A Companion to Korean Art E-Book
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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Serie: Blackwell Companions to Art History
- Sprache: Englisch
The only college-level publication on Korean art history written in English
Korean pop culture has become an international phenomenon in the past few years. The popularity of the nation’s exports—movies, K-pop, fashion, television shows, lifestyle and cosmetics products, to name a few—has never been greater in Western society. Despite this heightened interest in contemporary Korean culture, scholarly Western publications on Korean visual arts are scarce and often outdated. A Companion to Korean Art is the first academically-researched anthology on the history of Korean art written in English. This unique anthology brings together essays by renowned scholars from Korea, the US, and Europe, presenting expert insights and exploring the most recent research in the field.
Insightful chapters discuss Korean art and visual culture from early historical periods to the present. Subjects include the early paintings of Korea, Buddhist architecture, visual art of the late Chosŏn period, postwar Korean Art, South Korean cinema, and more. Several chapters explore the cultural exchange between the Korean peninsula, the Chinese mainland, and the Japanese archipelago, offering new perspectives on Chinese and Japanese art. The most comprehensive survey of the history of Korean art available, this book:
- Offers a comprehensive account of Korean visual culture through history, including contemporary developments and trends
- Presents two dozen articles and numerous high quality illustrations
- Discusses visual and material artifacts of Korean art kept in various archives and collections worldwide
- Provides theoretical and interpretive balance on the subject of Korean art
- Helps instructors and scholars of Asian art history incorporate Korean visual arts in their research and teaching
The definitive and authoritative reference on the subject, A Companion to Korean Art is indispensable for scholars and academics working in areas of Asian visual arts, university students in Asian and Korean art courses, and general readers interested in the art, culture, and history of Korea.
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Seitenzahl: 1132
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020
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Table of Contents
Cover
About the Editors
Notes on Contributors
Editor’s Preface
Series Editor’s Preface
Introduction: The Contours of Korea’s Cultural History
Prehistoric Korea
The Chinese Stimulus
The Three Kingdoms and Kaya
Buddhism and Culture
Chosŏn
Under Japanese Rule
Korea Independent and Divided
References
Glossary
Part I: Ancient to Medieval Cultures on the Korean Peninsula
1 Early Paintings of Korea: Murals and Craft Decorations
Introduction
Emergence of Painting on the Korean Peninsula
Lelang
Early Painted Stone‐chamber Tombs in the Taedong‐Chaeryŏng Deltas
The mid‐Yalu basin of Koguryŏ
Paekche
The Southeast: Silla and Kaya
References
Glossary
2 Sculptures of the Three Kingdoms and Unified Silla
Modest Beginning
Integral Localization
Communal Effort
Distinctive Vision
Perfected Buddha World
Consecrated Mountain
References
Glossary
3 Buddhist Architecture, Politics, and Gender in the Three Kingdoms and Unified Silla
Introduction of Buddhist Architecture
Pagodas, Political Power, and Gender
Buddhist Temples with Twin Pagodas in Unified Silla
References
Glossary
4 Art and Artifacts of Three Kingdoms Tombs
Tombs of the Three Kingdoms
Personal Ornaments of Fine Metalwork
Vessels
Decorated Weapons and Horse Gear
Ritual Objects
References
Glossary
Part II: The Koryŏ Dynasty
5 Introduction and Development of Koryŏ Celadon
The Beginnings of Celadon
Celadon Technology and the Development of Shapes in Early Koryŏ
Introduction of Tea Culture and the Development of Celadon
Celadon Buried in Tombs
Manufacturing Techniques of Koryŏ Pisaek‐Colored Celadon
Diverse Decorative Methods
Transportation and Circulation of Ceramics
References
Glossary
6 Koryŏ Buddhist Sculpture: Issues and History
Retaining Traditions and Regional Diversities
Rise of a New Aesthetic
Sophistication
Introduction of the Exotic: Sino‐Tibetan Styles
Further Issues
References
Glossary
7 The Art of Salvation: New Approaches to Koryŏ Buddhist Painting
Introduction
Koryŏ Buddhist Painting: Rediscovered Treasures
Icons and Iconography
Materiality and Secular Elements
Moving Images and Shifting Positions: Koryŏ Buddhist Paintings in Japan
Conclusion
References
Glossary
8 Establishing a New Tradition: Koryŏ Buddhist Architecture
Buddhism, Geomancy, and Urban Planning of Kaegyŏng
Temples in the Capital
Mountain Monasteries
Architectural Forms of Koryŏ Wooden Halls
“Yuan Influence” in Pagoda Architecture
Acknowledgments
References
Glossary
9 Arts of Refinement: Lacquer and Metalwares of Koryŏ
Koryŏ Bronze and Lacquer
Fluidity of Use
Craftspeople
Government Workshops
The Early Koryŏ Period
The Twelfth Century
The Late Koryŏ Period
Conclusion
References
Glossary
Part III: The Chosŏn Dynasty
10 The Emergence of Confucian Culture: Early Chosŏn Painting
Introduction
Founding a Confucian State
Court Painters
Portraiture
Landscape Painting: the An Kyŏn Tradition
Landscape Painting: the Korean Zhe School
Symbolism of Animals and Plants
Documentary Painting of Literati Gatherings
Printing and Dissemination of Confucian Teaching
References
Glossary
11 Transformation: Three Centuries of Change in Late Chosŏn Painting
Rise of “True‐Scenery” Landscape Painting
Masters of Genre Painting
Literati Painting and the Visual Poetics of Selfhood
Flourishing of Court Painting
Europe in Korea
Conspicuous Consumption of Paintings
References
Glossary
12 Ceramics and Culture in Chosŏn Korea
Porcelain as State Project
Early Porcelain: Ideal of Austere Elegance
Punch’ŏng: Earthy and Exuberant Counterpart to Porcelain
Early Chosŏn Ceramics and the Japan Factor
Ceramics in Rites of Birth and Death
Quintessentially Korean Styles in Eighteenth‐Century Porcelain
New Trends in Blue‐and‐White: Native and Foreign
Global Perspective on Chosŏn Ceramics
References
Glossary
13 Ritual and Splendor: Chosŏn Court Art
Seoul and its Palaces
Painting Institutions at Court
A Court Painter’s Foremost Task: Portraiture
Weddings, Processions, Birthday Banquets, and other Court Celebrations
Meaningful Ornaments: Screens for Palace Ceremony and Decor
Male and Female Quarters
‘Court Art’ and ‘Folk Art’
Advent of Modernity
Conclusion
References
Glossary
14 Faith, Ritual, and the Arts: Chosŏn Buddhist Art and Architecture
1
The Early Period
The Late Period
Monk‐Artists
References
Glossary
Part IV: Modern & Contemporary Developments
15 Modern Korean Art in the Japanese Colonial Period
Influx of Western Culture before Japanese Colonization
Introduction of New Painting Modes in the 1910s
Quest for Modern Art in the 1920s
Diversity of Modern Art in Colonial Korea
Art and Military Emergency
References
Glossary
16 The Long Breath: Postwar Korean Art
Reconstruction and Representation
Abstraction and Medium
Adventures in Experimental Art
The Role of the State
Korean Art in Circulation
Encounters with the Everyday
Art under Authoritarianism
What Contemporary Art Means in Korean
References
Further Reading
Glossary
17 Situating Contemporary Art of South Korea, 1980 to 2016
Historical Subjectivity Crisis and the Rise of Minjung
The Emergence of Minjung Art
The Two Phases of Minjung Art
Alternatives to Polarity and Debates on Postmodernism
Fast Forward: Cultural Turn and the Heterogeneity of Individual Voices
Korean Art Within and Beyond the Borders
Globalization, Biennales, and Alternative Spaces
Korean Photography in Recent Decades
Technology and New Media
Collectivism, Public Sphere, and the Precarious
Re‐inscription of Collective Memory and Anonymous Narratives
Diversity of Positions and Interests in the Twenty‐First Century
Shared Positionalities across Borders
References
Glossary
18 South Korean Cinema in the Age of Hallyu
Three Films with Transnational Lens
Only Icelanders Watch Movies at a Higher Clip than Koreans
The Beach in Hong Sang‐soo and the Neighbors in Lee Chang‐dong
Conclusion
References
Glossary
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Chapter 0
Map 1 Lelang and its neighbors. Drawn by Sanghwan Lee & mastered by Ina Jung...
