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Korean Art
History, Characteristics of Craft in Korea.
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Buddha Sculpture at Seokguram Cavern
World Heritage site, South korea.
8th century, Silla Dynasty. Meet also:
Chinese Buddhist Sculpture.

Korean Art (c.3,000 BCE onwards)
Characteristics, History, Evolution

Contents

• Characteristics
• History and Development
• Prehistoric Civilization
• Three Kingdoms Period (c.57 BCE – 668 CE)
• Silla Period (668-935)
• Goryeo Dynasty Menses (918-1392)
• Joseon Dynasty Period (1392-1910)
• Mod Period
• Further Resource

Painting of Avalokiteshvara
(Bodhisattva who embodies the
compassion of all Buddhas)
Hanging Silk Scroll
c.1310 Goryeo Dynasty
Kagami Jinjya Temple, Japan.

Development OF Art
For dates of other early on cultures,
see: Prehistoric Art Timeline.
For later dates and chronology,
meet: History of Art Timeline.
For movements and periods,
see: History of Art.

Characteristics

Traditionally, Korean art has borrowed heavily from the aesthetics of both Chinese art and Japanese art, using similar concepts, motifs, techniques, and forms. Merely despite this close association with the characteristics of traditional Chinese fine art, Korean artists accept over the centuries adult a distinctive way of their own. The unique character of Korean art lies in its understated simplicity and spontaneity, together with a feeling of harmony with nature.

One of the main characteristics of Korean fine art is its close association with naturalism, a characteristic already noticable by the time of the Three Kingdoms period (c.57 BCE - 668 CE) but fully established by the Silla menstruation (668–935). The practice of accepting nature as it is, led to a highly developed appreciation for the simple and the unadorned. In wood etching, for example, Korean sculptors favoured the unaltered beauty of the natural woods grain. In ceramic art, the Korean potter was not interested in achieving technical perfection (in his surfaces, curves, or shapes), but in bringing out the natural characteristics of his materials and medium.

Simplicity also applied to the utilize of decorative devices and motifs and the intervention of the human manus is kept to a minimum. In addition, avoidance of extremes has been a regular feature of most types of art in Korea. For example, lines with extreme-straightness or extreme-curves are rarely seen. Thus the assuming directly line of a Chinese bowl made in the era of Song Dynasty art (960-1279) becomes a modest curve in a Korean vessel of the same period. In fact, Korean artists tend to shun all assuming lines, sharp angles, and steeply angled planes, every bit well as extreme colours. Not surprisingly therefore, in Korean architecture, the steeply curved Chinese roof becomes a gently sloping variant. In terms of overall touch on, the outcome of a slice of Korean art is typically gentle and mellow: lines are fluent and the impression is one of subtle inner harmony. For important dates in the evolution of Asian art and culture, see: Chinese Art Timeline (eighteen,000 BCE - present).

Blue and White Porcelain Jar
with plum and bamboo design
15th century Joseon Dynasty.
Hoam Art Museum, Yongin,
Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.
For East asia's oldest ceramics,
meet: Xianrendong Cavern Pottery,
dating to 18,000 BCE, and
Yuchanyan Cave Pottery dating
to 16,300 BCE.

History and Evolution

Prehistoric Culture

Archeological show indicates that people came to Korea from Siberia, via Manchuria during the late Stone Historic period. The Korean peninsula contains numerous traces of prehistoric fine art and artifacts dating dorsum to Paleolithic civilisation (earlier 10,000 BCE). Siberian X-ray way rock art, for instance, has been establish near the southeastern coast of Korea, along with a range of primitive clay pots and utensils. Korean ancient pottery improved during the era of Neolithic art (c.10,000-3,000 BCE) with the creation of flat-bottomed vessels busy with zigzag patterns, followed by rummage-pattern pottery (c.3,000 BCE). These styles may take borrowed elements from Neolithic Art in Cathay (c.vii,500-2,000 BCE), but are more than likely to have been influenced past Siberian traditions. For more chronological details, come across: Pottery Timeline (26,000 BCE-1900).

See as well: Oldest Stone Age Fine art: Earliest 100 Works.

