• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.62 no.4
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• pp.15-31
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• 2012

This study is intended to understand the styles, colors and color arrangements of costumes expressed on Kisan Kim Jun-geun's genre paintings of Joseon in the late 19th century. The paintings vary according to the status and gender of the person wearing the costume as well as the time period and different situations the person belongs to. Also, this study aims to examine the meaning and value of Kisan's paintings in terms of the history of Korean costumes. The result of this study are as follows: The basic and common attire for people of all status and class is the jeogori(jacket), baji(pants) for men and Banhoijang jeogori, chima(skirt) for women. Men wear Po(coat) that represents their status and age, and they put on various hats according to different weather conditions or work-skill even when in the same status and class. However, women wear the Baeja(vest), Durumagi(coat) and head-dresses when they are cold. Overall, the costume patterns and shapes that appear on Kisan's paintings show the same patterns and structures when compared to different data during the same time period. Thus, they provide useful information to help not only understand the changes of patterns and structures of costumes, but also the situations and emotions of the people of that time period. Moreover, it can be understood that various colors and color arrangements that reflect the situations and emotions of the late 19th century were used. This study that analyses the colors and color arrangements used in Kisan's genre paintings can provide the very basic and systematically arranged data to help understand the unique colors in Korea. These data can also provide important information to understand the use of dyes and pigments during that time. Therefore, Kisan's genre paintings are meaningful and valuable in terms of the history of Korean costumes for these are the data, from which we can review the costumes, colors and color arrangements in the years from 1890 to 1910.