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A Study on Xu Bing's artworks Contributed to expansion of printmaking in Contemporary Chinese Art (중국 현대미술에서의 판화 매체 확장을 일으킨 쉬빙(徐冰) 작품 연구)

  • Song, Dae-Sup;Cho, Ye-In
    • Cartoon and Animation Studies
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    • s.45
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    • pp.321-343
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    • 2016
  • The purpose of this thesis is to look through the political and social background of China preparing for a new era after getting out of the Communist Party of Mao Zedong, rapid inflow of the Western modernism and the avant-garde art arising in China with the focus of art works of Xu Bing, which contributed to the expansion of printmaking of China. Particularly, 85 New Wave Movement arose by young artists since 1985 and the China/Avant-Garde Exhibition held in Beijing in 1989 are the two important issues which reflect a new change from the traditional Chinese art. The artists of 85 New Wave Movement, who pursued a historical revolution and novelty, worked very actively by leading private exhibitions. Since the Cultural Revolution, the government owned the National Museum of Fine Art Beijing had exhibitions on a large scale displaying various visual arts such as performing art, installation, painting, sculpture but the Chinese government interrupted exhibitions two time due to bold performing art and unconcealed installation. Some artists were even taken to the police when performing art. Under these circumstances, Xu Bing, who majored printmaking, produced one of his major works, Books from the sky(1988), while he was working on various experiments focusing on the production process of printmaking and its repetitiveness. Xu Bing devised letters, carved them in trees and finally created approximately 2000 characters. Going further he displayed it as installation work, which means the developed characters go beyond a printed form, for audiences. This made him earn favorable reviews since it was a form of western art coupled with Chinese contents 'Chinese character'. After he received unfavorable reviews, however, he went to America leaving his last work in China, Ghost Pounding the Wall, in 1990, which was not able to exhibited. In those days, China society was going through a chaotic era thanks to the extinction of the Cultural Revolution and Deng Xiaoping's(1904-1997) reformation after the debacle of Tiananmen Massacre. This study looks into Xu Bing's artworks from his initial print works until he went to the US in 1991 and examines how he performed experiments utilizing reproductivity and plurality of prints tinged with Chinese traditional elements, and ultimately became one of the avant-garde artists representing the period.

A Study on the Aesthetic Characteristics of Wedding Dress in the 19th Century - Focusing on Neo-Classicism and Romanticism - (19세기 웨딩드레스의 미적 특성에 관한 연구 - 신고전주의와 낭만주의를 중심으로 -)

  • Shin, Kyeong-Seub
    • Journal of Fashion Business
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    • v.15 no.1
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    • pp.185-204
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    • 2011
  • The purpose of this study is to take into consideration the formative and aesthetic characteristics of wedding dresses that existed during the periods of Neo-Classicism and Romanticism which appeared as a reaction toward Neo-Classicism. The method of the research was mainly focused on precedent research data and general references. Furthermore the data on wedding dresses was mainly collected from British, French, and American library and museum web sites. The result of the research is the following. The Neo-Classicism art, which appeared along with the enlightenment in the beginning of the 19th century, pursues beauty based on associations and imitations of ancient Greek and Roman arts. In addition to aforementioned pursuits, the Neo-Classicism art also pursued universal beauty and social usefulness through law and order. This aesthetic value was also applied to the wedding dresses, so classical beauty, natural beauty and universal beauty were expressed as follows: corsets of the previous era were removed from general clothing and Empire style that imitated natural Greek style became predominant. Also, muslin replaced high quality clothes which were used as the main materials of the dressing during the previous era. Empire style's wedding dress became popular and simple colors and styles of the wedding dress expressed the beauty of the human body and emphasized civility at the same time. Romanticism art and costumes opposed rationalism and pursued sentimentalism. Moreover, it pursued diversity, exotic tastes and accepted diverse reactionism unlike Neo-Classicism's simplification and standardization. These aesthetic characteristic were applied to the wedding dress of this period; wedding dress of romanticism pursued feminine and elegant beauty with "X" silhouettes and various decorations, like general costumes. And they were decorated with a variety of excessive accessories, details and trimmings to express romantic sentimentalism. Exotic tastes which included Chinese, Egyptian, Indian influence and other diverse tastes were expressed through hair style, accessories and patterns of shawl. However, the white color in the wedding dress revealed purity and sanctity which cannot be found from general costumes regardless of whether the dress expressed Neo-classicism or Romanticism. As a formal dress worn during wedding ceremonies, the wedding dresses of the royalty revealed dignity and authority and significantly influenced later wedding dress designs.

