Confucian art
of scholars in repose, or studying in quiet often mountainous surroundings follows general Asian art trends.
Buddhas tend to have Korean facial features, and are in easy resting positions. Nimbus colours are not necessarily gold, and may be suggested by lighter colours. Faces tend to realism and show humanity and age. Drapery is done with some to great care. The face is generally two-dimensional, the drapery three-dimensional. As in medieval and renaissance western art, drapery and faces are done often by two or three artists who specialize in one particular painterly skill. Iconography follows Buddhist iconography.
Scholars tend to have the traditional stove-pipe hats, or other rank hats, and scholar's monochromatic robes. Typically they are at rest in teahouses near mountains or at mountain lodges, or will be pictured with their teachers or mentors.
Hunting scenes, familiar throughout the entire world, are often seen in Korean courtly art, and are reminiscent of Mongolian and Persian hunting scenes. Wild boar, deer, and stags, and sadly Siberian tigers as well were hunted. Particularly lethal spears and spear-handled maces were used by horsemen within hunting grounds after archers on the ground led the initial provocation of the animals as beaters.
Goguryeo art
, preserved largely in tomb paintings, is noted for the vigour of its imagery. Finely detailed art can be seen in Goguryeo tombs and other murals. Many of the art pieces has an original style of painting.
Goruryeo tomb murals
date from around AD 500 during the Goguryeo period, 37 BC-AD 668. These magnificent, still strongly colored murals show daily life and Korean mythologies of the time. By 2005, 70 murals had been found, mostly in the Taedong river
basin near Pyongyang
, the Anak area in South Hwanghae province. The murals of Horyu Temple, which are considered as treasures in Japan, were painted by the Goguryeo monk, Damjing
.
During the Goryeo dynasty exceptionally beautiful paintings were produced in the service of Buddhism; paintings of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Korean: Gwaneum Bosal) are especially noted for their elegance and spirituality.
Yi Nyeong and Yi Je-hyeon are considered significant Goryeo artists outside of the Buddhist tradition.
While the Joseon Dynasty began under military auspices, Goryeo styles were let to evolve, and Buddhist iconography (bamboo, orchid, plum and chrysanthemum; and the familiar knotted goodluck symbols) were still a part of genre paintings. Neither colours nor forms had any real change, and rulers stood aside from edicts on art. Ming ideals and imported techniques continued in early dynasty idealized works.
Early dynasty painters include:
Mid-dynasty painting styles moved towards increased realism. A national painting style of landscapes called "true view" began - moving from the traditional Chinese style of idealized general landscapes to particular locations exactly rendered. While not photographic, the style was academic enough to become established and supported as a standardized style in Korean painting.
Mid-dynasty painters include:
The mid to late Joseon
dynasty is considered the golden age of Korean painting. It coincides with the shock of the collapse of Ming dynasty links with the Manchu emperors accession in China, and the forcing of Korean artists to build new artistic models based on nationalism and an inner search for particular Korean subjects. At this time China ceased to have pre-eminent influence, Korean art took its own course, and became increasingly distinctive.
The list of major painters is long, but the most notable names include:
What calligraphy used is often discreetly done.
Other important artists of the "literati school" include:
From the 1880s onward, the Japanese invaders of Korea attempted both to obliterate and eliminate Korean art itself through looting and destruction of Korean artistic works, and continued as they closed Korean schools of art, torched Korean paintings of Korean subjects, and forced those few artists left to paint Japanese subjects in Japanese styles and so seed Japanese art as the art of the Koreas forever.
To this date there has not been a retrospective show of the hidden art under Japanese occupation, or a discussion of the conflicts between those who were forced into compromise under Japanese artistic demands. It is an issue of great sensitivity, with artists who studied and worked in Japan and painted in the Japanese style forced into self-defense and justification of compromise without other alternatives.
Bridging the late Joseon dynasty and the Japanese occupation period were noteworthy artists such as:
and others.
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
rarely occurs in oil paintings and is dealt with in the brushwork entry, Korean calligraphy
Korean calligraphy
Korean calligraphy is a variant of Chinese calligraphy, formerly applied to Chinese characters to transcribe Korean speech. It later also applied to the Korean alphabet . Hangul introduces the circle stroke...
.
Introduction
108
Year 108 was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Trebonius and Bradua...
C.E., when it first appears as an independent form. Between that time and the paintings and frescoes that appear on the Goryeo
Goryeo
The Goryeo Dynasty or Koryŏ was a Korean dynasty established in 918 by Emperor Taejo. Korea gets its name from this kingdom which came to be pronounced Korea. It united the Later Three Kingdoms in 936 and ruled most of the Korean peninsula until it was removed by the Joseon dynasty in 1392...
dynasty tombs, there has been little research. Suffice to say that until the Joseon
Joseon Dynasty
Joseon , was a Korean state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo at what is today the city of Kaesong. Early on, Korea was retitled and the capital was relocated to modern-day Seoul...
dynasty the primary influence was Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
painting though done with Korean landscapes, facial features, Buddhist topics, and an emphasis on celestial observation in keeping with the rapid development of Korean astronomy.
