• Title/Summary/Keyword: Realism

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A study on the detailed treatment techniques of seoktap(stone stupa) in Jeollado province -in the groove for dropping water and the hole for wing bell of the okgaeseok(roof stone)- (전라도 석탑의 세부 기법 고찰 - 옥개석 물끊기홈과 충탁공을 중심으로 -)

  • Cho, Eun-kyung;Han, Joo-sung;Nam, Chang-keun
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.40
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    • pp.271-306
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    • 2007
  • One of the distinguishing features of late Jeosun's Hanshi (poem in Chinese) is the numerous creation of Yeonjachyung Keesokshi (serial poem on folklore) which describes the folk manner and folk way of life in detail. Keesokshi's subject matter is the folklike in general including local features, geography, climate, local production, humanity, social conducts, and daily labor for living as well. By its material characteristics, Keesokshi reflects detailed life conditions of the society members in each levels, and represents the local customs as well as the folk emotions. Among the several kinds of Keesokshis, a Sesi Keesokshi focuses only in reciting the folk customs on each seasonal festival days, and the great numbers of such serial poems appear during the latter part of the Jeosun Dynasty. Its overall background is the transition of artistic trend which came after many social changes such as expansion of realism, uprising national consciousness, shaken status system, and the rising of 'Jeosunsi' motives in the Hansi history. Moreover, each writer's various experiences and their interests in the reality and critical minds of common people contributed a crucial roll in creation of Sesi Keesokshi. 178 of the 584 remaining serial Sesi Keesokshi are written particularly about the folk customs in The Grand Full Moon Festival (the first full moon of a year by the lunar calendar). These Hanshis widely reflect the common ways of living by directly accepting the seasonal folk customs as the subject matters. Especially, close to the reality, these poems positively express the people's simple vigorous lives and create unrestrained lively image by describing the joys and sorrows of the folk existence along with their craving. Also, it is notable to have customs such as 'Shil-Ssa-Um' and 'No-gu-ban-kong-yang' as subjects for its rarity in other literatures.

A Study on the Painting's Aesthetic of Gongjae Yoon Duseo (공재(恭齋) 윤두서(尹斗緖)의 회화심미(繪畵審美) 고찰)

  • Kim, Doyoung
    • The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.175-183
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    • 2021
  • Gongjae Yoon DuSeo(1668~1715), from Haenam in the late Joseon Dynasty, is a scholar-born painter who was active during King Sukjong. He is the person who created the foundation as a pioneer of realist paintings in the late Joseon period during the transition from the middle to the latter period. He was born in Namin's prestigious family, but he ended his career as part of a partisan fight and immersed himself in painting and learning. 18C, the beginning of the late Joseon Dynasty, was a period when Silhak emerged and the Jinkyung era opened with awareness of nationalism. At this time, by incorporating the Silhak thought into the art world, the real reformed aesthetic consciousness was demonstrated to pioneer common people's customs, the application of Western painting methods, the pursuit of realist techniques, and the introduction of Namjongmuninhwa. His view of painting, who thoroughly learned the old things and pursued change, must have both the form and spirit that he can achieve 'HwaDo' only when it has the science of 'learning and knowledge' and the technical elements of 'practice and quality' emphasized. He has worked in a variety of reconciliations. In particular, portrait paintings are characterized by ihyeongsasin's realistic expressions of aesthetics. His masterpiece, 「Self-portrait」, excels in extreme-realistic depiction and innovation in composition, and stands out with an unconventional experimentation spirit that expresses his mind and thoughts in a painting with a sense of resentment. His landscape paintings combine to express the form as it is and mental notions, and beautifully embodied Do as a form, thus achieving ihyeongmido, which reached the level of'joyfulness forgotten even the heart of joy'. On the other hand, the generalization of the common people using various common people's lives as the subject of an open-mindedness aimed at gaining the facts of ihyeongsajin, a passive protest against corrupt power and an expression of a spirit of love. Since then, his painting style has been passed down from generation to generation to his eldest son Yoon Deok-hee and his grandson Yoon Yong, leading the change and revival of calligraphy art in the late Joseon Dynasty.