Investigation report of puppets performance - Mansukjung Nolum·Seosanbakchumji Nolum - (인형극 조사보고 - 만석중놀음·서산박첨지놀음 -)

  • Seo, Seung-Woo
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.35
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    • pp.236-282
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    • 2002
  • Among elements of play, there are puppets performances and shadows performance which are replacing actors by puppets and shadows. Puppet performance is characteristic of expressing various movements and symbols at its conveniences by the reduced models of human form with various materials. Shadow performance is realized in various colors that cannot be discovered in other countries by expressing mysterious cubic effect in reflecting the light against various forms. Mansukjung Nolum is a unique shadow performance that has been inherited in Korea. There are found many shadow performances inherited in the northern Europe and South-eastern Asia. Recently the silhouette animation in application of shadow performance is made. In the northern Europe and South-eastern Asia, they performed in white and black color while Mansukjung Nolum is performed in natural colors. Since they adopted the leather materials for making puppets, their opaque feature cannot reflect the colored light. But in Korea we adopted the specially colored semi-transparent Korean paper, which gives the colored shadows to spectators. Mansukjung Nolum consists of three acts for arousing attention of fallen monks destroying the teaching of Buddha. Seosanbakchumji Nolum is a puppet performance inherited in a village in Seosan, Choongnam instead of wandering artists. The story and form of performance in Namsadangpae's puppet play is mostly similar to it, but it is woven by its villages natural environment and specific dialects, reflecting their consciousness in mind. The villagers made the puppets and manipulate them in communicating their wisdom of life between them. Parkchumji Nolum is a kind of integral art combining puppet manipulation, witticism, songs and dances. The hero of Parkchumji discloses the social and structural conflicts of feudalism, in arousing the spectators' rich attention of self-awareness and lessons.

A study on the production techniques and prototype of the mother-of-pearl chrysanthemum pattern box from the Goryeo Dynasty (고려 나전국화넝쿨무늬상자의 제작기법 고찰 및 원형 연구)