Map 2 The Three Kingdoms plus Kaya. Drawn by Sanghwan Lee & mastered by Ina ...
Map 3 Koryŏ. Drawn by Sanghwan Lee & mastered by Ina Jungmann.
Map 4 Chosŏn. Drawn by Sanghwan Lee & mastered by Ina Jungmann.
Map 5 Korea today. Drawn by Sanghwan Lee & mastered by Ina Jungmann.
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 Plaque (back side) with scenes of farming. 3
rd
century BCE. Reput...
Figure 1.2 Brushes with bristles on both ends of shaft. 1
st
century BCE. Exc...
Figure 1.3 Murals showing equestrian procession (artist’s reconstruction by ...
Figure 1.4 Portrait of the deceased Dong Shou (289–357). Mid–4
th
century. Ma...
Figure 1.5 Murals. 5
th
century. East wall of the main chamber, Tomb of the D...
Figure 1.6 Mural fragment. 7
th
century. From an alleged Buddhist monastic si...
Figure 1.7 Painted Roundels (front and back). 5
th
century. From the Heavenly...
Figure 1.8 Line drawing of painted murals. 6
th
century. Ceiling of the paint...
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 Standing Buddha. Koguryŏ, dated 539. From Ŭiryŏng, South Kyŏngsan...
Figure 2.2 Buddha Triad. Paekche, early 7
th
century. Rock carving on Mount K...
Figure 2.3 Pensive Bodhisattva. Early 7th century. Gilt bronze. H. 83.2 cm. ...
Figure 2.4 Pensive Bodhisattva. Early 7th century. Gilt bronze. H. 93.5 cm. ...
Figure 2.5 Kyeyu Amitābha Triad Stele. Unified Silla, dated 673. From Piamsa...
Figure 2.6 Standing Bodhisattva Maitreya. Unified Silla, dated 719. From Kam...
Figure 2.7 Standing Buddha Amitābha. Unified Silla, dated 719. From Kamsansa...
Figure 2.8 Sŏkkuram. Unified Silla, 8
th
century. Kyŏngju, North Kyŏngsang Pr...
Figure 2.9 Sŏkkuram. Floor plan and section.
Figure 2.10 Seated Bodhisattva. 8
th
century. Rock carving at Sinsŏnam on Mou...
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 Chŏngnŭngsa site in P’yŏngyang after excavation.
Figure 3.2 Ground plan of Mirŭksa in Iksan, North Chŏlla Province. Image: co...
Figure 3.3 Inscription on the gold plate of the relic deposit. Paekche, date...
Figure 3.4 Stone pagoda in the western precinct of Mirŭksa. Paekche, dated 6...
Figure 3.5 Diagram showing relative sizes of the buildings at Hwangnyongsa i...
Figure 3.6 Miniature pagodas. Unified Silla, 8
th
century. From the relic dep...
Figure 3.7 Restored relief image of a guardian deity. Unified Silla, ca. 679...
Figure 3.8 Three‐story stone pagoda at Pulguksa in Kyŏngju, North Kyŏngsang ...
Figure 3.9 Stone pagoda at Pulguksa. Unified Silla, 8
th
century.
Figure 3.10 Manuscript of the
Sutra of the Pure Light Dhāraṇī
...
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1 Headband crown. Silla, 5
th
century. From Kŭmgwanch'ong in Kyŏngju...
Figure 4.2 Cap‐shaped crown. Silla, 5
th
century. From Kŭmgwanch'ong in Kyŏng...
Figure 4.3 Ornament of cap‐shaped crown. Silla, 5
th
century. From Kŭmgwanch'...
Figure 4.4 Pair of earrings of King Muryŏng. Paekche, 6
th
century. From King...
Figure 4.5 Pair of earrings. Silla, early 6
th
century. From the double buria...
Figure 4.6 Belt. Silla, 5
th
century. From Kŭmgwanch'ong in Kyŏngju, North Ky...
Figure 4.7 Bracelet of Queen Muryŏng. By Tari. Paekche, early 6
th
century. S...
Figure 4.8 Pair of shoes. Silla, 5
th
century. From Singnich'ong in Kyŏngju, ...
Figure 4.9 Long‐necked jar with figurines. Silla, 5
th
century. From Kyerim‐r...
Figure 4.10 Incense burner. Paekche, 6
th
century. From a temple site of Nŭng...
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1 Bowl with halo‐shaped foot. 11
th
century. Celadon. H. 6.5 cm, D.1...
Figure 5.2 Jar. 993. Celadon. H. 35.2 cm. National Treasure No. 326.
