Korean painting

Arahat, Joseon buddhist painting in the 16th century Korea.

The expected genres of Buddhist art showing the Buddha, or Buddhist monks, and Confucian art of scholars in repose, or studying in quiet often mountainous surroundings follows general East Asian art trends. 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 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. Buddhas tend to have Korean facial features, and are in easy resting positions.

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.

Goguryeo 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.

Ksitigarbha, Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392); 1st half of 14c.

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.[5] The patronage of the Goryeo's leading families resulted in the production of the high quality Buddhist paintings like refined and detailed paintings of Buddhist saints or monks.

King Gongmin of Goryeo (1330–1374) was a significant painter of the period. Yi Nyeong, a court painter, and Yi Je-hyeon, a scholar-painter, are considered significant Goryeo artists outside of the Buddhist tradition.

Early Joseon landscape painting by Seo Munbo in the late 15th century.

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 royal 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.

During the transitional period leading into the Joseon dynasty some Korean buddhist painters left for Japan. Yi Su-mun (1400?–1450?) who is considered the founder of Soga school of Japan,[6] was a boat-companion of the older priest-painter, Shubun of Shokokuji when he returned from Korea to Japan in 1424. Japanese tradition declared that Yi was so skilled after his "Catfish and Gourd" painting that Shogun Yoshimochi claimed him to be a son of the legendary Josetsu, as an adoptive honorific. Yi painted alongside and influenced the originals of Japanese zen art; and was known in Japan by his Japanese name Ri Shubun or the Korean Shubun. The entire tradition of needle points in Japanese art began with Yi, and continued through his students, known as the Soga School, a more natural group of artists than the courtly school patronized by the Ashikaga shoguns.

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 An Gyeon, a 15th century painter.

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 Hwang Jipjung (born 1533).

Hwajeopdo, literally picture of flowers and butterflies drawn by a 19th-century Korean painter, Nam Gye-u.

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.

Genre paintings of the late Joseon Dynasty Era and true-view landscape paintings have become celebrated and emblematic, but it also shows the unassuming reality of Korean people and their past, not just those that hold high positions of power but those who work under them, the commoners or lower classes and seemingly even women (Park J.P., 2018). In modern Korea, these paintings are held up and preserved as mementos that show the heart-warming and harmonious late Joseon Dynasties thriving society. With these paintings, it is also believed to have brought a projection of an uncomplicated and nostalgic-producing past into the eyes of the viewer, these nothing short of masterpiece works created by Kim Hong-do (1745 – c. 1810) and Sin Yun-Bok (1758 – ?) are promoted as a splendid collection of art that describe the state, people, and history of Korea. The work put into these paintings show the academic attention invested towards understanding the past of Korea, and that motivation could extend to the viewer as the art of Korea has become an integral part to pursuing the studies and knowledge of Korea and its history.

Some modern studies relate the historical particularities of the time such as the cultural and ideological landscape to the Korean artists’ motivation and inspiration, as the attention that was put into their artwork nurtured the popularization of these paintings. Those include the different viewpoints on how they became popular at the time, one viewpoint being the analysis of Korean genre paintings being a product of the past Koreans pride and confidence after they began treating their own culture as a legitimate heir to Chinas High Civilization (Park J.P., 2018). The disappearance of the late Confucian civilization and the fall of the Ming in mainland China under Manchu Qing, these events led to the late Joseon era artists to recapture and redefine the values of Joseon Koreas landscape and their society in these new paintings (Park J.P., 2018). Another viewpoint would be an interpretive approach towards the escalating interest of learning at the time, which provided the Joseon era artists the motivation and inspiration needed to view the scenes of daily life in Korea and the changes in the social landscape from a new perspective, as Joseon artists put much time in their pursuit of academic practical studies, the people and their lives were a key factor in contributing to their artwork, as well as their determination to depict and observe the people they encountered around them.

"Dancing together holding with two swords" from Hyewon pungsokdo depicting geommu (sword dance) performing during Joseon dynasty

Among many of the artists of the mid to late Joseon era that painted quotidian scenes of the people of Korea, one yangban artist stood out and was described as a founding father of this genre, and that artist is Yun Duseo(1668 – 1715). Yun Duseo would go on to paint many drawings that were based on the labors, behaviors, leisure and emotions of the common people that he observed around him. This would begin to stir the people as it was unprecedented in that time period, and the topic of these artworks would become primary motifs rather than decorative additions as in previous eras.

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 Duseo (1668–1715), a portraitist.
• Kim Hong-do (1745–c. 1806) aka Danwon 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 Hyewon 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 Owon in his pen name, was a painter of the late Joseon Dynasty in Korea and one of three great wons of Joseon Korea.

What calligraphy used is often discreetly done.

Other important artists of the "literati school" include:

• Yi Kyong-yun
• Kang Se-hwang

Chaekgeori is a genre of still-life painting from the Joseon period of Korea that features books as the dominant subject.[7] Chaekgeori flourished from the second half of the 18th century to the first half of the 20th century and was enjoyed by all members of the population, from the king to the commoners, revealing the infatuation with books and learning in Korean culture.[8]

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Korean artists from the middle 1880s until 1945 had a very difficult time when Korea was freed by the allies after the unconditional surrender of Japan.

From the 1880s onward, the emerging popularity of western art in Japan lead to a low opinion of traditional Korean art. Nevertheless, the formation of the Korean crafts museum in 1924 by Japanese philosopher Yanagi Sōetsu is a strong example of Japanese aesthetes who still appreciated Korean art.

Japan also held an exhibition of Korean art that produced many young Korean artists such as Park Su-geun. 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 a sensitive issue, 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).

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 Korean pottery.

• Kim Tschang-yeul
• Park Su-geun
• Nam June Paik
• Chang Ucchin
• Seund Ja Rhee
• Lee Ufan

• Lee Dong Youb
• Suh Yongsun

• Haegue Yang
• Choi Jeong Hwa
• Amy Sol
• David Choe
• Seonna Hong
• Tschoon Su Kim
• Junggeun Oh
• Kim Sang-soon

• Korean art
• Korean calligraphy
• List of Korean painters
• Chinese painting
• Japanese painting
• History of Asian art

• Dunn, Michael, The Art of East Asia, ed. Gabriele Fahr-Becker, Volume 2, 1998, Könemann, ISBN 3829017456
• Kumja Paik Kim (2006). The art of Korea: highlights from the collection of San Francisco's Asian Art Museum. ISBN 978-0939117314.
• Park, J.P. (2018). Painting and Cultural Politics in Late Chosŏn Korea. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0295743257.
• Kim Sunglim (2014). Flowering Plums and Curio Cabinets : The Culture of Objects in Late Chosŏn Korean Art. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0295743417.

• Arts of Korea. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1998. ISBN 978-0870998508.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paintings from Korea.

• Pyongyang-painters.com is specialized on introducing North Korean painters
• General introduction
• Northeast Asia's intramural mural wars, 6th century Korean murals
• Painting by Chi Un-Yeong (1853–1936) of the famous 11th-century Chinese scholar-poet Su Dong-Po
• Online Collection of Modern and Contemporary Korean Paintings