  • LEE Heeseung;LEE Minhye;KIM Sunghun;LEE Hyeonju
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.57 no.1
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    • pp.126-144
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    • 2024
  • The chrysanthemum vine pattern box from the Goryeo Dynasty expresses in great detail the representative features of Goryeo Dynasty lacquerware with mother-of-pearl, such as engraving patterns on the surface of fine mother-of-pearl, expressing vine stems using metal wires, and twisting metal wires to form the boundaries of each patterns. While the lacquerware with mother-of-pearl that remains today from the Goryeo Dynasty has the form of a sutra box and a box with lid, the chrysanthemum vine pattern box that is the subject of this study is in the shape of a box with a separate lid and body, making it difficult to estimate the purpose of production or the stored contents. In this study, we attempted to confirm the formative characteristics of the chrysanthemum vine pattern box in order to confirm its original form, and to investigate its structure and production technique through X-ray transmission. In addition, we attempted to identify the use and production purpose of the box by classifying and comparing the previously known lacquerware with mother-ofpearl from the Goryeo Dynasty by type. As a result of the investigation, fabric was confirmed the bottom of body and inner box through X-ray images. Through this, it was confirmed that the 'Mogsimjeopichilgi'(wooden core grabbing fabric technique) of wrapping the object with fabric was used. And through wood grain, it was possible to confirm the wooden board composition of the part presumed to be the restored part and the part presumed to have had existing Jangseog. In addition, it was confirmed that the joints were connected in a Majdaeim(part to part). Based on the survey results, a total of 14 pieces, including 9 Sutra boxes, 3 boxes, and 2 small boxes, that remain from the Goryeo Dynasty were classified by type and examined for similarity. Among them, there is a "Chrysanthemum Vine Pattern Sutra Box" from a private collection in Japan, a "Black Lacquered Chrysanthemum Arabesque Bun Sutra Box" from the Tokugawa Art Museum, a "Sutra Holder" from the British Museum, and a "Small Box with a Mother-of-Pearl Chrysanthemum Vine Pattern" from a private collection in Korea. The pattern composition of five points was most similar to the subject of this study. As a result of comparing the damage pattern, formative characteristics, and structural features of each part, it is presumed that the sutra holder in the British Museum was transformed into its current form from the original the chrysanthemum vine patterned box. Lastly, in order to confirm the purpose of production, that is, the use of this box, we investigated examples of Tripitaka Koreana printed version produced at a time similar to the social atmosphere of Goryeo at the time. Following the Mongol(元) invasion after the Goryeo military regime at the time, sutras appeared to pray for the stability of the nation and the soul of an individual, and with the development of domestic printing and paper in the 13th century, it gradually coincided with the transition from a scroll to a folded form, and the form of a box changed from a box. It is believed that the storage method also changed.

Face to Face with the Past: Memorizing the Plague of Athens through the Exhibition (과거와의 대면 : ${\ll}$미르티스${\gg}$ 전시를 통해 기억된 아테네 대 역병)

  • Cho, Eun-Jung
    • The Journal of Art Theory & Practice
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    • no.14
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    • pp.7-32
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    • 2012
  • The exhibition was started in 2010 in the New Acropolis Museum of Athens and embarked a journey since 2011 as a travelling exhibition inside Greece and abroad. The main purpose of the exhibition was to draw attention of the general public to the value of the 'rescue excavation' and of cultural heritage of Greece, by presenting the reconstruction bust of a girl whose skull was found in Kerameikos cemetery of ancient Athens. The new Kerameikos excavation was initiated by the construction of Metropolitan Railway lines in the center of Athens between 1992 to 1998. It revealed a pit of a mass burial where about 150 people were inhumed in a very hasty way without proper funeral rites or offerings. These bodies are identified as the victims of the infamous plague of Athens in the first years of the Peloponnesian War(430-426 BC). The epidemic disease killed almost one third of the city population including Pericles, and brought extreme fear and panic to the Athens society. The traditional funerary rites were totally disrupted, and the social decorum and the morality among the citizens became enfeebled. The plague and the civil war were the decisive factors to end the Golden Age of Democratic Athens. However, the exhibition organizers did not focus on the tragic aspect of this disaster and its casualties. Their main concern was to simplify the scholarly works of archaeological excavation and microchemistry analysis so that the exhibition viewers will easily understand and empathize the living value of the scholarly works of ancient Greek civilization. The centripetal element of the exhibition was the vivid face of an 11 years old ancient girl 'Myrtis', which was carefully reconstructed based on both the scientific data and artistic imagination. Also the set up of the exhibition was structured in order to stimuli cognitive and emotional experience of the visitors who witnessed the rebirth of a vibrant human being from an ancient debris. The museologists' continuous efforts to promote projects of contemporary artists, publications, and school programs related to the exhibition indicate that the ulterior motive of this exhibition is the cultural education of the present and future generation through the intimate experiences of ancient Greek life. Also this is the reason why the various museums that held the travelling exhibition try to make the presentation as a gesture of memorial service for an anonymous Athenian girl who deceased circa 2400 years ago. The pragmatic efforts of Greek scholars and museologists through exhibition show us a way to find a solution to the continuous threat of cultural resources by massive construction projects and land development, and to overcome public indifference to the history and cultural heritage.