Figure 5.3 Bottle from the tomb of King Injong. Before 1146. Celadon. H. 22....
Figure 5.4 Incense burner with lion‐shaped cover. 12
th
–13
th
century. Celadon...
Figure 5.5 Bowl with incised parrot and crane design. 12
th
century. Celadon....
Figure 5.6 Incense burner with molded decoration. 12
th
–13
th
century. Celadon...
Figure 5.7 “Prunus” bottle inlaid with clouds and cranes. 13
th
century. Cela...
Figure 5.8 Bowl with lid. 13
th
century. Celadon with underglaze iron and whi...
Figure 5.9 Celadon bowls found in T’aean shipwreck on the seafloor off Taesŏ...
Chapter 6
Figure 6.1 Seated Buddha. 10
th
century. From the Hasach’ang‐dong temple site...
Figure 6.2 Seated Buddha. 11
th
century. From the Powŏnsa site in Sŏsan, Sout...
Figure 6.3 Seated Buddha. 10
th
to 11
th
century. From Wŏnju, Kangwŏn Province...
Figure 6.4 Standing Bodhisattva. 2
nd
half of the 10
th
century. Kwanch’oksa i...
Figure 6.5 Standing Bodhisattva. 10
th
to 11
th
century. Taejosa in Puyŏ, Sout...
Figure 6.6 Seated Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha. 1346. Changgoksa in Ch’ŏngyang, Sout...
Figure 6.7 Seated Amitābha Buddha. Before 1274. Kaeunsa in Anam‐dong, Seoul....
Figure 6.8 Seated Bodhisattva. 1199. Pongjŏngsa in Yech’ŏn, North Kyŏngsang ...
Figure 6.9‐1 Throat Bell. Ca. 14
th
century. From the
pokchang
deposit of a s...
Figure 6.9‐2 Casket. Ca. 14
th
century. From the
pokchang
deposit of a seated...
Figure 6.9‐3 Record listing items deposited as
pokchang
. 1346. From the
pokc
...
Figure 6.10 Seated Bodhisattva. 14
th
century. Gilt‐bronze. H. 18.1 cm.
Chapter 7
Figure 7.1
Water‐Moon Avalokiteśvara
. 1
st
half of the 14
th
centur...
Figure 7.2
Amitābha Triad
. 13
th
century. Hanging scroll; ink and colors...
Figure 7.3
Descent of Amitābha
. 14
th
century. Hanging scroll; ink and c...
Figure 7.4
Kṣitigarbha
. 1
st
half of the 14
th
century. Hanging scroll; ...
Figure 7.5
Kṣitigarbha and the Ten Kings of Hell
. 14
th
century. Hangin...
Figure 7.6 Detail of Figure 7.1.
Water‐Moon Avalokiteśvara
. 1
st
h...
Figure 7.7
Illustration of the Sutra on the Descent of Maitreya
. 1350. Hangi...
Figure 7.8 Detail of Figure 7.7.
Illustration of the Sutra on the Descent of
...
Figure 7.9 Kim U et al.
Water‐Moon Avalokiteśvara
. 1310. Hanging ...
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1 Road system of Kaegyŏng (Kaesŏng) in the Koryŏ dynasty.
Figure 8.2 Seated image of Wang Kŏn. Ca. 10
th
century. Bronze. H. 135.8 cm. ...
Figure 8.3 Plan of Purilsa site (after excavation).
Figure 8.4 Miniature pagoda. 10
th
or 11
th
century. Gilt bronze. H. 1.55 mete...
Figure 8.5 Kŭngnakchŏn at Pongjŏngsa (after restoration) in Andong, North Ky...
Figure 8.6 Floor plan of Kŭngnakchŏn at Pongjŏngsa (after restoration).
Figure 8.7 Miniature shrine of Kŭngnakchŏn at Pongjŏngsa, Andong, North Kyŏn...
Figure 8.8 Muryangsujŏn at Pusŏksa (reconstructed 1376), Yŏngju, North Kyŏng...
Figure 8.9 Floor plan of Muryangsujŏn at Pusŏksa.
Figure 8.10 Ten‐story pagoda from Kyŏngch’ŏnsa. 1348. H. 13.5 meters. Nation...
Chapter 9
Figure 9.1
kuṇḍikā
Bottle. Koryŏ (918–1392). Bronze inlaid ...
Figure 9.2 Dishes. 12
th
century. Gold. D. 11 cm.
Figure 9.3 Mirror. Koryŏ (918–1392). Bronze. D. 9.7 cm.
Figure 9.4 Bell. 1010. Bronze. H. 174.2 cm. National Treasure No. 280.
Figure 9.5 Incense burner. 1077. Bronze. H. 14.7 cm. L. 18.8 cm.
Figure 9.6 Bottle with silver stopper. Koryŏ (918–1392). Gilt‐silver. H. 11....
Figure 9.7 Incense burner. 1177. Bronze inlaid with silver. H. 27.5 cm. Nati...
Figure 9.8 Bottle. Koryŏ (918–1392). Bronze inlaid with silver. H. 25 cm....
Figure 9.9 Box. Koryŏ (918–1392). Lacquered wood with mother‐of‐pearl inlay ...
Chapter 10
Figure 10.1 Cho Chungmuk, Yu Suk and others (ac. 19
th
century).
Portrait of
...
Figure 10.2 An Kyŏn (act. ca.1440–1470).
Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom
...
Figure 10.3 Kim Si (1524–1593).
Boy Pulling a Donkey
. Late 16
th
century. Han...
Figure 10.4 Yi Am (1507–1566).
Puppies, Birds, and Blossoms
. Mid–16
th
centur...
Figure 10.5 Yi Chŏng (1554–1626).
Bamboo in Rain
. 1622. Hanging scroll; ink ...
Figure 10.6
Literati Gathering
. 1542. Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper...
Figure 10.7 Yi Hwang (1501–1570).
Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning
. 17
th
–18
th
c...
Figure 10.8 “Sŏkchin Cuts His Finger off,”
Illustrated Guide to the Three Hu
...
Chapter 11
Figure 11.1 Chŏng Sŏn (1676–1759).
Complete View of Mount Kŭmgang
. Hang...
Figure 11.2 Kim Hongdo (1745–after 1806). “Village Women on Their Way to the...
Figure 11.3 Kang Sehwang (1713–1791).
Self‐Portrait
. 1782. Hanging scr...
Figure 11.4 Yi Insang (1710–1760).
Pine Trees in Snow
. Mid‐18
th
century. Han...