Quest of Wang Yak-heo(王若虚)'s Theories of Poetry - With a focus on Three Volumes of 「Talks on Chinses Poetry」 among "the Collected Writings of Wang Yak-heo"(滹南遺老集) (王若虚的詩論探究(왕약허의 시론 탐구) - 以《滹南遺老集》中的《詩話》三卷爲主(『호남유로집』 중 「시화」 3권을 중심으로) -)

  • Jang, Yung-Ki
    • (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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    • no.34
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    • pp.207-224
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    • 2009
  • This research is a quest of theories of poetry of Wang Yak-heo who was a literary critic during Chin(金) dynasty in ancient China. Wang Yak-heo left a fine piece of work, dubbed ${\ll}$Honam Yuro Jib${\gg}$ and, in this paper, the author closely reviewed the theories of poetry that is appeared, especially, in the three volumes of ${\ll}$Talks on Chinese Poetry${\gg}$ among the collections of Wang's poetry criticism. In particular, the author investigated the positive and negative aspects of Honam's commentaries on the works by Chinese poets, including his principles of poetics, creative skills, and practical criticism, etc. Wang Yak-heo has not been known much in the history of Chinese literary thoughts, however, his theory of criticism, especially, among the talks on Chinese the works by Chinese poets, his literature criticisms establish unique and distinctive point of views. Wang Yak-heo's poetics, more than anything else, valued nature, meanings, truth, and contents therein. He exhibited realistic view of literature. Meanwhile, he analyzed the methods of expression by Du Bo(杜甫, pronounced, "Du Fu" in Chinese), So Sik, also known as So Dong Pa (蘇軾, Su Shi or 蘇東坡, Su Dong Po in Chinese), and Hwang Jeong-gyeon(黃庭堅, Huang T'ing-chien), and highly evaluated the realistic poems written by Du Bo, Baek Geo-I (白居易, pronounced, "Bai Juyi" in Chinese), and So Sik. Also, he opposed to formalism or externality, however, he never made light of formality of poetry. In his comments on the works by Chinese poets, he highly evaluated the poems sung by So Sik and Beek Geo-I, in the mean time, however, he criticized their works without hesitation. Having set up his own unique criteria for critique, Wang didn't accept other opinions in a seemingly illogical manner, and he presented what he thoughts and other different points of view from others. Specifically, he attached great importance to whether or not modification of words and phrases, grammar, and whole context were congruent to one another and had been well harmonized. However, in his poetics, Wang was so wrapped himself in reasonableness or rationality, he analyzed each and every word in great detailed manner, as the result, he sometimes didn't read the sentiment or mood that the writers intended to express through poems. He excessively restricted himself to the words and phrases, so that he was not able to realize natural emotions and joy of imagination that were presented in the poems, and, in the end, this brought about adverse effects to the poet's thought.

A Study on Cinematic Representations of Posthuman Girls in South Korea-Focused on The Silenced and The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion (한국 영화에 나타난 포스트휴먼 소녀의 재현 양상 연구 -<경성학교: 사라진 소녀들>, <마녀>를 중심으로)

