What Three Art Forms Gained a Prominent Development in South China During the Age of Division

The origins of Korean art can be traced back into the distant past of the Stone Age, with artifacts dating equally far back equally 3000 BC. Much of the traditional Korean art was heavily influenced by the aesthetics of the surrounding eastern cultures, such as art from Japan and China. However, over centuries Korean art gained its unique identity and distinctive characteristics.

Table of Contents

i Characteristics of Korean Fine art
2 History of Korean Art
- 2.one Neolithic Era
- ii.2 Iron Age
- 2.iii Three Kingdoms Period (c.57 BCE – 668 CE)
- two.4 Due north-South States
- 2.5 Goryeo Dynasty
- ii.vi Joseon Dynasty
- 2.7 Modern Korean Art
three Forms of Korean Fine art
- iii.i Calligraphy and Print
- 3.2 Ceramics and Sculpture
4 Famous Korean Artists
- 4.ane Jeong Seon (1676 – 1759)
- 4.2 Park Su-Geun (1914 – 1965)
- 4.3 Chang Ucchin (1917 – 1990)
- 4.4 Kim Tschang-Yeul (1929 – 2021)
- 4.5 Nam June Paik (1932 – 2006)
- 4.six Lee Ufan (1936 – Nowadays)
- 4.7 Il Lee (1952 – Nowadays)
5 Famous Korean Artworks
- 5.one Self Portrait of Yun Du-Seo by Yun Du-Seo (1715)
- 5.2 Inwang Jesaekdo by Jeong Seon (1751)
- 5.3 Water Drops and Calligraphy by Kim Tschang-Yeul (1995)
- 5.4 Interspace/Meditation by Lee Dong-Youb (2003)
half dozen Ofttimes Asked Questions
- 6.one Does Due north Korea Take Fine art or Is There Just South Korean Art?
- half-dozen.2 Is Korean Traditional Fine art the Aforementioned equally Japanese and Chinese Art?

Characteristics of Korean Fine art

Korean art has developed many traditional mediums such as pottery, calligraphy, and painting, with a focus being put on decorating surfaces with natural forms. Japanese and Chinese art had a huge influence on the Korean aesthetic, with Korean artists borrowing certain recognizable techniques and motifs from their designs.

Centuries of the Korean preference for simplicity led to a lessening of extremes regarding lines, and the ordinarily rigid straight lines or overtly curving lines of the other eastern art traditions were modestly represented in the Korean counterparts.

The first 3 panels of a ten-panel folding screen with scenes of filial piety;Walters Art Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Korean art is connected to the concept of naturalism, and characterized by its non-complex and harmonious limerick, displaying a deep connexion with the artist'due south natural surroundings. The idea of naturalism was to attempt to portray nature every bit true to life equally possible, without the interference of the distortion created past the subjective human being listen.

This led to a preference for using unadorned surfaces in the wood engraving techniques of Korean sculptors and Korean potters, who would strive to amplify the natural textures and contours of the medium, instead of working confronting it. This fashion is characterized by the avoidance of techniques that employ extreme angles, abrupt lines, and bold outlines.

Korean art is typified past its gentle and natural content, fluent lines, and a feeling of harmony, balance, and peace.

History of Korean Art

As art historians have noted, the Chinese influence was prominent in the early on development of Korean fine art history, still admit that over many years, the Koreans began to refine their technique into something unique to their own culture, creating styles that alloyed the techniques and motifs of their eastern neighbors, yet toning down the use of extreme angels or excessively bold lines.

A map of Korea dating from the late 1700s; Public Domain, Link

Based on the show collected from archeological sites, Korea was originally populated by people that had traveled via Manchuria from Siberia sometime during the latter menstruation of the Stone Age. Many pieces of artifacts found during archeological excavations have been dated equally far back as the Paleolithic menstruation, approximately x 000 BC.

Let us take a deeper look into the history of Korean fine art.

Neolithic Era

The Korean Peninsula has been occupied since approximately 50 000 BC when humans migrated at that place from Serbia. The earliest examples of pottery found have been dated past archeologists every bit being from effectually the flow 7000 BC. These flat bottomed vessels were made from clay that had been fired over open up pits, bearing the designs of horizontal lines and relief impressions.

