Abstract
Myogilsang on Diamond Mountain, signed and dated (2000) by Seon-u Yeong (1946-2009), is the first work by a North Korean artist to enter the collection of the National Museum of Korea (fig. 1a). The donor acquired the painting directly from the artist in Pyeongyang in 2006. In consequence, there are no issues with the painting's authenticity.This painting is the largest among all existing Korean paintings, whether contemporary or from the Joseon Dynasty, to depict this iconography (see chart 1. A Chronological List of Korean Myogilsang Paintings.) It is ink and color on paper, measures 130.2 × 56.2 centimeters, and is in a hanging scroll format. Since this essay is intended as a brief introduction of the painting and not in-depth research into it, I will simply examine the following four areas: 1. Seon-u Yeong's background; 2. The location and the traditional appellation of the rock-cut image known as Myogilsang; 3. The iconography of the image; and 4) A comparative analysis of Seon-u Yeong's painting in light of other paintings on the same theme. Finally, I will present two more of his works to broaden the understanding of Seon-u Yeong as a painter. 1. Seon-u Yeong: According to the donor, who met Seon-u at his workshop in the Cheollima Jejakso (Flying Horse Workshop) three years before the artist's death, he was an individual of few words but displayed a firm commitment to art. His preference for subjects such as Korean landscapes rather than motifs of socialist realism such as revolutionary leaders is demonstrated by the fact that, relative to his North Korean contemporaries, he seems to have produced more paintings of the former. In recent years, Seon-u Yeong has been well publicized in Korea through three special exhibitions (2012 through 2019). He graduated from Pyeongyang College of Fine Arts in 1969 and joined the Central Fine Arts Production Workshop focusing on oil painting. In 1973 he entered the Joseon Painting Production Workshop and began creating traditional Korean paintings in ink and color. His paintings are characterized by intense colors and fine details. The fact that his mother was an accomplished embroidery specialist may have influenced on Seon-u's choice to use intense colors in his paintings. By 1992, he had become a painter representing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea with several titles such as Artist of Merit, People's Artist, and more. About 60 of his paintings have been designated as National Treasures of the DPRK. 2. The Myogilsang rock-cut image is located in the Manpok-dong Valley in the inner Geumgangsan Mountain area. It is a high-relief image about 15 meters tall cut into a niche under 40 meters of a rock cliff. It is the largest of all the rock-cut images of the Goryeo period. This image is often known as "Mahayeon Myogilsang," Mahayeon (Mahayana) being the name of a small temple deep in the Manpokdong Valley (See fig. 3a & 3b). On the right side of the image, there is an intaglio inscription of three Chinese characters by the famous scholar-official and calligrapher Yun Sa-guk (1728-1709) reading "妙吉祥"myogilsang (fig. 4a, 4b). 3. The iconography: "Myogilsang" is another name for the Bhodhisattva Mañjuśrī. The Chinese pronunciation of Myogilsang is "miaojixiang," which is similar in pronunciation to Mañjuśrī. Therefore, we can suggest a 妙吉祥 ↔ Mañjuśrī formula for the translation and transliteration of the term. Even though the image was given a traditional name, the mudra presented by the two hands in the image calls for a closer examination. They show the making of a circle by joining the thumb with the ring finger (fig. 6). If the left land pointed downward, this mudra would conventionally be considered "lower class: lower life," one of the nine mudras of the Amitabha. However, in this image the left hand is placed across its abdomen at an almost 90-degree angle to the right hand (fig. 6). This can be interpreted as a combination of the "fear not" and the "preaching" mudras (see note 10, D. Saunders). I was also advised by the noted Buddhist art specialist Professor Kim Jeong-heui (of Won'gwang University) to presume that this is the "preaching" mudra. Therefore, I have tentatively concluded that this Myogilsang is an image of the Shakyamuni offering the preaching mudra. There is no such combination of hand gestures in any other Goryeo-period images. The closest I could identify is the Beopjusa Rock-cut Buddha (fig. 7) from around the same time. 4. Comparative analysis: As seen in , except for the two contemporary paintings, all others on this chart are in ink or ink and light color. Also, none of them included the fact that the image is under a 40-meter cliff. In addition, the Joseon-period paintings all depicted the rock-cut image as if it were a human figure, using soft brushstrokes and rounded forms. None of these paintings accurately rendered the mudra from the image as did Seon-u. Only his painting depicts the natural setting of the image under the cliff along with a realistic rendering of the image. However, by painting the tall cliff in dark green and by eliminating elements on either side of the rock-cut image, the artist was able to create an almost surreal atmosphere surrounding the image. Herein lies the uniqueness of Seon-u Yeong's version. The left side of Seon-u's 2007 work Mount Geumgang (fig. 8) lives up to his reputation as a painter who depicts forms (rocks in this case) in minute detail, but in the right half of the composition it also shows his skill at presenting a sense of space. In contrast, Wave (fig. 9), a work completed one year before his death, displays his faithfulness to the traditions of ink painting. Even based on only three paintings by Seon-u Yeong, it seems possible to assess his versatility in both traditional ink and color mediums.
산률(山律) 선우영(鮮于英)(1946~2009) 필(筆) <금강산 묘길상도>(2000)는 국립중앙박물관이 소장하게 된 최초의 북한 화가 작품이다. 지금까지 알려진 <묘길상도> 가운데 가장 큰 종축(縱軸) 형식으로 크기가 세로 130.2cm, 가로 56.2cm에 이르는 지본수묵진채(紙本水墨眞彩) 그림이다. 선우영에 관하여는 최근 우리나라에도 수차례 개최된 전시회에서 비교적 잘 알려졌다. 그는 1989년 공훈예술가, 1992년 인민예술가 칭호를 받는 등 이른바 '진채세화(眞彩細畫)'의 대가로서 북한을 대표하는 화가가 되었고, 60여 점의 작품이 북한 국보로 지정되었다. 이 그림의 주제인 <묘길상> 마애불은 금강산 내금강 지역에 있는 만폭동 골짜기의 높이 40m 벼랑 아래에 15m 정도 크기로 새겨진 고려시대의 마애불이다. 이 마애불의 명칭은 마사연(摩詞衍) 동쪽에 있었던 묘길상암(妙吉祥庵)에서 유래한다. 마애불의 오른쪽 옆 바위에는 직암(直庵) 윤사국(尹師國)(1728~1709)이 쓴 '묘길상(妙吉祥)'이라는 큼직한 음각의 글씨가 새겨져 있다. 필자는 불상의 수인(手印)을 오른손과 왼손이 모두 엄지와 약지(藥指)가 만나는 하품하생인(下品下生印)과 비슷하지만 왼손이 아래를 향하고 있지 않고 오른손과 거의 직각을 이루며 복부에 놓여있으므로 설법인(說法印)으로 보았다. 즉 이 불상은 설법인을 결하고 있는 석가상(釋迦像)이라고 결론지었다. 선우영의 <금강산 묘길상도>는 조선시대 같은 주제의 그림들과 비교하면 불상의 자연 환경, 즉 벼랑 아래 감실에 새겨진 불상이라는 점과 불상이 인간의 모습이 아닌 암각상임을 수묵진채로 표현한 유일한 그림이다. 구도와 색감이 자아내는 초현실주의적 분위기 또한 이 <금강산 묘길상도>의 특징이라 하겠다. 이 그림을 포함한 선우영의 대부분 작품이 진채로 바위 질감을 사실적으로 표현한 그림이지만 그의 만년작 <파도>(2008)와 같이 전통적의 수묵화에 가까운 그림도 그렸던 폭넓은 작품 세계를 보여주는 화가이다.