  • Kim, Eun Joung
    • Journal of Popular Narrative
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    • v.27 no.3
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    • pp.95-124
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    • 2021
  • As the symbolic images of girls besides its definition have varied according to the age and society, a posthuman girl character recently appears in the digital cinema. This study aims to analyze its cinematic representations and the social contexts in which they are created. For this purpose, the study focuses on what extent the society allows its imagined figurations as a future female body and the meanings revolving around the image of 'technologically body-enhanced female fighter'. Current digital visualization technology has developed to the extent any imaged future humans can be represented, but posthuman girls' representations have its limitation that only a human-like figuration can be allowed in accord with the traditionally idolized image of girls. It is because of the representation logic in which digital cinema is visualized based on perceptual realism that values audiences' experiences. Despite such less critical figuration which does not dare to cross the boundary between the image of human and inhuman, the posthuman girl characters create a new category of the 'dangerous girls' who are both void of sexual femininity and independent of motherhood and heterosexual romance narrative. Of course, they support the modern human-centered belief that humans can take entire control of technology with their moral behaviors and dispel the fear about the negative impact the nature of technology may have on society at large by showing their child-like figuration protecting ethical values. However, the new character of 'unruly girl' exerts her subversive act that seeks to fight against the human-centered liberal humanistic values and melancholic feeling and vulnerability that the neoliberalism and technocracy enforce. When posthuman girl characters are considered to be a marker through which we can see how different social forces are intervening and competing each other in the upcoming posthuman age, the limited figuration of the posthuman girl characters in South Korean movies illustrates the opinionated thoughts toward the instrumentalism in technology but their bloodshed struggles reveal how the corporate or state-governed techno-biopower has oppressively treated and appropriated the human body as the technology-object and also provide a meaningful opportunity to rethink its unethical violence.

The Philosophical Status of Scientific Theories for Science Education (과학교육을 위한 과학이론의 철학적 위치)

  • Jun-Young, Oh;Eun-Ju, Lee
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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    • v.15 no.3
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    • pp.354-372
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    • 2022
  • The purpose of this study is to explore the philosophical position of various scientific theories based on the scientific worldviews for science education. In addition, it aims to expand science education, which has usually dealt with epistemology and methodology, to ontology, that is, to the problem of metaphysics. It can be said that there exists a physical realism, traditionally defined as a strong determinism of the metaphysical belief. That is fixed and unchanging objective scientific knowledge independent of our minds, which was established by Newton, Einstein and Schridinger. What can be seen in the natural laws of dynamics can be called 'mathematicization'. Einstein also shook the traditional views to some extent through the theory of relativity, but his theory was still close to traditional thinking. On the contrary, to escape from this rigid determinism, we need anthropomorphic concepts such as 'possibility' and 'chance'. It is a characteristic of the modern scientific worldviews that leads the change of scientific theory from a classically strong deterministic thought to a weak deterministic accidental accident, probability theory, and a naturalistic point of view. This can be said to correspond to Darwin's theory of evolution and quantum mechanics. We can have three types of epistemological worlds that justify this ontological worldviews. These are rationalism, empiricism and naturalism. In many cases, science education does not tell us what kind of metaphysical beliefs the scientific theories we deal with in the field of education are based on. Also, science education focuses only on the understanding of scientific knowledge. However, it can be said that true knowledge can bring understanding only when it is connected to the knowledge of learned knowledge and the learner's own metaphysical belief in the world. Therefore, in the future, science education needs to connect various scientific theories based on scientific worldviews and philosophical position and present them to students.

Dutch Flower Still Life from the 17th Century to the Early 18th Century : A formal characteristics of Dutch Flower still life and its Relationship demand for artworks (17~18C의 네덜란드 꽃정물화 조형적 특성 연구 -네덜란드 꽃정물화의 조형적 특성과 미술수요의 관계를 중심으로-)

  • Lee, Ock Keun
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Floral Art and Design
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    • no.44
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    • pp.33-51
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    • 2021
  • This thesis analyzes the formal characteristics of Dutch flower still life from the 17th century to the early 18th century and looks into the relevance with the Dutch art market from a macro perspective. The 17th Flower Still Life is to represent social hierarchy in that as the imported exotic, recherch items, the flowers were classified in the terms of their rarity and expensiveness. For this intriguing research, the subject is circumscribed to a vase of flowers, which is the quintessence of In the form of various Dutch Flower Still Life. Dutch society in the early 17th century was centered on the civilian class engaged in trade and commerce, which allowed them to purchase art works to show off their wealth, economic benefits and satisfaction of aesthetic tastes. Among them, the popularity of flower still life was related to the concentrated demand for rare flowers from the new continent. Accordingly, exact depiction and sense of the three dimensional manner were highly regarded in the early flower still life. For the tastes of the wealthy citizens who succeeded in business, the identity of flowers and the actual screen were considered as important. However, after the mid 17th century, economic growth in the Netherlands put an end, and the art market was also on a downward path. The demand class of flower still life has gotten farther away from the spirit of businessmen and has changed into city aristocrats who were stable rentiers. Their tastes laid emphasis on subjective sensibility, which meant that aristocratic, asymmetric, and dramatic chiaroscuro were preferred rather than being realistic. Furthermore, in the 18th century illusionistic realism was abandoned as an expression method of the planar characteristics and a new era in the floral still life was ushered with the reinforcement of decorative effect. From this perspective, it is not an exaggeration to say that romanticism, which is thought of as the beginning of Contemporary Art, originated from the aesthetic taste of Dutch civic culture.