Pottery With Applique Decoration, from the Neolithic Period;National Museum of Korea, KOGL Blazon 1, via Wikimedia Eatables

The early influence from Siberia can be seen by the Jeulmun style pottery that surfaced approximately 6000 BC. These had been decorated with a comb design, typical of the style and period. Sometime during 2000 BC, the big vessels used for storage and cooking were made, known as Mumun pottery. Notwithstanding, different other examples of pottery from Korean fine art history, these were largely undecorated.

Iron Age

This age is marked past the adoption of the iron casting techniques of the Chinese, nearly probable introduced during the fifth and 4th centuries BC through contact with Yan, a land of North-Eastward China. It was mutual for Koreans to simulate techniques and applied science from their eastern counterparts and turn it into something uniquely Korean, not only matching but sometimes fifty-fifty exceeding the processes learned from other cultures.

The introduction of this casting applied science from China marks the get-go of the Korean Iron Age.

Three Kingdoms Period (c.57 BCE – 668 CE)

During this menses, the peninsula of Korea was ruled over by 3 split up monarchies, this is why it is referred to every bit the Three Kingdoms Period. The diverse kingdoms were known as Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla.

Goguryeo

In 372 CE, Buddhism was introduced to Goguryeo, a kingdom that encompassed southern and key Manchuria, as well every bit parts of mod-day Korea. It was during this time of Buddhist influence that members of the royal ruling class began to committee art dedicated to Buddhism. Goguryeo art is exemplified by vividly decorated murals on the ancient Korean tombs, which portrayed everyday scenes of life in the ancient kingdom.

A wall painting depicting a hunting scene in the Muyongchong Tomb, from the Goguryeo Kingdom;Unknown authorUnknown writer, KOGL Type 1, via Wikimedia Commons

Baekje

The greatest Korean traditional art of the time is said to come from the Baekje Kingdom. The Baekje culture took great influence from the southern Chinese dynasties, and too in turn influenced other neighboring dynasties such as the Japanese. Baekje sculptures were religious in context, often depicting Buddha, merely in typical Korean style which is typified by its warmth and harmonious proportions.

Standing gold-statuary statue of Buddha, from the Baekje Kingdom; Unknown author Unknown writer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Silla

Many Korean crafts that have been excavated have come up from this kingdom, every bit geographically it was rather isolated so the tombs remain relatively undisturbed. Situated in the most southeastern section of Korea, it was the final kingdom to eventually feel the influence of exterior cultures, and also the last to adopt Buddhism as the region'southward chosen faith.

The craftsmen of this region are most renowned for their gold-crafting skills, such as crowns and gold jewelry, which share a close resemblance to techniques found in Europe, leading some historians to believe that this region was part of the Silk Route.

Aureate crown of the Silla Kingdom; Gary Todd, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Northward-Southward States

This period refers to a time in Korean art history when the kingdoms of Silla and Balhae coexisted simultaneously in the southern and northern regions of Korea in the years between 698 and 926 CE. Unified Silla was a notable period of production for Korean traditional fine art, especially regarding Buddhist art. Two works that exemplify this period are the Bulguska Temple and the Seokguram grotto.

Balhae art depicted scenes more associated with daily life, with images of men at battle, musicians playing instruments, and aristocrats.

Goryeo Dynasty

This menstruum lasted from 918 CE until 1392 and is most famously known for its celadon pottery. This style originated from China, yet Korean artists elevated the arts and crafts to a higher level, in turn leading the Chinese themselves to refer to Korean crafts and pottery equally "the showtime under heaven." By reducing the amount of oxygen in the kiln, a dark-green-blueish hue is created, a glaze finish known as "kingfisher color." This pottery depicted fish, fruit, and mythical creatures in a free-flow style.

Kettle made of celadon, made in the 12th century during the Goryeo Dynasty; National Museum of Korea, KOGL Type one, via Wikimedia Commons

Joseon Dynasty

During this dynasty, many Buddhist elements remained visible in pop Korean painting, only with the incoming influence of Confucianism, the traditional centers of fine art started to dismiss works depicting Buddha and moved towards increased realism. The previous art of the region had been stylized, but the new fine art which had been dubbed "true view" showed a marked plough from the less detailed landscapes and objects rendered in traditional Korean painting towards a new way of depicting landscapes exactly as they were.