Figure 11.5 Kim Tŭksin (1754–1822) and others. “Royal Retinue in Sihŭng Retu...
Figure 11.6
The Kyŏnggi Provincial Office. 1st half of 19th century. Twelve‐
...
Figure 11.7
Ferocious Dog
. 19
th
century. Hanging scroll; ink and colors on p...
Figure 11.8 Yi Myŏnggi (1756–after 1802).
Portrait of O Chaesun
. Datable to ...
Figure 11.9
The City of Great Peace
. Circa 1820. Eight‐fold screen (Panels 3...
Figure 11.10 Attributed to Kim Hongdo (1745–after 1806).
Portrait of a Schol
...
Chapter 12
Figure 12.1 Bowl with lid. 15
th
century. Porcelain. H. 22.5 cm. Treasure No....
Figure 12.2 Jar with design of bamboo and blossoming plum tree. Late 15
th
–ea...
Figure 12.3 Bowl with chrysanthemum design and “Naesŏm” inscription. Mid‐15
t
...
Figure 12.4 Drum‐shaped bottle with peony design. Late 15
th
–early 16
th
centu...
Figure 12.5 Jar with design of dragons and flaming pearls. 18
th
century. Por...
Figure 12.6 Large “Moon jar.” 18
th
century. Porcelain. H. 44.5 cm. Treasure ...
Figure 12.7 Large jar with grapevine design. 18
th
century. Porcelain with ir...
Figure 12.8 Bowl with floral and abstract design. 1847. Porcelain with cobal...
Chapter 13
Figure 13.1
Eastern Palaces
. Early 19
th
century. Sixteen album‐units; ink an...
Figure 13.2 Kim Hongdo (1745–ca. 1806).
Kyujanggak
. 1776. Hanging scroll; in...
Figure 13.3 Yi Myŏnggi (b. 1756).
Portrait of Kang Sehwang
. 1783. Hanging sc...
Figure 13.4 Han Sigak (b. 1621).
Special National Examination for Applicants
...
Figure 13.5 Kim Hongdo, Yi Inmun (1745–1821), Kim Tŭksin (1754–1822), and ot...
Figure 13.6
Sun, Moon and Five Peaks
. Late 18
th
–early 19
th
century. Eight‐fo...
Figure 13.7
Banquet of Queen Mother of the West
. 19
th
century. Eight‐fold sc...
Figure 13.8
Successful Life of Tang General Guo Ziyi
. 19
th
century. Eight‐fo...
Figure 13.9 Yi Hyŏngnok (b. 1808).
Books and Scholarly Implements
. 19
th
cent...
Figure 13.10
Peonies
. 18
th
century. Ten‐fold screen; colors on silk. 194 × 5...
Chapter 14
Figure 14.1 Chosadang at Sillŭksa in Yŏju, Kyŏnggi Province. 15
th
–16
th
centu...
Figure 14.2 Amitābha Buddha. 1458. Wood. H. 72 cm. Hŭksŏksa in Yŏngju, North...
Figure 14.3 Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva. 1466. Wood. H. 97 cm. Sangwŏnsa in P’yŏngc...
Figure 14.4
Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha Triad
. 1565. Hanging scroll; gold on ...
Figure 14.5 Sillŭksa in Yŏju, Kyŏnggi Province. 17
th
–18
th
century.
Figure 14.6 Vairocana Buddha. By Hyŏnjin. 1622. Wood. H. 117.5 cm. National ...
Figure 14.7 śākyamuni, Bhaiṣajyaguru, and Amitābha Buddhas. By Kyech’o and o...
Figure 14.8
Five Buddhas Assembly
. By Pŏp’yŏng. 1628. Banner painting; color...
Figure 14.9
śākyamuni Assembly
. By Ŭigyŏm. 1725. Hanging scroll; c...
Chapter 15
Figure 15.1 An Chungsik.
Spring Dawn at Mount Paegak
. Summer 1915. Hanging s...
Figure 15.2 Ko Hŭidong.
Self‐Portrait
. 1915. Oil on canvas. 61 × 46 cm...
Figure 15.3 Kim Kwanho.
Sunset
. 1916. Oil on canvas. 127.5 × 127.5 cm.
Figure 15.4 Na Hyesŏk.
Self‐portrait
. 1928. Oil on canvas. 88 × 75cm....
Figure 15.5 Pyŏn Kwansik.
Autumn at the Three Immortals Rock in Outer Mount
...
Figure 15.6 Yi Insŏng.
One Autumn Day
. 1934. Oil on canvas. 96 × 161.4 cm....
Figure 15.7 Ku Ponung.
Portrait of a Friend
. Circa 1935. Oil on canvas. 65 ×...
Figure 15.8 Kim Whanki
Rondo
. 1938. Oil on canvas. 61 × 72.7 cm. National Mu...
Chapter 16
Figure 16.1 Yi Quedae (1913–1965).
Self‐Portrait with Blue Jacket
. 194...
Figure 16.2 Limb Eung‐sik (1912–2001).
Looking for Work
. 1953. Silver gelati...
Figure 16.3 Park Rae‐hyun (1920–1976).
Owl
. early 1950s. Ink and colors on p...
Figure 16.4 Park Seobo (b.1931).
Work No. 1
. 1957–1958. Oil on canvas. 95 × ...
Figure 16.5 Kwon Young‐woo (1926–2013).
Untitled
. 1973. Korean paper on plyw...
Figure 16.6 Kim Young‐ja (b. 1941).
Match 111
. 1967, recreated in 2001. Mixe...
Figure 16.7 Lee Seung‐taek (b.1932).
Sound of Wind
. 1974. Installation with ...
Figure 16.8 Jun Min‐cho (b.1944).
Modernization
. 1969. Silver gelatin print....
Figure 16.9 Lee Kun‐yong (b. 1942).
Corporal Term
. 1971. Tree trunk and eart...
Figure 16.10 Sung Neung‐kyung (b. 1944). Detail of
Newspaper after the First
...
Chapter 17
Figure 17.1 Kim Yongtae.
DMZ: Photographs from Dongducheon Photo Salons
. 198...
Figure 17.2 Oh Yoon.
Father
. 1981. Woodblock print. 36 × 35 cm.
Figure 17.3 Bahc Yiso.
Your Bright Future
. 2002. Installation of lamps, wood...
Figure 17.4 Park Chan‐kyong.
Sindoan
. 2008. Production still (Talisman of th...
Figure 17.5 Kim Sangdon.
Discoplan: Workshop for Regenerating the Returned L
...