A Study on the Interactive Narrative - Focusing on the analysis of VR animation <Wolves in the Walls> (인터랙티브 내러티브에 관한 연구 - VR 애니메이션 <Wolves in the Walls>의 분석을 중심으로)

  • Zhuang Sheng
    • Trans-
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    • v.15
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    • pp.25-56
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    • 2023
  • VR is a dynamic image simulation technology with very high information density. Among them, spatial depth, temporality, and realism bring an unprecedented sense of immersion to the experience. However, due to its high information density, the information contained in it is very easy to be manipulated, creating an illusion of objectivity. Users need guidance to help them interpret the high density of dynamic image information. Just like setting up navigation interfaces and interactivity in games, interactivity in virtual reality is a way to interpret virtual content. At present, domestic research on VR content is mainly focused on technology exploration and visual aesthetic experience. However, there is still a lack of research on interactive storytelling design, which is an important part of VR content creation. In order to explore a better interactive storytelling model in virtual reality content, this paper analyzes the interactive storytelling features of the VR animated version of <Wolves in the walls> through the methods of literature review and case study. We find that the following rules can be followed when creating VR content: 1. the VR environment should fully utilize the advantages of free movement for users, and users should not be viewed as mere observers. The user's sense of presence should be fully considered when designing interaction modules. Break down the "fourth wall" to encourage audience interaction in the virtual reality environment, and make the hot media of VR "cool". 2.Provide developer-driven narrative in the early stages of the work so that users are not confused about the ambiguous world situation when they first enter a virtual environment with a high degree of freedom. 1.Unlike some games that guide users through text, you can guide them through a more natural interactive approach that adds natural dialog between the user and story characters (NPC). Also, since gaze guidance is an important part of story progression, you should set up spatial scene user gaze guidance elements within it. For example, you can provide eye-following cues, motion cues, language cues, and more. By analyzing the interactive storytelling features and innovations of the VR animation <Wolves in the walls>, I hope to summarize the main elements of interactive storytelling from its content. Based on this, I hope to explore how to better showcase interactive storytelling in virtual reality content and provide thoughts on future VR content creation.

North Korean folk Operas and Musical Politics of Selection - Focused on National Operas Prior to Revolutionary Operas (북한 초기 고전 각색 가극과 선별의 음악 정치 - 혁명가극 이전 민족 가극을 중심으로)