Geumgangsa Armed services Cheop (1788) by Kim Hong-practise, Belatedly Joseon Dynasty;Kim Hong-practice, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Modern Korean Art

During the Japanese invasion in the 1880s, Korean art suffered a huge accident when the institutes of art education were close down, famous works were destroyed or stolen, and Japanese subjects and styles replaced traditional Korean fine art.

Since regaining its freedom from Japan in 1945, modern Korean fine art began to emerge out of the former imposition of Japanese styles and helped Korean artists regain their identity and unique forms of cultural expression.

A limited resurgence has been seen in the utilize of Korean crafts that make use of materials such as bamboo, jade, metal, and textiles. Modern Korean art paintings require some understanding of the styles employed in Korean crafts such as ceramic pottery to fully capeesh the aesthetic that Korean artists are trying to replicate.

Forms of Korean Fine art

Korean art can be grouped into several categories divers past the use of diverse mediums and techniques, from Korean painting to other Korean crafts, such as ceramics and sculpture to calligraphy and architecture. Here are some of the notable forms of art to come out of Korea.

Calligraphy and Print

Calligraphy is considered high art in Korea, each brushstroke revealing something of the character and personality of the artist himself, thus amplifying the bailiwick being painted. Handmade newspaper is used in Korea for a range of practical and creative uses. Architecturally, it is used for floor covering and window screening.

Every bit an art medium, information technology is used in various forms such as printing, paper figures, and fifty-fifty paper clothing.

Kim Jeong-hui, 1786–1856. Ink on paper, Gansong Art Museum. He was a prominent Korean civil minister, Silhak scholar, and calligrapher. He invented his own fashion of calligraphy called chusache, based on aboriginal Korean monumental inscriptions;추사 김정희 (金正喜: 1786~1856), Public domain, via Wikimedia Eatables

For the bulk of the 20th century in Korea, the most prominent artistic medium was painting, with brainchild being of specific interest to Korean artists in the 1930s. In the mid-1960s, a few artists started to challenge the status quo of what was expected from ink painters when they began to abuse the materials and dispense them in strange means by soaking canvases, pushing the paint around, ripping paper, and dragging pencils through the art, such equally artist Kwon Immature-Woo.

Ceramics and Sculpture

The near famous and oldest art in Korean art history is Korean pottery. It is connected to Korean ceramics such as massive murals, tile work, and elements of architecture. Much of the early ceramic techniques and styles were adopted from the Chinese culture.

Korean ceramics became highly revered in Japan, considered the most famous Korean art for the Japanese. The chambered kilns used by the Koreans were highly effective in helping to forge the high-quality local materials into finished products that were eventually exported to Nippon.

Ceramic b lue and white porcelain plum and bamboo pattern jar from the National Museum of Korea;Octopus9576, CC Past-SA four.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Famous Korean Artists

Too the older artists involved in traditional Korean art, some contemporary artists have left their mark on modernistic Korean art and South Korean art. Famous Korean artists from 20th Century Korea include Nam June Paik, Park Su-Guen, and Chang Ucchin. Notable Korean artists from the 21st Century include David Choe, Amy Sol, and Tschoon Su Kim.

Let's accept a await at some famous Korean artists and the works that made them famous.

Jeong Seon (1676 – 1759)

Jeong Seon, as well known equally Kyomjae, was a traditional Korean artist famous for his landscape paintings. Jeong's work included mediums such as ink too every bit Oriental-style water paintings. His fashion was not abstruse but bore some resemblance to reality, his landscape paintings being created in the "truthful-view" way popular at the fourth dimension.

His paintings of Korean landscapes and life have made him i of the most famous in Korean traditional art.

Taking a rest after reading books (c. 1786-1856), believed to be a cocky-portrait of the painter Jeong Seon; Jeong Seon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Jeong Seon was born on the 16th of February, 1676 in Seoul. He was born to a poor family, and although they recognized his artistic talents at a very early on age, they could exercise little to support his desire to become a painter.

He painted mostly for leisure at this fourth dimension, occasionally making landscape paintings for the rare customer, until he was introduced to a neighbour that recommended him to the Joseon Bureau of Paintings, where he then took up a position every bit a painter.