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Specifying the Characteristics of Tangible User Interface: centered on the Science Museum Installation (실물형 인터렉션 디자인 특성 분석: 과학관 체험 전시물을 대상으로)

  • Cho, Myung Eun;Oh, Myung Won;Kim, Mi Jeong
    • Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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    • v.15 no.4
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    • pp.553-564
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    • 2012
  • Tangible user interfaces have been developed in the area of Human-Computer Interaction for the last decades, however, the applied domains recently have been extended into the product design and interactive art. Tangible User Interfaces are the combination of digital information and physical objects or environments, thus they provide tangible and intuitive interaction as input and output devices, often combined with Augmented Reality. The research developed a design guideline for tangible user interfaces based on key properties of tangible user interfaces defined previously in five representative research: Tangible Interaction, Intuitiveness and Convenience, Expressive Representation, Context-aware and Spatial Interaction, and Social Interaction. Using the guideline emphasizing user interaction, this research evaluated installation in a science museum in terms of the applied characteristics of tangible user interfaces. The selected 15 installations which were evaluated are to educate visitors for science by emphasizing manipulation and experience of interfaces in those installations. According to the input devices, they are categorized into four Types. TUI properties in Type 3 installation, which uses body motions for interaction, shows the highest score, where items for context-aware and spatial interaction were highly rated. The context-aware and spatial interaction have been recently emphasized as extended properties of tangible user interfaces. The major type of installation in the science museum is equipped with buttons and joysticks for physical manipulation, thus multimodal interfaces utilizing visual, aural, tactile senses etc need to be developed to provide more innovative interaction. Further, more installation need to be reconfigurable for embodied interaction between users and the interactive space. The proposed design guideline can specify the characteristics of tangible user interfaces, thus this research can be a basis for the development and application of installation involving more TUI properties in future.

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Broadening the Understanding of Sixteenth-century Real Scenery Landscape Painting: Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion (16세기(十六世紀) 실경산수화(實景山水畫) 이해의 확장 : <경포대도(鏡浦臺圖)>, <총석정도(叢石亭圖)>를 중심으로)