Throughout the history of Korean painting, there has been a constant separation of monochromatic works of black brushwork on very often mulberry paper or silk; and the colourful folk art or min-hwa, ritual arts, tomb paintings, and festival arts which had extensive use of colour.
This distinction was often class-based: scholars, particularly in Confucian art
Confucian art
Confucian art is art inspired by the writings of Confucius, and Confucian teachings. Confucian art originated in China, then spread westwards on the Silk road, southward down to southern China and then onto Southeast Asia, and eastwards through northern China on to Japan and Korea. It still...
felt that one could see colour in monochromatic paintings within the gradations and felt that the actual use of colour coarsened the paintings, and restricted the imagination. Korean folk art, and painting of architectural frames was seen as brightening certain outside wood frames, and again within the tradition of Chinese architecture, and the early Buddhist influences of profuse rich thalo and primary colours inspired by Art of India
Indian art
Indian Art is the visual art produced on the Indian subcontinent from about the 3rd millennium BC to modern times. To viewers schooled in the Western tradition, Indian art may seem overly ornate and sensuous; appreciation of its refinement comes only gradually, as a rule. Voluptuous feeling is...
.
Korean painters in the post-1945 period have assimilated some of the approaches of the west. Certain European artists with thick impasto
Impasto
In English, the borrowed Italian word impasto most commonly refers to a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface very thickly, usually thickly enough that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible. Paint can also be mixed right on the canvas...
technique and foregrounded brushstrokes captured the Korean interest first. Such artists as Gauguin, Monticelli
Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli
Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli was a French painter of the generation preceding the Impressionists.-Biography:Monticelli was born in Marseille in humble circumstances...
, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Pissarro
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro was a French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas . His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as he was the only artist to exhibit in both forms...
, and Braque have been highly influential as they have been the most taught in art schools, with books both readily available and translated into Korean early. And from these have been drawn the tonal palettes of modern Korean artists: yellow ochre, cadmium yellow, Naples yellow, red earth, and sienna. All thickly painted, roughly stroked, and often showing heavily textured canvases or thick pebbled handmade papers.
Colour theory has been used over formal perspective, and there has yet to be an overlap between painterly art and pop-graphics, since the primary influence on painters is ceramics art.
Genre subjects
The expected genres of Buddhist artBuddhist art
Buddhist art originated on the Indian subcontinent following the historical life of Siddhartha Gautama, 6th to 5th century BC, and thereafter evolved by contact with other cultures as it spread throughout Asia and the world....
showing the Buddha, or Buddhist monks, and Confucian art
Confucian art
Confucian art is art inspired by the writings of Confucius, and Confucian teachings. Confucian art originated in China, then spread westwards on the Silk road, southward down to southern China and then onto Southeast Asia, and eastwards through northern China on to Japan and Korea. It still...
of scholars in repose, or studying in quiet often mountainous surroundings follows general Asian art trends.
Buddhas tend to have Korean facial features, and are in easy resting positions. Nimbus colours are not necessarily gold, and may be suggested by lighter colours. Faces tend to realism and show humanity and age. Drapery is done with some to great care. The face is generally two-dimensional, the drapery three-dimensional. As in medieval and renaissance western art, drapery and faces are done often by two or three artists who specialize in one particular painterly skill. Iconography follows Buddhist iconography.
Scholars tend to have the traditional stove-pipe hats, or other rank hats, and scholar's monochromatic robes. Typically they are at rest in teahouses near mountains or at mountain lodges, or will be pictured with their teachers or mentors.
Hunting scenes, familiar throughout the entire world, are often seen in Korean courtly art, and are reminiscent of Mongolian and Persian hunting scenes. Wild boar, deer, and stags, and sadly Siberian tigers as well were hunted. Particularly lethal spears and spear-handled maces were used by horsemen within hunting grounds after archers on the ground led the initial provocation of the animals as beaters.
Goguryeo painters
Goguryeo art
Goguryeo art is the art of Goguryeo, an ancient kingdom which occupied large areas of present-day China and Korea. Its distinct style is marked by flowing lines and vivid colors...
, preserved largely in tomb paintings, is noted for the vigour of its imagery. Finely detailed art can be seen in Goguryeo tombs and other murals. Many of the art pieces has an original style of painting.