In 1711, he traveled to Mount Geumgang and created Pungak Mountian, Sin-Myo Year, an album consisting of 13 paintings. The post-obit year, he returned and painted Realistic Representations of Bounding main and Mountains, an album consisting of xxx paintings. Jeong is considered one of the about eminent painters of his era and many other Korean artists were inspired to emulate his techniques and style.

Park Su-Geun (1914 – 1965)

Park Su-Geun was built-in in Yanggu County in Republic of korea on the 21st of February, 1914. As a teenager, Su-Geun taught himself how to pigment in the style of Korean traditional art, following his studies at Yanggu Elementary School. He kickoff launched his public career in Korean painting in 1932, when his work Spring is Gone was chosen to be displayed at the 11th annual painting contest held in Seonjeon. He was chosen eight more than times to exhibit in the competition until 1944.

In 1953, he won first place in the annual National Art Exhibition, and before long after, he took up painting full-time and went on to win a further ten competitions. He would continue to be chosen to serve on the screening committee in the following decade.

Park Su-Geun is best known for his use of Korean-based sociology themes and worked predominately in grayscale. Due to a cataract in 1963, Su-Geun lost partial sight, and in 1965, at 52 years of historic period, he died due to liver illness. He spent well-nigh of his life in abject poverty merely was awarded the Silverish Crown of Social club of Civilisation Merit after his death. His works can posthumously be viewed at Museums such as the USC Pacific Asia Museum as well as the University of Michigan Museum of Art.

Chang Ucchin (1917 – 1990)

Chang Ucchin was born on the 26th November 1917 in Korea at a time when it was all the same ruled by the Japanese. He studied at Tokyo'southward Purple Schoolhouse of Art, where his focus was on western fine art styles. After his time equally a professor of fine arts from 1954 to 1960, Ucchin left Seoul National University to concentrate on painting full fourth dimension. Ucchin represents the modern fine art motion in Korea.

The subjects of his paintings include images of the moon and the sun, birds, children, and other things familiar to the Korean way of life, but painted in his unique techniques.

These techniques were adult through experimentation, inspired by the modernist trends of western cultures. Many of his works were oil paintings, but he likewise experimented with other mediums such equally Chinese ink painting, drawing with marker pens, pottery painting, silkscreen, forest-block, and copperplate printing techniques.

His piece of work exudes a kid-like innocence, viewing subject area matter and the surrounding earth through clear and unjaded optics. Buddhist themes were mutual in his work, as well as images of his neighbors and the scenes he saw around him in daily life. Examples of his works containing this simplistic child-like manner include Two Families (1979), Wife (1979), Family unit (1979), and Iii (1973).

Kim Tschang-Yeul (1929 – 2021)

Kim Tschang-Yuel was born in Maengsan, Korea, on the 24th of December 1929. Subsequently serving in the Korean War, he studied at Seoul University'southward College of Fine Arts in the mid-1950s. In 1966 he moved to New York to attend the Fine art Students League for a couple of years and so relocated to Paris. This abiding exposure to new artistic movements and schools of idea while traveling, led to Kim experimenting with liquid forms.

This fascination with liquid forms eventually led to Kim being recognized as a prominent gimmicky Korean creative person for his famous style of painting water droplets.

The origins of the water motif can be traced back to the traditions of Eastern philosophy. For Kim, the bailiwick acted as a kind of therapy for his past traumatic experiences serving in the war, besides as a contemplation of infinity. For Kim, each drop, being so naturally impeccable, represents a continuous repetition of nothingness, catastrophe in the same country it started every bit.

As a tribute to Kim'southward lifelong contribution to art in Korea, the Kim Tschang-Yeul Museum of Fine art was opened in Jeju, South Korea in 2016. He now resides and works between two different cities, Paris in France, and Seoul in Southward Korea. Examples of his work can be found exhibited to the public in institutions such every bit the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, and the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, among many others. Famous works past the creative person include Recurrence (2007), Waterdrops and Calligraphy (1995), and Untitled (1970).