  • Lee, Soomi
    • MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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    • v.96
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    • pp.18-53
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    • 2019
  • The paintings Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion were recently donated to the National Museum of Korea and unveiled to the public for the first time at the 2019 special exhibition "Through the Eyes of Joseon Painters: Real Scenery Landscapes of Korea." These two paintings carry significant implications for understanding Joseon art history. Because the fact that they were components of a folding screen produced after a sightseeing tour of the Gwandong regions in 1557 has led to a broadening of our understanding of sixteenth-century landscape painting. This paper explores the art historical meanings of Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion by examining the contents in the two paintings, dating them, analyzing their stylistic characteristics, and comparing them with other works. The production background of Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion can be found in the colophon of Chongseokjeong Pavilion. According to this writing, Sangsanilro, who is presumed to be Park Chung-gan (?-1601) in this paper, and Hong Yeon(?~?) went sightseeing around Geumgangsan Mountain (or Pungaksan Mountain) and the Gwandong region in the spring of 1557, wrote a travelogue, and after some time produced a folding screen depicting several famous scenic spots that they visited. Hong Yeon, whose courtesy name was Deokwon, passed the special civil examination in 1551 and has a record of being active until 1584. Park Chung-gan, whose pen name was Namae, reported the treason of Jeong Yeo-rip in 1589. In recognition of this meritorious deed, he was promoted to the position of Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Punishments, rewarded with the title of first-grade pyeongnan gongsin(meritorious subject who resolved difficulties), and raised to Lord of Sangsan. Based on the colophon to Chongseokjeong Pavilion, I suggest that the two paintings Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion were painted in the late sixteenth century, more specifically after 1557 when Park Chung-gan and Hong Yeon went on their sightseeing trip and after 1571 when Park, who wrote the colophon, was in his 50s or over. The painting style used in depicting the landscapes corresponds to that of the late sixteenth century. The colophon further states that Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion were two paintings of a folding screen. Chongseokjeong Pavilion with its colophon is thought to have been the final panel of this screen. The composition of Gyeongpodae Pavilion recalls the onesided three-layered composition often used in early Joseon landscape paintings in the style of An Gyeon. However, unlike such landscape paintings in the An Gyeon style, Gyeongpodae Pavilion positions and depicts the scenery in a realistic manner. Moreover, diverse perspectives, including a diagonal bird's-eye perspective and frontal perspective, are employed in Gyeongpodae Pavilion to effectively depict the relations among several natural features and the characteristics of the real scenery around Gyeongpodae Pavilion. The shapes of the mountains and the use of moss dots can be also found in Welcoming an Imperial Edict from China and Chinese Envoys at Uisungwan Lodge painted in 1557 and currently housed in the Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies at Seoul National University. Furthermore, the application of "cloud-head" texture strokes as well as the texture strokes with short lines and dots used in paintings in the An Gyeon style are transformed into a sense of realism. Compared to the composition of Gyeongpodae Pavilion, which recalls that of traditional Joseon early landscape painting, the composition of Chongseokjeong Pavilion is remarkably unconventional. Stone pillars lined up in layers with the tallest in the center form a triangle. A sense of space is created by dividing the painting into three planes(foreground, middle-ground, and background) and placing the stone pillars in the foreground, Saseonbong Peaks in the middle-ground, and Saseonjeong Pavilion on the cliff in the background. The Saseonbong Peaks in the center occupy an overwhelming proportion of the picture plane. However, the vertical stone pillars fail to form an organic relation and are segmented and flat. The painter of Chongseokjeong Pavilion had not yet developed a three-dimensional or natural spatial perception. The white lower and dark upper portions of the stone pillars emphasize their loftiness. The textures and cracks of the dense stone pillars were rendered by first applying light ink to the surfaces and then adding fine lines in dark ink. Here, the tip of the brush is pressed at an oblique angle and pulled down vertically, which shows an early stage of the development of axe-cut texture strokes. The contrast of black and white and use of vertical texture strokes signal the forthcoming trend toward the Zhe School painting style. Each and every contour and crack on the stone pillars is unique, which indicates an effort to accentuate their actual characteristics. The birds sitting above the stone pillars, waves, and the foam of breaking waves are all vividly described, not simply in repeated brushstrokes. The configuration of natural features shown in the above-mentioned Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion changes in other later paintings of the two scenic spots. In the Gyeongpodae Pavilion, Jukdo Island is depicted in the foreground, Gyeongpoho Lake in the middle-ground, and Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Odaesan Mountain in the background. This composition differs from the typical configuration of other Gyeongpodae Pavilion paintings from the eighteenth century that place Gyeongpodae Pavilion in the foreground and the sea in the upper section. In Chongseokjeong Pavilion, stone pillars are illustrated using a perspective viewing them from the sea, while other paintings depict them while facing upward toward the sea. These changes resulted from the established patterns of compositions used in Jeong Seon(1676~1759) and Kim Hong-do(1745~ after 1806)'s paintings of Gwandong regions. However, the configuration of the sixteenth-century Gyeongpodae Pavilion, which seemed to have no longer been used, was employed again in late Joseon folk paintings such as Gyeongpodae Pavilion in Gangneung. Famous scenic spots in the Gwandong region were painted from early on. According to historical records, they were created by several painters, including Kim Saeng(711~?) from the Goryeo Dynasty and An Gyeon(act. 15th C.) from the early Joseon period, either on a single scroll or over several panels of a folding screen or several leaves of an album. Although many records mention the production of paintings depicting sites around the Gwandong region, there are no other extant examples from this era beyond the paintings of Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion discussed in this paper. These two paintings are thought to be the earliest works depicting the Gwandong regions thus far. Moreover, they hold art historical significance in that they present information on the tradition of producing folding screens on the Gwandong region. In particular, based on the contents of the colophon written for Chongseokjeong Pavilion, the original folding screen is presumed to have consisted of eight panels. This proves that the convention of painting eight views of Gwangdong had been established by the late sixteenth century. All of the existing works mentioned as examples of sixteenth-century real scenery landscape painting show only partial elements of real scenery landscape painting since they were created as depictions of notable social gatherings or as a documentary painting for practical and/or official purposes. However, a primary objective of the paintings of Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion was to portray the ever-changing and striking nature of this real scenery. Moreover, Park Chung-gan wrote a colophon and added a poem on his admiration of the scenery he witnessed during his trip and ruminated over the true character of nature. Thus, unlike other previously known real-scenery landscape paintings, these two are of great significance as examples of real-scenery landscape paintings produced for the simple appreciation of nature. Gyeongpodae Pavilion and Chongseokjeong Pavilion are noteworthy in that they are the earliest remaining examples of the historical tradition of reflecting a sightseeing trip in painting accompanied by poetry. Furthermore, and most importantly, they broaden the understanding of Korean real-scenery landscape painting by presenting varied forms, compositions, and perspectives from sixteenth-century real-scenery landscape paintings that had formerly been unfound.