Figure 17.6 Yoon Suk Nam.
Genealogy
. 1993. Acrylic on wood and paper. 250 × ...
Figure 17.7 Haegue Yang.
Series of Vulnerable Arrangements – Blind Room
...
Chapter 18
Figure 18.1 Poster for
In Another Country
. Directed by Hong Sang‐soo. Produc...
Figure 18.2 Poster for
Poetry
. Directed by Lee Chang‐dong. Produced by Lee J...
Figure 18.3 Scribbled note appearing on full screen in
Poetry
. Directed by L...
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
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WILEY BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO ART HISTORY
These invigorating reference volumes chart the influence of key ideas, discourses, and theories on art, and the way that it is taught, thought of, and talked about throughout the English‐speaking world. Each volume brings together a team of respected international scholars to debate the state of research within traditional subfields of art history as well as in more innovative, thematic configurations. Representing the best of the scholarship governing the field and pointing toward future trends and across disciplines, the Wiley Blackwell Companions to Art History series provides a magisterial, state‐of‐the‐art synthesis of art history.
A Companion to Contemporary Art since 1945
edited by Amelia Jones
A Companion to Medieval Art
edited by Conrad Rudolph
A Companion to Asian Art and Architecture
edited by Rebecca M. Brown and Deborah S. Hutton
A Companion to Renaissance and Baroque Art
edited by Babette Bohn and James M. Saslow
A Companion to British Art: 1600 to the Present
edited by Dana Arnold and David Peters Corbett
A Companion to Modern African Art
edited by Gitti Salami and Monica Blackmun Visonà
A Companion to Chinese Art
edited by Martin J. Powers and Katherine R. Tsiang
A Companion to American Art
edited by John Davis, Jennifer A. Greenhill and Jason D. LaFountain
A Companion to Digital Art
edited by Christiane Paul
A Companion to Dada and Surrealism
edited by David Hopkins
A Companion to Public Art
edited by Cher Krause Knight and Harriet F. Senie
A Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture, Volumes 1 and 2
edited by Finbarr Flood and Gulru Necipoglu
A Companion to Modern Art
edited by Pam Meecham
A Companion to Contemporary Design since 1945
edited by Anne Massey
A Companion to Illustration
edited by Alan Male
A Companion to Modern and Contemporary Latin American and Latino Art
edited by Alejandro Anreus, Robin Greeley and Megan Sullivan
A
Companion to Feminist Art
edited Hilary Robinson and Maria Elena Buszek
A
Companion to Curation
edited by Brad Buckley and John Conomos
A Companion to Korean Art
edited by J.P. Park, Burglind Jungmann, and Juhyung Rhi
Forthcoming
A Companion to Australian Art
edited by Christopher Allen
A Companion to Korean Art
Edited by
J.P. Park, Burglind Jungmann, and Juhyung Rhi
This edition first published 2020© 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data
Names: Park, J.P., editor. | Jungmann, Burglind, editor. | Rhi, Juhyung, editor.Title: A companion to Korean art / edited by J.P. Park, Burglind Jungmann, Juhyung Rhi.Description: Hoboken, NJ, USA : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2020. | Series: Wiley blackwell companions to art history | Includes bibliographical references and index.Identifiers: LCCN 2020018137 (print) | LCCN 2020018138 (ebook) | ISBN 9781118927045 (hardback) | ISBN 9781118927014 (ePDF) | ISBN 9781118927007 (epub)Subjects: LCSH: Art, Korean.Classification: LCC N7360 .C66 2020 (print) | LCC N7360 (ebook) | DDC 709.519–dc23LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020018137LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020018138
Cover Design: WileyCover Image: © The Picture Art Collection/Alamy Stock Photo
About the Editors
J.P. Park is June and Simon Li Associate Professor in the History of Art at the University of Oxford. His most recent books include A New Middle Kingdom: Painting and Cultural Politics in Late Chosǒn Korea (1700–1850) in 2018 and Art by the Book: Painting Manuals and the Leisure Life in Late Ming China in 2012, both published by the University of Washington Press.
Burglind Jungmann studied East Asian art history at the University of Heidelberg and at Seoul National University. She was Professor of Korean art history at the University of California, Los Angeles, the first such position in the United States, from 1999 to 2017. Jungmann wrote numerous articles and books on Chosŏn dynasty art, including Painters as Envoys: Korean Inspiration in Eighteenth Century Japanese Nanga (Princeton University Press, 2004) and Pathways to Korean Culture: Paintings of the Joseon Dynasty (Reaktion Books, 2014). Along with being editor, she is a contributor to this volume.
Juhyung Rhi is Professor of Art History at Seoul National University. He is foremost known as an authority on early Buddhist art of South Asia, especially of the Gandharan region, but has also written on diverse subjects of Korean Buddhist art. His publications include books in Korean such as Gandharan Art (Sakyejul, 2003), Afghanistan: A Lost Civilization (Sahoe Pyeongnon, 2004), and the editing of East Asian Pilgrims and Indian Buddhist Monuments (Sahoe Pyeongnon, 2008). He has also written a number of articles and book chapters in English on Buddhist art of South Asia and Korea.
Notes on Contributors
Donald L. Baker is Professor of Korean history and civilization in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Korean Spirituality (University of Hawaiʽi Press, 2008) as well as numerous articles and book chapters on the religious and cultural history of Korea from the seventeenth century to the present day. His research focuses on Christianity, Confucianism, traditional medicine, and the life and philosophy of Chŏng Yagyong (1762–1836).
Chin‐Sung Chang is Professor of East Asian art history at Seoul National University. He was a Jane and Morgan Whitney Fellow in 2005–2006 and an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in 2013–2014 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He is the co‐author of Landscapes Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui (1632–1717) (Yale University Press, 2008) and Korea: Highlights of the Newark Museum’s Collection (Hollym, 2016).
Insoo Cho is a Professor in the Department of Art Theory, School of Visual Arts at Korea National University. He has edited books and published numerous articles, both in English and Korean, on Korean and Chinese art, focusing on portraiture from the Chosŏn dynasty and images of Daoist immortals from the Ming dynasty. His most recent co‐authored book is Click: Asian Art (Yegyong, 2015).
Sun‐ah Choi is Associate Professor of Buddhist art in the Department of Art History at Myongji University, Korea. After receiving her PhD degree in art history from the University of Chicago in 2012, she served as a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at Columbia University and joined Myongji University in 2013. Her research interest centers on the ways in which the ontological status of sacred images were imagined and represented. Her publications include “Zhenrong to Ruixiang: The Medieval Chinese Reception of the Mahābodhi Buddha Statue” (Art Bulletin (97) 4, 2015).