  • Chung, Myung-Mun
    • (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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    • no.39
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    • pp.69-96
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    • 2019
  • North Korea has conserved operas in a selective manner. The subject matters of operas recorded in the history of North Korea can be divided into classical tales, translated foreign works, Korean War and war against Japan. Operas that adapted folk classics of the 1950s are considered valuable materials to verify the changes of genres posterior to division of regime between North and South Korea. The officially confirmed works include "Kumgangsan Palseonnyeo (Gyeonwoo Jiknyeo)," "Chunhyangjeon." "Kongjwi Patjwi (Kotsin)," "Ondal," and "Geumnaneui Dal." These works had gone through recreation in terms of realistic situation setting, abolition of class difference, adjustment of social rank and punishment of evil while the base lies in the original folk classics. People emphasized in adapted folk operas are described as those who are hard-working souls without giving importance of difference of social rank, content with the currently living space, devoted to their parents and full of patriotic spirit, and members of community who participate in organized fights against unfair exploitation. This was the fruit of encouragement of work creation supporting union between labor and individual life, destruction of old things and fight promoting this destruction. Folk operas of South and North Korea posterior to Korean War have similarities in that both deal with a love story transcending social ranks and the concomitant conflicts and they focus on the audience who enjoy the operas. Nonetheless, they are different in that this love in North Korea became a tool of educating people wished by the regime, while it became an object of securing the audience by adding the tragic element to love in South Korea. North Korean operas of the initial stage are characterized by playwriting method emphasizing difficult life and compensation of common people, realistic stage expression, accentuation of melody and agreement between notes and lyrics. This was efforts designed to continuously lead senses concentrated from the theater to everyday life of people. In effect, this is in line with the playwriting method of revolutionary operas. Adapted folk operas were subject matters ideal for easily approaching the audience and leaving them good memories at the same time. To realize socialist realism, they went through an experiment of reviewing "people" through the classic folk operas. The possibility of continuation of a work was determined by thorough evaluation after carrying out an experiment in terms of subject matters, theme, music and operation plans from the moment of which the work was on the stage. The sign consisted in the possibility of visit of "Kim Il-sung" to appreciate the work and presentation of directionality. By proposing the clear directionality of which hard-working people who deny social status system can be duly compensated, it encouraged the audience who saw the opera to voluntarily put this in practice. Thus, operas established the directionality through selective processes for creating public communion even before revolutionary operas.

A Study on Jeong Su-yeong's Handscroll of a Sightseeing Trip to the Hangang and Imjingang Rivers through the Lens of Boating and Mountain Outings (선유(船遊)와 유산(遊山)으로 본 정수영(鄭遂榮)의 《한임강유람도권》 고찰)