Clearer signs of China's impact on ancient art in the Korean peninsula emerged during the Bronze Age, every bit Korean painted wares began to come under the influence of Xia culture (c.2100-1600), Shang Dynasty art (c.1600-1050) and Zhou Dynasty art (1050-221 BCE). Siberian influence remained, however, notably in the form of bronze daggers and mirrors very similar to those used past the Scythian peoples of the Eurasian steppe. Korean Bronze Historic period metalwork also shared certain characteristics with Hallstatt Celtic civilization which blossomed in fundamental Europe during this time (c.g BCE). The practice of early jade carving also began during the Bronze Age. The crafting of pocket-size comma-shaped and tubular "jades" using stones similar jade, microcline, jasper, and the like, in southern Korea, began much earlier - in the Middle Mumun Pottery Menstruum (c.850–550 BCE) - and was later continued during the Three Kingdoms. Note: Mumun ceramics had an important influence on Japanese Jomon pottery of the period.

The influence of Chinese Han Dynasty art (206 BCE - 220 CE) became unmistakable during the Early on Iron Age (c.300 BCE onwards), when Mainland china began creating colonies in northwestern Korea, effectually 108 BCE. One such colony, Nangnang - close to present twenty-four hour period Pyongyang - became a centre of Chinese pottery, as well as bronze sculpture and metalwork, leading to the spread of Chinese culture across the peninsula.

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

Korean fine art during recorded history dates from 57 BCE, the start of the Iii Kingdoms Period (c.57 BCE – 668 CE), during which the country was ruled by 3 monarchies: the Goguryeo (Koguryo) kingdom (c.37 BCE–668 CE) an austere culture with links to northern China, that flourished in the n of the country (capital Pyongyang); the Baekje (Paekche) kingdom (c.18 BCE–660 CE), based in the Kongju-Puyo region of southwestern Korea, whose court was more friendly with southern China; and the more than remote kingdom of Silla (57 BCE–668 CE) which was based in southeastern Korea (capital Gongju [Kyongju]), east of the Naktong River. The Baekje and Silla courts also adult strong ties with Japan. Baekje rulers, for example, were the first to innovate Chinese writing to Japan, while Silla grey stoneware was replicated in Japan as Sue pottery of the Tumulus, or Kofun, menses.

An important catalyst for the evolution of visual fine art during Three Kingdoms Menstruation, was the introduction of Buddhism into Goguryeo from China, around 372 CE. Architectural pattern, in the form of Buddhist temples and pagodas; plastic art, in both statue-class and reliefs, including teracotta sculpture, bronzes, too every bit jades and ivory carving; all benefited from the new patronage of religious art. By the sixth century, Buddhism had become the national faith, and from then until the 15th century, it provided almost all of the almost of import themes in Korean art.

In Korean sculpture, the Buddha'south face tends to be rounder and more expressive than the usual Asian idiom, and wears the distinctive "Baekje smile." The way is reminiscent of the sculptural modelling practised in southern Red china, particularly in the Nan (Southern) Liang dynasty (502–557), a time when many Chinese sculptors and other craftsmen are believed to have gone to Baekje.

Calligraphy was first introduced to Korea during the Three Kingdoms Period, around 300-400 CE - possibly along with Buddhism - and grew stronger during the Silla Period, when Kim Saeng became recognized equally the first Korean calligraphic master.

Tomb art was another important branch of Korean art of the time, although little has survived. A notable exception is the 6th century tomb of Rex Munyong in Kongju (at present a World Heritage site), excavated in 1971, which contained a huge hoard of precious items including beautiful examples of goldsmithing, as well as a mass of decorative works, such equally paintings and examples of lacquerware in the Chinese way. Korean tombs were in fact oft decorated with mural painting - now mostly destroyed - typically executed in rich yellow, dark-brown red, dark-green, regal and black colours.

From about the sixth century onwards, this fresco painting showed signs of considerable improvement as it fell under the influence of the Chinese arts of the 6 Dynasties (220-618 CE), and Sui Dynasty fine art (589-618). Colour is intensified, Daoist themes are introduced to replace the outdated style of genre painting, and portrait fine art is also seen in tombs for the kickoff time.