Charlotte Horlyck is Senior Lecturer of Korean art history in the Department of History of Art and Archeology at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) University of London. She has published widely on ceramics and metalwares of the Koryŏ kingdom, addressing issues of their manufacture and use, as well as the collecting of them in the early twentieth century. Her most recent book is on Korean Art from the 19th Century to the Present (Reaktion Books, 2019).
Namwon Jang is Professor of Korean and Asian ceramic history at Ewha Womans University. She has published numerous research articles on Korean ceramic history and is co‐author of New Perspectives on Early Korean Art: From Silla to Koryŏ (Harvard University Press, 2013 ) and Understanding Korean Art: From the Prehistoric through the Modern Day (Jimoondang, 2011).
Hyunsook Kang is Professor of Korean archeology in the Department of Archeology and Art History at Dongguk University, Kyŏngju. She specializes in tombs of the Three Kingdoms period, particularly those of Koguryŏ. She published Study of Koguryŏ tombs (Chininjin, 2013) and Comparative perspective on the mural tombs of Han, Wei, Jin, and Koguryŏ (Chisik sanŏpsa, 2005).
Joan Kee is Professor in the History of Art Department at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her books include Contemporary Korean Art: Tansaekhwa and the Urgency of Method (2013) and Models of Integrity: Art and Law in Post‐Sixties America (2019). She has co‐edited volumes on scale in art for Wiley‐Blackwell and on contemporary Southeast Asian art. Kee is also a contributing editor to Artforum and serves on numerous editorial and advisory boards in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Asia, including the Asia Art Archive, and the journals Art History, Art Margins, and Oxford Art Journal.
Kyung Hyun Kim is Professor of East Asian languages and literatures and Director of the Center for Critical Korean Studies at the University of California, Irvine. He is the co‐editor of The Korean Popular Culture Reader (2014) and the author of Virtual Hallyu: Korean Cinema of the Global Era (2011) and The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema (2004)—all published by Duke University Press. He has also co‐produced both the restoration project of The Housemaid (dir. Kim Ki‐young, 1960) and its remake that premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. He recently published a Korean‐language novel entitled In Search of Lost G.
Minku Kim is Assistant Professor of art history at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Previously he taught at the University of Minnesota and was an Andrew W. Mellon Scholar in the Humanities at Stanford University. He earned his PhD degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and focuses in his research on Buddhism and the cult of images in medieval China. He has published articles in Archives of Asian Art, Ars Orientalis, Misulsa nondan, and Pulgyo hakpo. Recently, he curated an exhibition of South Korean contemporary art, titled Seoul Times (2019) at Hui Gallery in Hong Kong.
Sunkyung Kim received her PhD from Duke University and specializes in Buddhist art, focusing on mortuary practices and visuality in early medieval China and Korea. She was an Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral fellow and taught at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Her journal articles on cave sanctuaries, Buddhist steles, and sacred mountains have appeared in Asia Major, The Journal of Korean Studies, Archives of Asian Art, and Ars Orientalis.
Youn‐mi Kim is Associate Professor of Asian art history at Ewha Womans University. Prior to joining the Ewha faculty, she was Assistant Professor at Yale University (2012–2016) and Assistant Professor at the Ohio State University (2011–2012). She is the editor of New Perspectives on Early Korean Art: From Silla to Koryŏ (Harvard University Press, 2013).
Jungsil Jenny Lee received her PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles, and taught Korean art history at the Kress Foundation Department of Art History at the University of Kansas (2015–2018), California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and at several California State Universities. Her research interests include the (dis)continuity between tradition and modernism in Korean art, and the particularity and interdependency of modern/contemporary Korean art in the global context of East Asia and beyond.
Seunghye Lee holds a PhD in art history from the University of Chicago with a specialty in Chinese and Korean Buddhist art. Currently, she is a curator at Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul, where she co‐curated the exhibition Exquisite and Precious: The Splendor of Korean Art in 2015 and edited its catalogue. Her annotated translation of Ko Yusŏp’s A Study of Korean pagodas: Joseon tappa ui yeon’gu was published by the Jogyeo Order of Korean Buddhism in 2017. She has published several articles on the art and practice of enshrining Buddhist relics within pagodas and statues in pre‐modern China and Korea.
Soyoung Lee is the Landon and Lavinia Clay Chief Curator at the Harvard Art Museums. Her research interests include Korean and Japanese ceramics from 1400 to 1700 and cross‐cultural exchanges in East Asia. Lee was the Curator for Korean Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from 2003 to 2018. Her publications include Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art (2018) and Korean Buncheong Ceramics from the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art (2011), both published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Young Min Moon’s art and art criticism reflect his migration across cultures and his awareness of the hybrid nature of identities forged amid the complex historical and political relationships between Asia and North America. A Guggenheim Fellow in 2014,
Moon is currently a Professor of Art at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
Yoonjung Seo is Assistant Professor in the Department of Art History at Myongji University, Seoul. Her research interests include court painting of the Chosŏn dynasty, the Sino‐Korean relationship in the early modern period, cultural exchange between East and West, Korean garden culture, collecting, provenance research, and the cultural biography of Korean art. She has published journal articles, anthology chapters, conference papers, and catalogue essays on transcultural perspectives of Chosŏn Korea.
Unsok Song is Associate Professor in the Department of Archeology and Art History at Dongguk University, Kyŏngju. He received his doctoral degree from Seoul National University and specializes in Korean Buddhist art, focusing on image production and the monk‐sculptors of the Chosŏn period. He is the author of History of late Chosŏn Buddhist sculpture, published in 2012.
Editor’s Preface
Korean pop culture has recently become an international phenomenon. Millions of fans across borders cheer for pop songs, TV shows, and films from Korea. Newspapers and journals compete to generate frenzy over Korean pop culture as academic research investigates the reasons behind the ever‐increasing popularization of cultural products from Korea. Major academic conferences on art and the humanities nowadays offer dozens of sessions on Korean art and culture. It is impressive that a country whose recent history has been marked by a series of disasters—thirty‐six years of colonization by the Japanese empire, the Korean War, and a military dictatorship that lasted into the late 1980s—has risen to command the spotlight not only in its economic standing but also in cultural production. Going from one of the world’s poorest states in the 1950s to the thirteenth largest economy in the world today, Korea remains small geographically, commanding only one percent of the area of the United States or China. Nonetheless, it has become a major player in the international culture industry and a trendsetter in producing contents and technology.