  • Hahn, Sangyun
    • MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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    • v.96
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    • pp.89-122
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    • 2019
  • In this paper, I argue that the Handscroll of a Sightseeing Trip to the Hangang and Imjingang Rivers by Jeong Su-yeong (1743~1831, pseudonym: Jiwujae) is a record of his private journeys to several places on the outskirts of Hanyang (present-day Seoul) and that it successfully embodies the painter's subjective perspective while boating on these rivers and going on outings to nearby mountains. Around 1796, Jeong Su-yeong traveled to different places and documented his travels in this 16-meter-long handscroll. Several leaves of paper, each of which depicts a separate landscape, are pieced together to create this long handscroll. This indicates that the Handscroll of a Sightseeing Trip to the Hangang and Imjingang Rivers reflected the painter's personal subjective experiences as he went along his journey rather than simply depicts travel destinations. The Handscroll of a Sightseeing Trip to the Hangang and Imjingang Rivers features two types of travel: boating and mountain outings on foot. Traveling by boat takes up a large portion of the handscroll, which illustrates the channels of the Hangang and Imjingang Rivers. Mountain outings correspond to the sections describing the regions around Bukhansan, Gwanaksan, and Dobongsan Mountains. Jeong Su-yeong traveled to this wide span of places not just once, but several times. The fact that the Hangang River system are not presented in accordance with their actual locations shows that they were illustrated at different points. After visiting the riversides of the Hangang and Namhangang Rivers twice, Jeong Su-yeong delineated them in fourteen scenes. Among them, the first eight illustrate Jeong's initial trip by boat, while the other six scenes are vistas from his second trip. These fourteen scenes occupy half of this handscroll, indicating that the regions near the Hangang River are painted most frequently. The scenes of Jeong Su-yeong's first boating trip to the system of the Hangang River portray the landscapes that he personally witnessed rather than famous scenes. Some of the eight scenic views of Yeoju, including Yongmunsan Mountain, Cheongsimru Pavilion, and Silleuksa Temple, are included in this handscroll. However, Jeong noted spots that were not often painted and depicted them using an eye-level perspective uncommon for illustrating famous scenic locations. The scenes of Jeong's second boating trip include his friend's villa and a meeting with companions. Moreover, Cheongsimru Pavilion and Silleuksa Temple, which are depicted in the first boating trip, are illustrated again from different perspectives and in unique compositions. Jeong Su-yeong examined the same locations several times from different angles. A sense of realism is demonstrated in the scenes of Jeong's first and second boating trips to the channels of the Hangang River, which depict actual roads. Furthermore, viewers can easily follow the level gaze of Jeong from the boat. The scenes depicting the Imjingang River begin from spots near the Yeongpyeongcheon and Hantangang Rivers and end with places along the waterways of the Imjingang River. Here, diverse perspectives were applied, which is characteristic of Imjingang River scenes. Jeong Su-yeong employed a bird's-eye perspective to illustrate the flow of a waterway starting from the Yeongpyeongcheon River. He also used an eye-level perspective to highlight the rocks of Baegundam Pool. Thus, depending on what he wished to emphasize, Jeong applied different perspectives. Hwajeogyeon Pond located by the Hantangang River is illustrated from a bird's-eye perspective to present a panoramic view of the surroundings and rocks. Similarly, the scenery around Uhwajeong Pavilion by the Imjingang River are depicted from the same perspective. A worm's-eye view was selected for Samseongdae Cliff in Tosangun in the upper regions of the Imjingang River and for Nakhwaam Rock. The scenes of Jeong Su-yeong's mountain outings include pavilions and small temple mainly. In the case of Jaeganjeong Pavilion on Bukhansan Mountain, its actual location remains unidentified since the pavilion did not lead to the route of the boating trip to the system of the Hangang River and was separately depicted from other trips to the mountains. I speculate that Jaeganjeong Pavilion refers to a pavilion either in one of the nine valleys in Wooyi-dong at the foot of Bukhansan Mountain or in Songajang Villa. Since these two pavilions are situated in the valleys of Bukhansan Mountain, their descriptions in written texts are similar. As for Gwanaksan Mountain, Chwihyangjeong and Ilganjeong Pavilions as well as Geomjisan Mountain in the Bukhansan Mountain range are depicted. Ilganjeong Pavilion was a well-known site on Gwanaksan that belonged to Shin Wi. In this handscroll, however, Jeong Su-yeong recorded objective geographic information on the pavilion rather than relating it to Shin Wi. "Chwihyangjeong Pavilion" is presented within the walls, while "Geomjisan Mountain" is illustrated outside the walls. Handscroll of a Sightseeing Trip to the Hangang and Imjingang Rivers also includes two small temples, Mangwolam and Okcheonam, on Dobongsan Mountain. The actual locations of these are unknown today. Nevertheless, Gungojip (Anthology of Gungo) by Yim Cheonsang relates that they were sited on Dobongsan Mountain. Compared to other painters who stressed Dobong Seowon (a private Confucian academy) and Manjangbong Peak when depicting Dobongsan Mountain, Jeong Su-yeong highlighted these two small temples. Jeong placed Yeongsanjeon Hall and Cheonbong Stele in "Mangwolam small temple" and Daeungjeon Hall in front of "Okcheonam small temple." In addition to the buildings of the small temple, Jeong drew the peaks of Dobongsan Mountain without inscribing their names, which indicates that he intended the Dobongsan peaks as a background for the scenery. The Handscroll of a Sightseeing Trip to the Hangang and Imjingang Rivers is of great significance in that it embodies Jeong Su-yeong's personal perceptions of scenic spots on the outskirts of Hanyang and records his trips to these places.

The First North Korean Painting in the Collection of the National Museum of Korea: Myogilsang on Diamond Mountain by Seon-u Yeong (국립중앙박물관 소장 산률(山律) 선우영(鮮于英) 필(筆) <금강산 묘길상도>)

  • Yi, Song-mi
    • MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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    • v.97
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    • pp.87-104
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    • 2020
  • 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.