During the final decades of the Three Kingdoms Period, stone sculpture became popular in the Silla kingdom, with Gongju every bit the middle of production. The impulse for this derived from Tang Dynasty art (618-906) with its distinctive interest in body mass.

In decorative art, precious metalwork was especially highly developed during the Iii Kingdoms, producing a broad range of jewellery fine art, in golden, gold-bronze, argent, jade and glass. Typical items included crowns and diadems, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and finger rings.

The about representative type of Korean pottery produced during the Three Kingdoms is the difficult, grey, unglazed stoneware made in Silla. Predominant vessel forms include mounted jars and cups. The shoulders of these grayware jars are typically adorned with a variety of man and creature figures. In Baekje, a number of clay tiles marked with reliefs of landscapes appeared during the 7th century, heralding the arrival of landscape painting on the Korean peninsula.

Silla Menstruum (668-935)

In 668, the Baekje and Goguryeo kingdoms were conquered by the Silla ruler, in brotherhood with the Chinese Tangs. This ushered in about three centuries of Silla culture - the gilt age of ancient Korean art. Scholars and Buddhist Monks travelled to Cathay to sample its heady cosmopolitan culture, while at home the city of Gongju was modelled on the Tang capital of Changan. Henceforth, southeast Korea became the cultural middle of the country, while northern territories declined.

Under Silla rule, Buddhism enjoyed a renaissance, with a number of fine temples beingness built in Kyongsang province. Other architectural developments included the widespread use of granite. Korean granite pagodas, for instance, stand in abrupt contrast to the wooden pagodas of Japan and the brick pagodas of Communist china. Bronzesmiths were responsible for a big number of temple bells, also every bit special receptacles for the sacred ashes of the Shakyamuni Buddha (sharira boxes), and Buddhist statues. During the late 9th century, supplies of bronze almost ran out, causing many statues to exist made of fe.

The Silla flow was the apogee of Korean naturalism in sculpture. To brainstorm with it was heavily influenced by the heavy Tang way, but by the eighth century information technology began to accept on a softened naturalistic advent, as exemplified by the standing Amitabha and Maitreya (c.721) from the site of Kamsan Temple, and past the massive merely svelte torso and a round tranquil face of the main awe-inspiring Buddha in the Seokguram cave temple. Korean bodhisattvas were besides inspired past Tang figures, such as those sculpted for the Baojing Temple in Xian, China (c.703). By the 770s, all the same, Silla sculpture had already started to degenerate, a process accelerated during the early on 9th century by the overall decline of the Silla kingdom itself.

In the area of decorative arts and crafts, Silla pottery is noted for its ceramic urns, marked by a yellowish dark-green lead glaze and decorated with stamped floral patterns. In addition, earthenware roof and floor tiles decorated with lotus flowers and other floral patterns were commissioned for Buddhist temples and palaces. Bronze bells were another Silla speciality, as shown by the huge statuary bell of King Songdok (771, Gongju National Museum) cast for the Pongdok Temple. Miniature bronze shrines were also produced for Buddhist temples.

Goryeo Dynasty Period (918-1392)

It was during the Goryeo Dynasty catamenia that Korea first became known to the Western world; the name 'Goryeo' is the origin of the country's mod name. The founder of Goryeo, Wang Geon (ruled 918-43), established a new capital at Gaeseong, located in present-twenty-four hours Due north Korea. His policy of expansion northwards led to conflict on the northern border. Despite successive attacks by northern tribespeople from Manchuria, cultural exchanges with the Song Dynasty in Mainland china flourished during the early on Goryeo menstruum, leaving deep imprints on Goryeo arts and crafts.

The twelfth century was a time of peace and prosperity for Korea. It was during this menses that some of the finest celadon pottery was produced. Classic mode, jade-coloured, glazed Goryeo celadons were specially favoured in Red china, during the era of Song Dynasty fine art, where they were known as 'first nether the sky'. Korean celadons were uniquely characterized by their sanggam inlaid decoration. The Goryeo celadon hard pillow (c.1150), now in the British Museum, London, is typical of those made for the aristocracy and for Buddhist monks. Used for sleeping at night, this sort of pillow was oft cached with its owner when he/she died. Decorated with fine sanggam inlay, the British Museum instance features an openwork pattern based on connecting chains. Inlay in various types of fabric was widely used in the Goryeo flow, non just on celadon ware but also on lacquer and metallic. Inlay appears in some of the nigh exquisite Goryeo works of art.