Nam June Paik (1932 – 2006)

Nam June Paik is known around the world as the "Father of Video Art" and is responsible for creating a massive torso of artwork ranging from piece of work with goggle box and videotapes to performance installations and video and video sculptures. Paik'due south artwork has inspired new generations of modern Korean fine art with his visionary art and innovative ideas and had an influence that reached around the globe.

His work stands out as existence very different from traditional Korean art and a prime example of the new generation of South korea Art.

Paik attended the University of Tokyo, graduating there in 1956. Although born in Seoul in 1932, his family fled Korea during the Korean war in 1950. After leaving university he traveled to Germany to further pursue his passions of avant-garde music, performance, and limerick. He joined the neo-dada Fluxus movement later on coming together George Maciunas and John Cage. Nam held his solo exhibition in 1963 at the Galerie Parnass in Wuppertal, featuring contradistinct content transmitted through a series of tv sets.

Paik immigrated to New York in 1964, expanding his experiments with idiot box and video.

In 1969, he collaborated with an engineer from Nihon, Shuya Abe, to construct a prototype video-synthesizer that allowed Nam June to layer and manipulate diverse images from a variety of input sources. This hybrid synth was dubbed the "Paik-Abe Video Synthesizer" and it changed the face up of electronic image manipulation. With these tools, Paik had created a new medium of artistic expression and went on to create well-known artworks such as the seminal work Global Groove (1973), to his sculptures such as Tv Buddha (1974)

Lee Ufan (1936 – Present)

Lee Ufan was born in Haman Canton, Korea in 1936. He is a minimalist sculptor and painter, and his contributions to the evolution of contemporary art have been recognized and honored by the government of Japan. Lee was as well a philosopher and a prominent theorist of the Mono-ha philosophy. An appreciation of the intrinsic nature of objects is an Eastern artistic philosophy that can exist identified equally a source of inspiration for his work.

Lee was role of the offset Korean art movement of the late 1900s to be promoted in Japan, a style known as "Korean Monotone Ar".

Ufan felt that the postwar social club of Japan in the 1960s was as well heavily reliant on influences from the west, specifically Europe, and advocated the de-westernization of Korean gild as an antidote, through both philosophy and art. As a proponent of the Mono-Ha movement, his work focused on the connection between materials, besides as the perceptions thereof, rather than focusing on the western demand for representation or expression.

Lee Ufan's serial of sculptures Relatum consisted of several stones and large rectangular plates fabricated from iron, each arranged in various formations. His sculptures oft employed materials such equally sheets made of rubber, steel plates, and panes of glass. Each of these materials forms a unique relationship with the others every bit a balance is reached betwixt the objects within a finite space, and the person viewing them.

He has been recognized for his artwork internationally through many institutions, and received the UNESCO prize at the Shangai Biennale in 2000, and in 2001 he won the 13th Praemium Imperiale for painting every bit well as the Ho-Am Prize of the Samsung Foundation.

Il Lee (1952 – Present)

Il Lee was built-in in Seoul, Republic of korea in 1952, just has lived in the United States since the mid-1970s. Dissimilar traditional S Korean art, Il Lee is known for his unique artwork made with ball-point pens, and big-scale works featuring abstract imagery on canvas and paper. Il Lee has exhibited his piece of work in many cities, not just in North America, but also in Tokyo, Mexico Urban center, Paris, Hong Kong, Seoul, New Delhi, and United mexican states Metropolis.

He started experimenting with ballpoint pens while studying etching at Pratt.

Although his early works were all on paper, he later moved to larger surface areas more suitable for display such as primed, large canvases. Each artwork was created past applying layer upon layer slowly, over weeks or months. This technique was painfully dull and took more work than many realize upon the first inspection, leading to many last that his work could be labeled minimalist.

Lee does non title his work in a typical fashion only prefers to utilise his system of numbers and letters to name and itemize his work, such as SBK-0811 or WR-1201. He describes his process while creating a piece of work as "intuitive", preferring to have a mind free of distractions and no preconceived ideas as to what should flow out during the process.

While focusing on the canvass, he allows the piece to class out of the controlled motility of natural gestures of the mitt.