Showing Filial Piety: Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain at the National Museum of Korea (과시된 효심: 국립중앙박물관 소장 <인왕선영도(仁旺先塋圖)> 연구)

  • Lee, Jaeho
    • MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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    • v.96
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    • pp.123-154
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    • 2019
  • Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain is a ten-panel folding screen with images and postscripts. Commissioned by Bak Gyeong-bin (dates unknown), this screen was painted by Jo Jung-muk (1820-after 1894) in 1868. The postscripts were written by Hong Seon-ju (dates unknown). The National Museum of Korea restored this painting, which had been housed in the museum on separate sheets, to its original folding screen format. The museum also opened the screen to the public for the first time at the special exhibition Through the Eyes of Joseon Painters: Real Scenery Landscapes of Korea held from July 23 to September 22, 2019. Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain depicts real scenery on the western slopes of Inwangsan Mountain spanning present-day Hongje-dong and Hongeun-dong in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. In the distance, the Bukhansan Mountain ridges are illustrated. The painting also bears place names, including Inwangsan Mountain, Chumohyeon Hill, Hongjewon Inn, Samgaksan Mountain, Daenammun Gate, and Mireukdang Hall. The names and depictions of these places show similarities to those found on late Joseon maps. Jo Jung-muk is thought to have studied the geographical information marked on maps so as to illustrate a broad landscape in this painting. Field trips to the real scenery depicted in the painting have revealed that Jo exaggerated or omitted natural features and blended and arranged them into a row for the purposes of the horizontal picture plane. Jo Jung-muk was a painter proficient at drawing conventional landscapes in the style of the Southern School of Chinese painting. Details in Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain reflect the painting style of the School of Four Wangs. Jo also applied a more decorative style to some areas. The nineteenth-century court painters of the Dohwaseo(Royal Bureau of Painting), including Jo, employed such decorative painting styles by drawing houses based on painting manuals, applying dots formed like sprinkled black pepper to depict mounds of earth and illustrating flowers by dotted thick pigment. Moreover, Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain shows the individualistic style of Jeong Seon(1676~1759) in the rocks drawn with sweeping brushstrokes in dark ink, the massiveness of the mountain terrain, and the pine trees simply depicted using horizontal brushstrokes. Jo Jung-muk is presumed to have borrowed the authority and styles of Jeong Seon, who was well-known for his real scenery landscapes of Inwangsan Mountain. Nonetheless, the painting lacks an spontaneous sense of space and fails in conveying an impression of actual sites. Additionally, the excessively grand screen does not allow Jo Jung-muk to fully express his own style. In Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain, the texts of the postscripts nicely correspond to the images depicted. Their contents can be divided into six parts: (1) the occupant of the tomb and the reason for its relocation; (2) the location and geomancy of the tomb; (3) memorial services held at the tomb and mysterious responses received during the memorial services; (4) cooperation among villagers to manage the tomb; (5) the filial piety of Bak Gyeong-bin, who commissioned the painting and guarded the tomb; and (6) significance of the postscripts. The second part in particular is faithfully depicted in the painting since it can easily be visualized. According to the fifth part revealing the motive for the production of the painting, the commissioner Bak Gyeongbin was satisfied with the painting, stating that "it appears impeccable and is just as if the tomb were newly built." The composition of the natural features in a row as if explaining each one lacks painterly beauty, but it does succeed in providing information on the geomantic topography of the gravesite. A fair number of the existing depictions of gravesites are woodblock prints of family gravesites produced after the eighteenth century. Most of these are included in genealogical records and anthologies. According to sixteenth- and seventeenth-century historical records, hanging scrolls of family gravesites served as objects of worship. Bowing in front of these paintings was considered a substitute ritual when descendants could not physically be present to maintain their parents' or other ancestors' tombs. Han Hyo-won (1468-1534) and Jo Sil-gul (1591-1658) commissioned the production of family burial ground paintings and asked distinguished figures of the time to write a preface for the paintings, thus showing off their filial piety. Such examples are considered precedents for Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain. Hermitage of the Recluse Seokjeong in a private collection and Old Villa in Hwagae County