While there are lots of surviving examples of Goryeo decorative arts, niggling remains of the dynasty'due south secular painting. Yi Nyeong (active during the reign of Injong, 1122-46) was a famous painter and his works were praised past Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty. A stylish scholarly activity of the Goryeo period was to create ink and wash paintings of the and so-called '4 Gentlemen'- namely bamboo, plum blossom, orchid, and chrysanthemum.

A coup d'etat occurred in 1170, after which the military held power for almost a century, until Mongol invasions (1231-59) led to a restoration of the court's political authority. In 1259 the Goryeo ruler signed a peace treaty with the Mongols, soon to be officially allowable by the Yuan Dynasty nether Kublai Khan (1215-94). For the first time, the Korean peninsula (as well every bit Communist china itself) was controlled by a foreign people. An all-encompassing Mongolization of the Goryeo court was instigated: Goryeo crown princes were compelled to alive in the Yuan capital letter until they became male monarch, and to marry Mongol princesses; people were obliged to take Mongol names, speak the Mongol language and adopt Mongol dress and hairstyles. As in China, Yuan Dynasty art was non renowned for its interest in, or encouragement of, native Korean culture.

It was nether the Mongols that Neo-Confucianism was introduced to Korea from China. Chinese painters were invited to Korea and many exquisite examples of Buddhist art were produced during this period. At the asking of the Chinese Yuan Dynasty courtroom, Goryeo scholar-scribes and painters went to Cathay, bringing illuminated sutras such as the illuminated manuscript from the Avatamsaka Sutra (Hwaomgyong) (14th century, Cleveland Museum of Fine art). The frontispiece of this multi-volume sacred text, with its aureate brushwork, depicts a temple courtyard in front of which stands a grouping of figures. The tallest figure, Buddha of the Future (Maitreya), addresses a kneeling pilgrim who asks him about the path to spiritual enkindling. All the text of the sutra is painted in argent. Goryeo illuminated manuscripts were included alongside Buddhist paintings as items of tribute and were treasured in China for their aesthetic and religious qualities. The illuminated manuscripts were also highly praised in Muromachi Nihon, where a great number of Goryeo works survive in Buddhist temples.

During the Goryeo flow, Buddhism was adopted every bit the country organized religion; Buddhist temples increased in number and all aspects of Buddhist art flourished. The desire to promote Buddhism actually led to the development of printing in Korea. In the early on 13th century, for instance, movable metal type was invented to facilitate the distribution of texts; the oldest surviving metal-printed volume in the earth, Jikji ("Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests Zen Teachings"), contains the essentials of Zen Buddhism. Meanwhile, the entire Buddhist code was carved onto more than fourscore,000 woodblocks, known as the "Tripitaka Koreana". Towards the end of the Goryeo Dynasty, however, Buddhism began to fail as the official state doctrine. Indeed, the corruption and the decline of Buddhism in the final menstruation of Goryeo rule contributed to the downfall of the Goryeo Dynasty itself.

Joseon Dynasty Period (1392-1910)

Joseon rulers abandoned Goryeo Buddhism and adopted Neo-Confucianism equally the official Korean ideology. To expedite the decline of Buddhist thought and to transform the country into a Neo-Confucian lodge, the founding king of Joseon, Yi Seonggye (1335-1408), and his Neo-Confucian directorate, announced a series of anti-Buddhist measures to reduce the wealth and influence of Buddhist monasteries besides every bit the aristocratic family unit clans that had hitherto controlled governmental diplomacy. All this led to a new elite course, the Neo-Confucian literati, taking over the governing bureaucracy.