Goruryeo tomb murals
Complex of Goguryeo Tombs
The Complex of Goguryeo Tombs lie in North Korea. In July 2004, they became the first UNESCO World Heritage site in the country. The site consists of 30 individual tombs from the later Goguryeo kingdom, one of Three Kingdoms of Korea, located in the cities of P'yŏngyang and Namp'o...
date from around AD 500 during the Goguryeo period, 37 BC-AD 668. These magnificent, still strongly colored murals show daily life and Korean mythologies of the time. By 2005, 70 murals had been found, mostly in the Taedong river
Taedong River
The Taedong River is a large river in North Korea. It rises in the Rangrim Mountains of the country's north. It then flows southwest into Korea Bay at Namp'o. In between, it runs through the country's capital, Pyongyang. Along the river are landmarks such as the Juche Tower and Kim Il-sung...
basin near Pyongyang
Pyongyang
Pyongyang is the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and the largest city in the country. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River and, according to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, has a population of 3,255,388. The city was...
, the Anak area in South Hwanghae province. The murals of Horyu Temple, which are considered as treasures in Japan, were painted by the Goguryeo monk, Damjing
Damjing
Damjing was a Korean Buddhist priest who imported the first paper to Japan from Goguryeo in Korea, around 610, where fibres from the mulberry tree were used. Because of this, Japan could advance a little faster and was able to keep track of history...
.
Goryeo Dynasty painting
Yi Nyeong and Yi Je-hyeon are considered significant Goryeo artists outside of the Buddhist tradition.
Joseon Dynasty painting
The influence of Confucianism superseded that of Buddhism in this period, however Buddhist elements remained and it is not true that Buddhist art declined, it continued, and was encouraged but not by the imperial centres of art, or the accepted taste of the Joseon Dynasty publicly; however in private homes, and indeed in the summer palaces of the Joseon Dynasty kings, the simplicity of Buddhist art was given great appreciation - but it was not seen as citified art.While the Joseon Dynasty began under military auspices, Goryeo styles were let to evolve, and Buddhist iconography (bamboo, orchid, plum and chrysanthemum; and the familiar knotted goodluck symbols) were still a part of genre paintings. Neither colours nor forms had any real change, and rulers stood aside from edicts on art. Ming ideals and imported techniques continued in early dynasty idealized works.
Early dynasty painters include:
Mid-dynasty painting styles moved towards increased realism. A national painting style of landscapes called "true view" began - moving from the traditional Chinese style of idealized general landscapes to particular locations exactly rendered. While not photographic, the style was academic enough to become established and supported as a standardized style in Korean painting.
- Hwang Jip-jung (born 1553)
The mid to late Joseon
Joseon Dynasty
Joseon , was a Korean state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo at what is today the city of Kaesong. Early on, Korea was retitled and the capital was relocated to modern-day Seoul...
dynasty is considered the golden age of Korean painting. It coincides with the shock of the collapse of Ming dynasty links with the Manchu emperors accession in China, and the forcing of Korean artists to build new artistic models based on nationalism and an inner search for particular Korean subjects. At this time China ceased to have pre-eminent influence, Korean art took its own course, and became increasingly distinctive.
The list of major painters is long, but the most notable names include:
- Jeong Seon (1676–1759), a literati painter influenced by the Wu school of the Ming dynasty in China; much taken by the Diamond mountain landscape
- Yun DuseoYun DuseoYun Du-seo was a painter and scholar of the Joseon period. He is the grandson of Yun Seondo, a great scholar in Korean history. He passed the gwageo exam, but did not enter government service. Rather, he devoted his whole life to painting and studying Confucianism.His self-portrait is regarded as...
(1668–1715), a portraitist
- Kim Hong-do (1745–1818?) aka DanwonDanwonKim Hong-do, better known as Danwon , was a painter of the late Joseon period. A member of the Gimhae Kim clan, he grew up in present-day Ansan, South Korea, where he was taught by Pyoam Kang Sehwang, one of the most famous calligraphers of the day...
in his pen name, did highly coloured crowded scenes of common and working class people in many natural work activities - his paintings have a post-card or photographic realism in a palette of whites, blues, and greens. There is little if any calligraphy in his works; but they have a sense of humour and variety of gestures and movement that make them highly imitated to this day.
- Shin Yun-bok (1758-?) aka HyewonHyewonShin Yun-bok, better known by his pen name Hyewon, was a Korean painter of the Joseon Dynasty. Like his contemporaries Danwon and Geungjae, he is known for his realistic depictions of daily life in his time. His genre paintings are distinctly more erotic than Danwon's, a fact which contributed to...
in his pen name, a court painter who did paintings often of the scholarly or yangban classes in motion through stylized natural settings; he is famous for his strong reds and blues, and grayish mountainscapes.