at the National Museum of Korea are not paintings of family gravesites. However, they serve as references for seventeenth-century paintings depicting family gravesites in that they are hanging scrolls in the style of the paintings of literary gatherings and they illustrate geomancy. As an object of worship, Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain recalls a portrait. As indicated in the postscripts, the painting made Bak Gyeong-bin "feel like hearing his father's cough and seeing his attitudes and behaviors with my eyes." The fable of Xu Xiaosu, who gazed at the portrait of his father day and night, is reflected in this gravesite painting evoking a deceased parent. It is still unclear why Bak Gyeong-bin commissioned Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain to be produced as a real scenery landscape in the folding screen format rather than a hanging scroll or woodblock print, the conventional formats for a family gravesite paintings. In the nineteenth century, commoners came to produce numerous folding screens for use during the four rites of coming of age, marriage, burial, and ancestral rituals. However, they did not always use the screens in accordance with the nature of these rites. In the Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain, the real scenery landscape appears to have been emphasized more than the image of the gravesite in order to allow the screen to be applied during different rituals or for use to decorate space. The burial mound, which should be the essence of Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain, might have been obscured in order to hide its violation of the prohibition on the construction of tombs on the four mountains around the capital. At the western foot of Inwangsan Mountain, which was illustrated in this painting, the construction of tombs was forbidden. In 1832, a tomb discovered illegally built on the forbidden area was immediately dug up and the related people were severely punished. This indicates that the prohibition was effective until the mid-nineteenth century. The postscripts on the Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain document in detail Bak Gyeong-bin's efforts to obtain the land as a burial site. The help and connivance of villagers were necessary to use the burial site, probably because constructing tombs within the prohibited area was a burden on the family and villagers. Seokpajeong Pavilion by Yi Han-cheol (1808~1880), currently housed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, is another real scenery landscape in the format of a folding screen that is contemporaneous and comparable with Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain. In 1861 when Seokpajeong Pavilion was created, both Yi Han-cheol and Jo Jung-muk participated in the production of a portrait of King Cheoljong. Thus, it is highly probable that Jo Jung-muk may have observed the painting process of Yi's Seokpajeong Pavilion. A few years later, when Jo Jungmuk was commissioned to produce Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain, his experience with the impressive real scenery landscape of the Seokpajeong Pavilion screen could have been reflected in his work. The difference in the painting style between these two paintings is presumed to be a result of the tastes and purposes of the commissioners. Since Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain contains the multilayered structure of a real scenery landscape and family gravesite, it seems to have been perceived in myriad different ways depending on the viewer's level of knowledge, closeness to the commissioner, or viewing time. In the postscripts to the painting, the name and nickname of the tomb occupant as well as the place of his surname are not recorded. He is simply referred to as "Mister Bak." Biographical information about the commissioner Bak Gyeong-bin is also unavailable. However, given that his family did not enter government service, he is thought to have been a person of low standing who could not become a member of the ruling elite despite financial wherewithal. Moreover, it is hard to perceive Hong Seon-ju, who wrote the postscripts, as a member of the nobility. He might have been a low-level administrative official who belonged to the Gyeongajeon, as documented in the Seungjeongwon ilgi (Daily Records of Royal Secretariat of the Joseon Dynasty). Bak Gyeong-bin is presumed to have moved the tomb of his father to a propitious site and commissioned Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain to stress his filial piety, a conservative value, out of his desire to enter the upper class. However, Ancestral Burial Ground on the Inwangsan Mountain failed to live up to its original purpose and ended up as a contradictory image due to its multiple applications and the concern over the exposure of the violation of the prohibition on the construction of tombs on the prohibited area. Forty-seven years after its production, this screen became a part of the collection at the Royal Yi Household Museum with each panel being separated. This suggests that Bak Gyeong-bin's dream of bringing fortune and raising his family's social status by selecting a propitious gravesite did not come true.