Famous Korean Artworks

Traditional Korean art was typified by its movement abroad from the influence of surrounding cultures and creating artworks that were more natural and flowing. Modern Korean art, on the other hand, branched out into fascinating styles that explored deeper philosophical relationships betwixt the subject area and the viewer, using unconventional mediums and materials to convey a subtle bulletin. Permit's have a look at a few examples of traditional and modern famous Korean art.

Self Portrait of Yun Du-Seo by Yun Du-Seo (1715)

Artist	Yun Du-Seo
Year	1715
Medium	Lite Color on Paper
Dimensions	xx cm x 38 cm

Yun Du-Seo was a famous traditional Korean artist from the Joseon period. He devoted his entire life to the written report of Confucianism and painting. This work is his self-portrait. Near of the canvas is taken up by his head and bristles with no visible portrayal of a body in the painting. The skullcap that can be partially seen at the height of the painting is made from horsehair and was typical headwear for the era.

Out of the many self-portraits to come up out of his era, this is considered specially noteworthy for the unique manner of expression, and is considered a masterpiece.

Self-portrait of Yun Du-Seo (1715) by Yun Du-Seo; Yun Du-seo (1668–1715), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Inwang Jesaekdo by Jeong Seon (1751)

Artist	Jeong Seon
Year	1751
Medium	Ink on Newspaper
Dimensions	79 cm x 138 cm

Inwang Jesaekdo was painted in 1751 by the famous Korean creative person, Jeong Seon. Inwang Jesaekdo translates to After Pelting at Mt. Inwang. It was created during the Joseon Dynasty in Chengun-Dong in the Jongno District, his birthplace. In 1984, the piece was designated the 217th National Treasure of Korea by the South Korean regime. It depicts a rural Japanese landscape, with rolling mist creeping through the copse beneath the mountains, as the scene clears following the fall of rain. The painting is currently housed and managed by the Ho-am Art Museum in Yongin.

Inwang Jesaekdo (1751) past Jeong Seon; Jeong Seon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Water Drops and Calligraphy by Kim Tschang-Yeul (1995)

Creative person	Kim Tschang-Yeul
Yr	1995
Medium	Prints and Multiples, Aquatint
Dimensions	57 cm x 74.five cm

Kim Tschang-Yeul is a prominent figure amongst Korean artists at the forefront of Korean modernism in the post-war era. Born in 1929, he spent more than than five decades refining and experimenting with his technique of painting water aerosol. Water Drops and Calligraphy is considered a fine example of his work. Much of his work is symbolically based on his philosophical outlook on life, the aerosol representing the meaning existence meaningless, the transparent nature of water could both be perceived every bit a metaphor for the emptiness of a droplet, all the same information technology still contains form and substance.

Interspace/Meditation by Lee Dong-Youb (2003)

Artist	Lee Dong-Youb
Year	2003
Medium	Acrylic on Canvas
Dimensions	160 cm ten 160 cm

Lee Dong-Youb was born in 1946. He held his first solo exhibition in 1977 at the Seoul Gallery, whose founder was also Lee'due south father-in-law. He is considered by art historians to be a leading figure of the Korean abstract painting movement. Lee's work is driven by his personal view of what the postal service-modernist artistic landscape should expect like. The most prominent themes of his piece of work are the cyclic nature of resonance, symbiosis of elements, and dynamic coaction of the environment and the land of the original beingness.

In conclusion, we have learned that Korean art tin can exist traced dorsum to the time of prehistoric human being history, we have seen how neighboring Eastern cultures had a major influence on traditional Korean art until information technology found its character and style. Later the Japanese colonial occupation, Modern Korean art flourished into many sub-styles that went beyond the status quo of what art represented to Koreans.

Take a await at our Korean art facts webstory here!

Frequently Asked Questions

Does North Korea Have Art or Is There Simply South Korean Art?

Most if not all of the artists listed above are from South Korea. Due north Korea does non seem to have much art civilisation, with well-nigh of the paintings existence military propaganda and just displaying symbols of nationalist pride.

Is Korean Traditional Art the Same as Japanese and Chinese Art?

Although the neighboring Eastern countries initially had a large influence on Korean culture, Korean art eventually grew from its ain national identity, one beingness largely focused on the peaceful and naturalistic elements of life, and Korean fine art reflected that with its subtle flowing lines and natural subject matter.

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Source: https://artincontext.org/korean-art/