The Joseon Dynasty revitalized Korea's native cultural traditions while supporting Ming China and its identify at the eye of Confucian civilization. Joseon Korea harked back to classical Chinese sources for inspiration, and in painting, mural emerged every bit the principal genre. An Gyeon (active 1440-70), an official painter of the Joseon courtroom, was Korea's most prominent painter in the 15th century. He adopted classical Chinese models from the Vocal era merely expressed distinctly Joseon styles and aesthetic visions. His approach to landscape painting influenced many other Korean artists during his lifetime. In his ink-and-color silk scroll painting Dream Journeying to the Peach Blossom Land (1447, Tenri University Library, Nara, Japan), An Gyeon employed strongly assorted areas of light and night and vigorous brushwork to depict a dream related to him by his patron, Prince Anpyeong. The cute Peach Blossom Land itself is seen in the right of the painting, enclosed by a band of jagged peaks. An Gyeon not simply understood and practised the traditions of Chinese painting, merely besides interpreted them with a fresh eye.

In addition to creating imaginary works of this kind, court painters were expected to paint portraits of royals and officials, as well as pictorial records of ladylike ceremonies. A big number of Korean scholars and officials were themselves artists, specializing in calligraphy and its sis art of ink and wash painting - the two well-nigh prestigious types of fine fine art and thus most advisable for the literati form.

The suppression of Buddhism meant that religious art declined both in volume and quality, even though Buddhist ideas remained a potent cultural force, particularly among the lower classes. Buddhist iconography also found its way into Korean folk art, or minhwa, a naive manner of painting which depicts mythical figures and lucky symbols, such as deer, tigers, and cranes. Minhwa works were produced in huge numbers from the seventeenth century onwards to satisfy the public's appetite for such images. Typically, Minhwa painters were common people who travelled effectually the country painting pictures to celebrate a life upshot.

In the field of ceramics, the most highly valued genre of the Joseon period - a menses that coincided with Ming Dynasty fine art - was white porcelain, which was seen to embody the Neo-Confucian ideals of purity and frugality. Even so, early in the Joseon Dynasty catamenia there was a parallel development in buncheong stoneware. Buncheong - originally bunjang hoecheong sagi (grey-green ceramics decorated with powder) - is recognizable by the colour of its glaze, which varies from grey and light-green, to bluish. Ceramicists using the sgraffito (scratched away) technique first applied a white slip to the surface of the clay torso, afterward which they engraved a blueprint into it. The remaining traces of the slip were and so removed to reveal the body; the item was coated with a glaze and and then fired. The buncheong style disappeared afterwards the 16th century equally Joseon potters were drawn towards Chinese porcelain, notably Ming ware.

Notation: for details of arts and crafts produced in India during the period of the Joseon Dynasty, come across: Postal service-Classical Indian Painting (14th-16th Century), Mughal Painting (16th-19th Century) and Rajput Painting (16th-19th Century).

By the late seventeenth century, Korea'south emerging identity equally an independent nation began to be reflected in its art. In the eighteenth-century, the most remarkable achievement of Korean painting was the evolution of jingyeong sansu (truthful-view landscape). Instead of painting idealized Chinese-mode landscapes, Korean painters like Jeong Seon (1676-1759) depicted Korean scenery, every bit exemplified by his masterpiece entitled Complete View of the Diamond Mountains (1734, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, South Korea). [Note: Joseon Koreans perceived Ming China (1368-1644) to be the rightful heart of Confucian civilization; the Joseon elite were well-versed in Chinese classics and artists painted idealized landscapes derived from Chinese models. Notwithstanding, all this inverse when Communist china fell to the Manchu Qing Dynasty in 1644. From that point onwards, Joseon Korea regarded itself the keeper of Confucian civilization, and the Korean land and people became the preoccupation of many scholars. Information technology is in this context that Jeong created this piece of work.]

Another of import trend was the production of genre paintings with humorous portrayals of life, such as Threshing Rice (1780), in which Gim Hongdo (1745-1806) depicts a lazing, pipage-smoking farmer overseeing hard-working peasants. Such works appealed to Korea'south growing heart class. Gim's Seodang (Village Schoolhouse) (late 18th century, National Museum of Korea, Seoul) depicts a Confucian teacher and his pupils. The painting is typical of its genre in that the artist focuses on the individuals and their expressions while leaving the groundwork bare.