Even with all the fervor over ‘contemporary’ Korean culture, there exist serious challenges regarding the presentation and understanding of ‘traditional’ Korean culture: genuine interest in pre‐modern and modern Korean art and culture has been marginal. The neglect and lack of knowledge about Korean art and visual culture is due to the late arrival of international scholarship and public exhibitions with a focus on special aspects of Korean art. Until the turn of the millennium, with only a few exceptions, exhibitions of Korean art in the United States and Europe were conceived as general overviews of “5000 Years of Korean Art,” presenting a canon of ‘masterpieces,’ and often showing the same objects repeatedly with little variation. However, such a generic and unimaginative approach, rather than exploring the specificity of its visual culture, confirmed the age‐old prejudice that Korean art and culture was little more than a smaller (and therefore a less interesting) copy of Chinese styles and traditions. Only when more specialized exhibitions started to be held and scholarly investigations into certain aspects of Korean art were published in the early 2000s, did it become clear that the peninsula’s heritage had its own distinct history and character, and that a blind spot on the map of East Asian culture needed to be filled.
The last two such exhibitions were Arts of Korea at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1998) and Korea: die alten Ko¨nigreiche at the Villa Hügel in Essen, Germany (1999). Rare exceptions were The Story of a Painting, A Korean Buddhist Treasure from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection (1991) and Korean Arts of the Eighteenth Century: Splendor and Simplicity (1993), both held at the Asia Society Gallery in New York.
Although Korean studies were well established at some of the most prestigious research universities in the United States and Europe, courses on Korean art were extremely rare. Similarly, Asian art courses rarely mentioned the contribution of the peninsula. In contrast dozens of schools in the United States currently offer courses on Korean art and leading research universities have established a regular curriculum. In addition, major museums, including the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Museum of Asian Art in Cologne, have designated exhibition spaces for Korean art.
The significance of Korean art and culture is attracting increased attention across academia, but in the absence of any up‐to‐date college‐level materials on this subject, teaching and learning about Korean art remains a challenge. Of course, articles on the topic have been featured in exhibition catalogues and in short handbooks from commercial presses, and commentaries and essays by non‐professionals have appeared on websites, but few specialized research pieces have been published in peer‐reviewed journals. In our experience of teaching Korean art history, we often had to assign reading materials we would never have considered for any other art history course. Due to the dearth of Western experts in the field, most available texts on Korean art history in English are outdated, either because they do not reflect the latest research published in Korean, or because they do not answer questions of recent theoretical frameworks employed in the West. This lack of core teaching materials has been unanimously recognized as the biggest obstacle to conveying reliable update information on Korean art history outside Korea. Thus, this book will be the first professionally researched academic anthology on the history of Korean art in English, as it takes the latest Korean scholarly publications on the largest possible spectrum of Korean art and archeology into account and responds to the demands of a Western audience who sees Korean culture in the context of Asian and world history.
Furthermore, this volume can motivate instructors and scholars of Asian art history to incorporate the visual arts of Korea into their research and teaching. The geographic location of the Korean peninsula itself suggests its importance in pan‐East Asian culture. Throughout its history the peninsula has been a much‐contested region, due to its strategic geographical position. In the twentieth century it became, and still is, a battleground for superpowers. Starting with its forced opening in the late nineteenth century, the country has been frequently referred to as the ‘hermit kingdom.’ This idea is essentially wrong. It was conceived at a time when European powers, the United States, and Japan started to conquer, divide, and colonize East Asia. Within the Asian sphere the peninsula was always well‐connected. Korea was an indispensable partner in the diplomatic, economic, and cultural exchange within East Asia. Receiving inspiration from diverse cultures on the Chinese mainland throughout history and exporting its own regional techniques, styles, and aesthetic ideas to its neighbors both in China and Japan, Korea was a most important player in the cultural exchange among the three countries for centuries. Thus, understanding its art is an important asset for historians of Chinese and Japanese art. Cultural exchange will be a pivotal topic throughout the entire volume. Just as studying Korean art without reference to Chinese art would be meaningless, the study of Japanese art definitely benefits from a sound understanding of Korea’s art and culture.
This volume covers the history of visual culture of the Korean peninsula from earliest historic times to the present. Followed by an introductory historical survey discussing major political, socio‐economic, and cultural developments, this volume is divided into four parts: Ancient to Medieval Cultures on the Korean Peninsula, The Koryŏ Dynasty, The Chosŏn Dynasty, and Modern and Contemporary Developments. The essays in each part explore major aspects of the visual culture in a certain period while throwing light on the political, social, and religious contexts. In spite of the editors’ efforts to cover as many facets as possible, some themes were left out, partly for lack of extant materials and partly because little research has been done so far into important fields, which include architecture, calligraphy, and the history of print media. Research on historic sites and scholarship in North Korea are less accessible and therefore the chapters on the historic periods when the center of power was in the north, particularly during the Koryŏ dynasty, concentrate more on materials in South Korea and Japan. Despite such minor issues, this book aims to maintain theoretical and interpretive balance without falling into any regional prejudice and academic hegemony. Furthermore, contributors discuss visual and material artifacts of Korean art housed in various archives and collections around the globe. In sum, this book is the first successful collaboration among major scholars of Korean art in the Asia, North America and Europe that will enjoy a longer shelf life not only within the academic community, but also among the general public.
J.P. Park, Burglind Jungmann, and Juhyung Rhi
In the field of calligraphy, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art recently premiered Beyond Line: The Art of Korean Writing, the first major exhibition of Korean calligraphy in the United States (June 2019). For an important Korean contribution to print history in East Asia, see Lothar Ledderose’s Ten Thousand Things: Module and Mass Production in Chinese Art, published by Princeton University Press (2000).
Series Editor’s Preface
The Wiley Blackwell Companions to Art History is a series of edited collections designed to cover the discipline of art history in all its complexities. Each volume is edited by specialists who lead a team of essayists, representing the best of leading scholarship, in mapping the state of research within the sub‐field under review, as well as pointing toward future trends and lines of enquiry.
A Companion to Korean Art aims to rebalance and expand knowledge of the art of the Korean peninsular across a broad chronological sweep and in a cross‐cultural context. The volume comprises newly commissioned essays that draw on the collections of Korean art in museums and galleries, in Korea and across the world. Supported by a introductory historical survey that sets historical, socio‐economic and cultural developments into context, the essays cover Korean art from early beginnings to contemporary developments in art and cinema.