- Jang Seung-eop ((1843–1897) aka OwonOwonJang Seung-eop , was a painter of the late Joseon Dynasty in Korea. His life was dramatized in the award-winning 2002 film Chi-hwa-seon directed by Im Kwon-taek. He was one of the few painters to hold a position of rank in the Joseon court.Growing up as an orphan, Owon learned painting while...
in his pen name, was a painter of the late Joseon Dynasty in Korea and one of three great wons of JoseonJoseon DynastyJoseon , was a Korean state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo at what is today the city of Kaesong. Early on, Korea was retitled and the capital was relocated to modern-day Seoul...
KoreaKoreaKorea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
.
What calligraphy used is often discreetly done.
Other important artists of the "literati school" include:
- Yi Kyong-yun
- Kang Se-hwang
Artists under the Japanese invasion and occupation period
Korean artists from the middle 1880s til 1945, when Korea was freed by the allies after the unconditional surrender of Japan, had a very difficult time.From the 1880s onward, the Japanese invaders of Korea attempted both to obliterate and eliminate Korean art itself through looting and destruction of Korean artistic works, and continued as they closed Korean schools of art, torched Korean paintings of Korean subjects, and forced those few artists left to paint Japanese subjects in Japanese styles and so seed Japanese art as the art of the Koreas forever.
To this date there has not been a retrospective show of the hidden art under Japanese occupation, or a discussion of the conflicts between those who were forced into compromise under Japanese artistic demands. It is an issue of great sensitivity, with artists who studied and worked in Japan and painted in the Japanese style forced into self-defense and justification of compromise without other alternatives.
Bridging the late Joseon dynasty and the Japanese occupation period were noteworthy artists such as:
- Chi Un-Yeong (1853–1936)
and others.
Major 20th century Korean artists
- Park Su-geunPark Su-geunPark Su-geun was a Korean painter.Hailing from Yanggu County, Gangwon Province, South Korea Park attended Yanggu Public Elementary School when he was younger, and then taught himself painting as was a teenager...
- Nam June PaikNam June PaikNam June Paik was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the first video artist....
- Chang UcchinChang UcchinBorn in 1918, when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule, Chang Ucchin studied western art at Tokyo's Imperial School of Art. He became a professor of fine arts at Seoul National University in 1954, but resigned to paint full-time from 1960....
- Seund Ja RheeSeund Ja RheeSeund Ja Rhee was a Korean painter, printmaker and ceramist.She was a prolific artist with more than 1000 paintings, 700 prints, 250 ceramics, and a lot of drawings....
21st C. Korean artists
- Amy SolAmy SolAmy Sol is an American artist of Korean ancestry, who lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is a member in good standing of a loose knit community of artists practicing Pop Surreal, Lowbrow, or, as Robert Williams defines it, "cartoon-tainted abstract surrealism." She typically paints upon treated wooden...
- David ChoeDavid ChoeDavid Choe is an American painter, muralist, graffiti artist and graphic novelist of Korean descent. He achieved art world success with his "dirty style" figure paintings—raw, frenetic works which combine themes of desire, degradation, and exaltation...
- Seonna HongSeonna HongSeonna Hong is a contemporary Los Angeles-based artist working in the genre known as lowbrow or alternatively, pop surrealism.Her work as a background painter has appeared in animation for television and motion pictures, most notably in the Nickelodeon series, My Life as a Teenage Robot, for which...
- Tschoon Su KimTschoon Su KimTschoon Su Kim, also Kim, Tschoon-Su , is a Korean painter. He is a professor at Seoul National University and paints only in Blue.- Life :...
- Junggeun OhJunggeun OhJunggeun Oh, also Oh Jung Geun is a Korean painter. Living in Berlin since 2004 he paints artworks of a modern minimalism mixing abstraction with realism. The artist is represented by galerie son, Berlin.- Life :Junggeun Oh studied Fine Arts at Seoul National University in South Korea...
See also
- Korean artKorean artKorean art is art originating or practiced in Korea or by Korean artists, from ancient times to today. Korea is noted for its artistic traditions in pottery, music, calligraphy, and other genres, often marked by the use of bold color, natural forms, and surface decoration.-Introduction:The earliest...
- Korean calligraphyKorean calligraphyKorean calligraphy is a variant of Chinese calligraphy, formerly applied to Chinese characters to transcribe Korean speech. It later also applied to the Korean alphabet . Hangul introduces the circle stroke...
- List of Korean painters
External links
- Pyongyang-painters.com is specialized on introducing North Korean painters
- General introduction
- Northeast Asia's intra-mural mural wars, 6th century Korean murals
- Painting by Chi Un-Yeong (1853–1936) of the famous 11th-century Chinese scholar-poet Su Dong-Po
- artist.htm Contemporary visual artists with a focus on painters
- Online Collection of Modern and Contemporary Korean Paintings