The Research Status and Task of the Metalcrafts of Shoso-in Collection (정창원(正倉院) [쇼소인] 금속공예의 연구 현황과 과제)

  • Choi, Eungchon
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.51 no.3
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    • pp.32-53
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    • 2018
  • The $Sh{\bar{o}}s{\bar{o}}-in$(正倉院) is the detached storage building for Japanese treasures that belongs to $T{\bar{o}}dai-ji$ in Nara, Japan. The reason why $Sh{\bar{o}}s{\bar{o}}-in$ collections are drawing attention is that Japanese artifacts, sculptures, paintings, and other objects that were introduced through the Silk Road, such as Sasanian Persia and India, and those that were introduced from the Unified Silla and Tang China. In addition, hundreds of well-preserved documents of $Sh{\bar{o}}s{\bar{o}}-in$ collections play an important role as a historical reference material covering not only the social situation of the time but also the history of exchange of cultural diplomacy and the change of Buddhist doctrine. In particular, some of collections of $Sh{\bar{o}}s{\bar{o}}-in$ were made in China and may have been imported or received as gifts, but many of the artifacts made in Baekje and Unified Silla are becoming more and more important. This paper examined the research status of $Sh{\bar{o}}s{\bar{o}}-in$ metal crafts of Korean and foreign scholars, and examined the association with the relics of $Sh{\bar{o}}s{\bar{o}}-in$ through metal crafts excavated from the Korean Peninsula. The research on the future direction of $Sh{\bar{o}}s{\bar{o}}-in$ collections should be summarized as follows. 1. Systematization of state-level support and single window for the research of $Sh{\bar{o}}s{\bar{o}}-in$ collections 2. Accurate listing and database of $Sh{\bar{o}}s{\bar{o}}-in$ collections 3. The positive implementation of joint research with Japan and invitation of researchers related to $Sh{\bar{o}}s{\bar{o}}-in$ collections 4. The exchange exhibition between the Korean National Treasures and the $Sh{\bar{o}}s{\bar{o}}-in$ collections 5. Expansion of the research base through the publication and support of books related to $Sh{\bar{o}}s{\bar{o}}-in$ collections.