Together, these essays combine to provide an exciting and challenging revision of our conception and understanding of Korean art that will be essential reading for students, researchers and teachers across a broad spectrum of interests.
A Companion to Korean Art is a very timely and welcome addition to the series.
Dana Arnold, 2020
Introduction: The Contours of Korea’s Cultural History
Donald L. Baker
Readers interested in Korea’s past will frequently encounter the statement that Korea has five thousand years of history. It is beyond dispute that Korea has a very long history. However, the figure of five thousand years should not be taken literally. If Korean history is defined as the length of time there have been human settlements on the geographic region we now call Korea, then Korean history stretches back at least eight thousand years. It reaches back much farther than that, to forty thousand or fifty thousand years ago, if we want to say that any Homo sapiens on what is now a peninsula, even wandering bands of hunter‐gatherers, counts as history. However, pushing that far into the past makes it awkward to use the term “Korea” since as recently as the last Ice Age, which ended about ten thousand years ago, what is now the Korean peninsula was connected by land to what is now China’s Shandong peninsula as well as through a land bridge to what is now Japan. If, however, we use the distinction historians often make between pre‐history (meaning the period before written records) and history (the time period for which there are written records), then there are only around two thousand years of Korean history, since it is only within the last two thousand years that we have found written records produced on or near the Korean peninsula.
Moreover, it is anachronistic to use the term “Korean” for cultures and peoples who would not have defined themselves as living in the country of Korea or even as members of a Korean ethnic group thousands of years ago. In pre‐historic times, people would, if asked, have given their kinship group, their village, or their tribe as the primary identity. There was no Korea they could identify with back then. When kingdoms first began to emerge in and around the Korean peninsula about two thousand years ago, people may have identified themselves as belonging to the kingdoms within which borders they lived but they definitely did not yet have a larger Korean identity, since Korea had not yet emerged from the merging of those various kingdoms. Most historians argue that it has been only within the last thousand years, when most of the peninsula fell under the control of one government for the first time, that peoples living on the Korean peninsula have come to see themselves as one people, comprising a single cultural and political group. Nevertheless, in order to avoid the confusion a number of different names for different groups may cause, we will use the term “Korean” in this chapter [and the rest of the volume] for earlier periods as well, except when we want to highlight differences among the various groups that have contributed over the centuries to the formation of Korean civilization.
Besides, in discussing the evolution of Korean civilization over the centuries, it is important to remember that what people see as their history is more important than what their history actually was. Because Koreans in more recent centuries have come to believe that peoples in and around the peninsula millennia ago are their ancestors and therefore should be called “Koreans” as well, the belief that Korean history and culture forms an unbroken line stretching several millennia into the past has shaped their self‐identity and therefore has played an important role in their continuing cultural production. In other words, Koreans, like people all over the world, have produced art, music, and literature partially on the basis of who they think they are, and who they think they are is significantly determined by who they think their ancestors were. Therefore, in order to more accurately reflect the cultural environment in which Koreans in recent centuries have constructed Korean culture, we need to take into consideration their assumption that they are building on a foundation of Korean civilization thousands of years old. One way to ensure we do that is to use the term “Korean” for people and cultural developments on the peninsula thousands of years ago even when we feel that is not technically accurate.
We can also justify our use of the term “Korean’ before the peoples we are writing about would have used that term because it is clear that the various early cultures on the peninsula and stretching into Manchuria, as well as the kingdoms that appeared later, shared some distinctive characteristics that separate them from the Chinese cultural sphere and therefore constitute a separate cultural zone. One distinctive characteristic is language. Although it is highly unlikely that the various peoples on and around the peninsula spoke the same language two thousand or more years ago, it is highly likely that the languages they spoke were members of the same language family. And that language family is separate and distinct from the Chinese language family. Unlike Chinese, Korean is an agglutinative language (that means it sticks [‘glues’] syllables to nouns and verbs to represent various grammatical functions such as tense and number, degrees of certainty and probability, and even levels of respect for the person spoken to and the person spoken about). Moreover, because it uses attached syllables to identify such grammatical distinctions as subject and object, it does not need to follow the strict subject‐verb‐object order we see in Chinese. Korean also has its own distinct sound system. Not only does it not have the tones we see in Chinese, it distinguishes three different k, p, and t sounds, and two different s sounds, in a way we do not see in Chinese. Even though it was not until the fifteenth century that Koreans had a phonetic script they could use to write the way they spoke (han’gŭl), they were clearly speaking a different language from Chinese for millennia before that.
Language is not the only cultural characteristic that separates Korea from its neighbors. The geography of Korea, the fact that it is a peninsula jutting off a part of Northeast Asia which was culturally and politically distinct from China until the last couple of centuries, means that it was close enough to China to borrow elements of Chinese culture but distant enough to adapt those borrowed elements to meet Korean needs and Korean aesthetic tastes and make them their own. The fact that it usually required either a walk of several days or a trip by ship across often rough seas to reach Chinese settlements allowed Korea to maintain not only its political but also its cultural independence. It also was separated by sea from the Japanese islands, guaranteeing that, until modern nautical technology shrunk distances in the late nineteenth century, Korea could maintain its political and cultural independence from Japan as well.
That is why we can find evidence of Korea’s cultural distinctiveness from ancient times up to the present day, from its early burial patterns and its housing styles to its cuisine (kimchi is a distinctly Korean form of fermented vegetables such as cabbages or radishes) and its religious culture (a unique mixture of imported and indigenous religions). And, of course, we also see evidence of Korea’s cultural distinctiveness in its art.
Prehistoric Korea
The first clear evidence of Homo sapiens on what is now the Korean peninsula dates back to around fifty thousand years ago (Bae 2012). This is the Paleolithic age, meaning the age of crude stone tools. By crude stone tools, we primarily mean hand axes. We know those hand axes are man‐made because they all appear to have been hammered by other rocks to reduce their size until they can be held by one hand. They are also shaped through pounding to give them a pointed end on top of a round base so that they can be used for tasks such as hunting, skinning the results of a successful hunt, or digging up plants. The hand axes used in Paleolithic Korea are somewhat similar in appearance to the hand axes we find in Paleolithic sites in Europe and north China. But that doesn’t mean that the people in Korea were Europeans or Chinese, or that the people in Europe or China were Koreans! Technological similarities does not necessarily mean ethnic similarities. Rather people in Europe, people in China, and people in Korea independently discovered how to make the same sort of simple tool.