During its late phase, Joseon social club adhered less rigidly to the austere Confucian virtues of the early menses, and enjoyed greater prosperity. The lavish use of cobalt blueish colour pigment became all the rage and the production of blue and white Korean porcelain flourished. The growing affluence of the middle class led to a taste for luxury in the applied arts, and lacquerwork inlaid with mother-of-pearl in elaborate designs became popular. Unfortunately, although Korean cultural life flourished throughout the 19th century, the land faced internal rebellion and foreign assailment. In 1910, the Joseon Dynasty finally complanate after Korea was overrun by the Japanese Empire as function of its expansionist policy.

Modern Period

When the Japanese first invaded, traditional Korean painting was led by Cho Sok-Mentum (1853-1920) and An Chung-sik (1861-1919). Cho was the terminal of the Joseon courtroom painters, and An the terminal scholar-painter. But both practised the enervated Southern mode of Qing Dynasty art, with its stress on fingertip technique.

It is important to realize that the Japanese occupiers of Korea made a full-bodied attempt to suppress indigenous art in Korea, by destroying paintings of Korean subjects, closing schools of Korean art, and compelling the few remaining artists to paint Japanese subjects in Japanese styles. The intention was to transform Korean art into Japanese art.

Traditional Korean Art

In 1911, the sometime Korean regal family unit founded an academy of painting to promote the traditional mode, which - despite closing in 1919 - trained a number of important painters. By the 1930s, the style of Korean painting was offset to change under the impact of both Japanese and European influences. In 1922, for instance, the Japanese had instituted an almanac painting exhibition for Korean artists, designed to foster a new 'Japanese-mode type of academic painting'. At this time, the only upward-to-engagement facilities for studying painting were controlled by the Japanese. Thus, despite the resistance of Korean traditionalists, the Japanese tradition dominated. Important painters from this period included Kim Eun-ho (1892-1979), Yi Sang-beom (1897-1972), Ko Hui-dong (1886-1965), Pyon Kwan-shik (1899-1976), and No Su-hyon (1899-1978). Subsequently World War Ii, traditional painting assumed a much more mod form of expression, as may be seen in the works of radical artists like Kim Ki-chang, his wife Pak Nae-hyon, and Pak No-su. All of these painters were expertly trained in traditional media, such as pen and ink drawing, ink and launder painting and watercolour painting. Their pictures exhibit a confident sense of limerick and colour, and also have the quality of genuine abstract fine art.

Western-Style Korean Art

As far equally western-way art was concerned, the chief tradition of Korean oil painting throughout the Japanese occupation was the representational school that had its roots in Impressionism. Amid the tiptop painters in this category were Yi Chong-u, To Sang-bong (1902-77), Kim In-sung (1911-2001), and Pak Tuk-sun. As well as the new medium of oil, Western art introduced the Renaissance concept of realistic depiction with three-dimensional illusion and linear perspective, along with the notion of art as a career to exist pursued every bit a full-time profession rather than but a gentlemen's hobby. Withal, as we take seen, nearly all these changes were introduced during the Japanese occupation from 1910 to 1945, all Korean modern art of this period was refracted through Japan.

This duality of traditional-versus-western painting was maintained after the war: Western-style painting was practiced by Japanese-trained artists, such as Ko Hui-dong, Lee In-sung (1912-1950), and Kim Hwan-ki (1913-74); and traditional Eastern-style painting was practiced by artists such as Lee Sang-bom and Kim Eun-ho (1892-1979), who used either traditional ink or coloured ink.

During the mid-1950s a group of young progressive artists formed a movement called Informel (after the European style of Art Informel), which promoted the western style of abstract art, as initiated by Abstruse Expressionism in America. By contrast, the Monochrome fine art of the 1970s was an attempt to create an authentic Korean art, using the flat surface of the sheet as the primal ground for expressing passive, at-home, and meditative harmony. In the 1980s, artists belonging to the Minjung Misul (People's Fine art) movement began to explore social themes and were linked to the political protests of that decade. Another important contemporary contributor to Korean art is the video artist Nam June Paik (1932-2006). Later on leaving Korea during the ceremonious state of war, he began in performance art earlier switching to video and installation.

Further Resource

For more than about East Asian arts and crafts, encounter the following:

- Chinese Terra cotta Regular army (c.208 BCE)
- Republic of india: Painting & Sculpture
- Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints (c.1670-1900)

• For more nearly arts and crafts in Korea, see: Homepage.

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