• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.4-23
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• 2018

Seo Byeong-o (徐丙五, 1862-1936) played a central role in the formation of the Daegu artistic community-which advocated artistic styles combining poetry, calligraphy and painting-during the Japanese colonial period, when the introduction of the Western concept of 'art' led to the adoption of Japanese and Western styles of painting in Korea. Seo first entered the world of calligraphy and painting after meeting Lee Ha-eung (李昰應, 1820-1898) in 1879, but his career as a scholar-artist only began in earnest after Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910. Seo's oeuvre can be broadly divided into three periods. In his initial period of learning, from 1879 to 1897, his artistic activity was largely confined to copying works from Chinese painting albums and painting works in the "Four Gentlemen" genre, influenced by the work of Lee Ha-eung, in his spare time. This may have been because Seo's principal aim at this time was to further his career as a government official. His subsequent period of development, which lasted from 1898 until 1920, saw him play a leading social role in such areas as the patriotic enlightenment movement until 1910, after which he reoriented his life to become a scholar-artist. During this period, Seo explored new styles based on the orchid paintings of Min Yeong-ik (閔泳翊, 1860-1914), whom he met during his second trip to Shanghai, and on the bamboo paintings of Chinese artist Pu Hua (蒲華, 1830-1911). At the same time, he painted in various genres including landscapes, flowers, and gimyeong jeolji (器皿折枝; still life with vessels and flowers). In his final mature period, from 1921 to 1936, Seo divided his time between Daegu and Seoul, becoming a highly active calligrapher and painter in Korea's modern art community. By this time his unique personal style, characterized by broad brush strokes and the use of abundant ink in orchid and bamboo paintings, was fully formed. Records on, and extant works from, Seo's early period are particularly rare, thus confining knowledge of his artistic activities and painting style largely to the realm of speculation. In this respect, eleven recently revealed nanjukseok (蘭竹石圖; orchid, bamboo and rock) paintings, produced by Seo in 1889, provide important clues about the origins and standards of his early-period painting style. This study uses a comparative analysis to confirm that Seo's orchid paintings show the influence of the early gunran (群蘭圖; orchid) and seongnan (石蘭圖; rock and orchid) paintings produced by Lee Ha-eung before his arrest by Qing troops in July 1882. Seo's bamboo paintings appear to show both that he adopted the style of Zheng Xie (鄭燮, 1693-1765) of the Yangzhou School (揚州畵派), a style widely known in Seoul from the late eighteenth century onward, and of Heo Ryeon (許鍊, 1809-1892), a student of Joseon artist Kim Jeong-hui (金正喜,1786-1856), and that he attempted to apply a modified version of Lee Ha-eung's seongnan painting technique. It was not possible to find other works by Seo evincing a direct relationship with the curious rocks depicted in his 1889 paintings, but I contend that they show the influence of both the late-nineteenth-century-Qing rock painter Zhou Tang (周棠, 1806-1876) and the curious rock paintings of the middle-class Joseon artist Jeong Hak-gyo (丁學敎, 1832-1914). In conclusion, this study asserts that, for his 1889 nanjukseok paintings, Seo Byeong-o adopted the styles of contemporary painters such as Heo Ryeon and Jeong Hak-gyo, whom he met during his early period at the Unhyeongung through his connection with its occupant, Lee Ha-eung, and those of artists such as Zheng Xie and Zhou Tang, whose works he was able to directly observe in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.81-89
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• 2011

The results of tracking the symbolism of plants in the introduction factors of Sokhwa(folk painting) are as the following. 1. The term Sokhwa(俗畵) is not only a type of painting with a strong local customs, but also carries a symbolic meaning and was discovered in "Donggukisanggukjip" of Lee, Gyu-Bo(1268~1241) in the Goryo era as well as the various usage in the "Sok Dongmunseon" in the early Chosun era, "Sasukjaejip" of Gang, Hee-mang(1424~1483), "Ilseongrok(1786)" in the late Chosun era, "Jajeo(自著)" of Yoo, Han-joon(1732~1811), and "Ojuyeonmunjangjeonsango(五洲衍文長箋散稿)" of Lee, Gyu-gyung(1788~?). Especially, according to the Jebyungjoksokhwa allegation〈題屛簇俗畵辯證說〉in the Seohwa of the Insa Edition of Ojuyeonmunjangjeonsango, there is a record that the "people called them Sokhwa." 2. Contemporarily, the Korean Sokhwa underwent the prehistoric age that primitively reflected the natural perspective on agricultural culture, the period of Three States that expressed the philosophy of the eternal spirits and reflected the view on the universe in colored pictures, the Goryo Era that religiously expressed the abstract shapes and supernatural patterns in spacein symbolism, and the Chosun Era that established the traditional Korean identity of natural perspective, aesthetic values and symbolism in a complex integration in the popular culture over time. 3. The materials that were analyzed in 1,009 pieces of Korean Sokhwa showed 35 species of plants, 37 species of animals, 6 types of natural objects and other 5 types with a total of 83 types. 4. The shape aesthetics according to the aesthetic analysis of the plants in Sokhwa reflect the primitive world view of Yin/yang and the Five Elements in the peony paintings and dynamic refinement and biological harmonies in the maehwado; the composition aesthetics show complex multi-perspective composition with a strong noteworthiness in the bookshelf paintings, a strong contrast of colors with reverse perspective drawing in the battlefield paintings, and the symmetric beauty of simple orderly patterns in nature and artificial objects with straight and oblique lines are shown in the leisurely reading paintings. In terms of color aesthetics, the five colors of directions - east, west, south, north and the center - or the five basic colors - red, blue, yellow, white and black - are often utilized in ritual or religious manners or symbolically substitute the relative relationships with natural laws. 5. The introduction methods in the Korean Sokhwa exceed the simple imitation of the natural shapes and have been sublimated to the symbolism that is related to nature based on the colloquial artistic characteristics with the suspicion of the essence in the universe. Therefore, the symbolism of the plants and animals in the Korean Sokhwas is a symbolic recognition system, not a scientific recognition system with a free and unique expression with a complex interaction among religious, philosophical, ecological and ideological aspects, as a identity of the group culture of Koreans where the past and the future coexist in the present. This is why the Koran Sokhwa or the folk paintings can be called a cultural identity and can also be interpreted as a natural and folk meaningful scenic factor that has naturally integrated into our cultural lifestyle. However, the Sokhwa(folk paintings) that had been closely related to our lifestyle drastically lost its meaning and emotions through the transitions over time. As the living lifestyle predominantly became the apartment culture and in the historical situations where the confusion of the identity has deepened, the aesthetic and the symbolic values of the Sokhwa folk paintings have the appropriateness to be transmitted as the symbolic assets that protect our spiritual affluence and establish our identity.

• MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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• v.96
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• pp.155-180
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• 2019

Samsaebulhoedo(三世佛會圖) at Yongjusa Temple(龍珠寺), regarded as a monumental masterpiece consisting of different elements such as Confucian and Buddhist ideas, palace academy garden and Buddhist artist styles, unique traditional and western painting styles, is one of the representative works that symbolically illustrate the development and innovation of painting in the late Joseon dynasty. However, the absence of painting inscriptions raised persistent controversy over the past half century among researchers as to the matters of estimating its production period, identifying the original author and analyzing style characteristics. In the end, the work failed to gain recognitions commensurate with its historical significance and value. It is the particularly vital issue in that estimating the production period of the existing masterpiece is the beginning of all other discussions. However, this issue has caused the ensuing debates since all details are difficult to be interpreted to a concise form due to a number of different records on painters and mixture of traditional buddhist painting styles used by buddhist painters and innovative western styles used by ordinary painters. Contrary to other ordinary Buddhist paintings, this painting, Samsaebulhoedo, has a praying letter for the royal establishment at the center of the main altar. It should be noted that regarding this painting, its original version-His Royal Highness King, Her Majesty, His Royal Crown Prince主上殿下, 王妃殿下, 世子邸下-was erased and instead added Her Love Majesty慈宮邸下 in front of Her Majesty. This praying letter can be assumed as one of the significant and objective evidence for estimating its production period. The new argument of the late 19th century production focused on this praying letter, and proposed that King Sunjo was then the first-born son when Yongjusa Temple was built in 1790 and it was not until January 1, 1800 that he was ascended to the Crown Prince. In this light, the existing praying letter with the eulogistic title-Crown Prince世子-should be considered revised after his ascension to the throne. Styles and icons bore some resemblance to Samsaebulhoedo at Cheongryongsa Temple or Bongeunsa Temple portrayed by Buddhist painters in the late 19th century. Therefore, the remaining Samsaebulhoedo should be depicted by them in the same period as western styles were introduced in Buddhist painting in later days. Following extensive investigations, praying letters in Buddhist paintings in the late 19th century show that it was usual to record specification such as class, birth date and family name of people during the dynasty at the point of producing Buddhist paintings. It is easy to find that those who passed away decades ago cannot be revised to use eulogistic titles as seen by the praying letters in Samsaebulhoedo at Yongju Temple. As "His Royal Highness King, Her Majesty, His Royal Crown Prince" was generally used around 1790 regardless of the presence of first-born son or Crown Prince, it was rather natural to write the eulogistic title "His Royal Crown Prince" in the praying letter of Samsaebulhoedo. Contrary to ordinary royal hierarchy, Her Love Majesty was placed in front of Her Majesty. Based on this, the praying letter was assumed to be revised since King Jeongjo placed royal status of Hyegyeonggung before the Queen, which was an exceptional case during King Jeongjo's reign, due to unusual relationships among King Jeongjo, Hyegyeonggung and the Queen arising from the death of Crown Prince(思悼世子). At that time, there was a special case of originally writing a formal tripod praying letter, as can be seen from ordinary praying letter in Buddhist paintings, erasing it and adding a special eulogistic title: Her Love Majesty. This indicates that King Jeongjo identified that Hyegyeonggung was erased, and commanded to add it; nevertheless, ceremony leaders of Yongju Temple, built as a palace for holding ceremonies of Hyeonryungwon(顯隆園) are Jeongjo, the son of his father and his wife Hyegyeonggung (Her Love Majesty)(惠慶宮(慈宮)). This revision is believed to be ordered by King Jeongjo on January 17, 1791 when the King paid his first visit to the Hyeonryungwon since the establishment of Hyeonryungwon and Yongju Temple, stopped by Yongju Temple on his way to palace and saw Samsaebulhoedo for the first and last time. As shown above, this letter consisting of special contents and forms can be seen an obvious, objective testament to the original of Samsebulhoedo painted in 1790 when Yongju Temple was built.