(Abstract)
This study is about the life and picture of Gongjae Yun, Du-Seo (1668~1715), a painter in late Chosun dynasty. Yun, Du-Seo's works showed an aura of complication living at the turning point of the age. His works showing the aura of reali...
(Abstract)
This study is about the life and picture of Gongjae Yun, Du-Seo (1668~1715), a painter in late Chosun dynasty. Yun, Du-Seo's works showed an aura of complication living at the turning point of the age. His works showing the aura of realism were selected, and based on them, the situation of the age and the disposition of the thought were examined.
Paintings have the characteristics of the age and environment like every other pieces of artistic work. Though a work is assessed as having the most distinct personality, the age in which the painter who produced the work lived and the environment he growed in are sure to be inseparably related.
An aesthetical form on a canvas is what the ideological content and personality of the painter himself is visualized. The thought and personality of a painter is directly connected to the mental phenomena of the age at last and the nature of region is also connected to the life of the painter. The tendency of complication and especially the realistic pattern of the paintings by Yun, Du-Seo suggests its relevance with the environment of the age or his own scholarship.
Gongjae Yun, Du-Seo (1668-1715) was active at the turning point from the middle(about 1550-1700) to the late period of Chosun(about 1700-1850). Gongjae was the eldest grandson of the main family of the clan of Haenam Yun and a great-grandson of Gosan Yun, Seon-Do (1587-1671). Disillusioned after falsely charged at a political incident in his young days, Gongjae pushed on solely with scholarship. Gongjae underwent misfortunes all the days of his life, went down into his country town Haenam after his fortune waned when he was 46 years old, and passed away at the age of 48 unable to overcome the ceaseless sorrows.
Gongjae associated artistically with Lee, Ha-Gon, a member of Western party, being free of the ideology of the party and discussed frequently science and arts with Sim, Deuk-Gyeong․Lee, Man-Bu․Lee,Jam․Lee, Seo and Lee, Ik, members of the Southern party.
Gongjae was a well-informed man in multiple fields like astronomy, geography, music, Paeguan novel, book on strategy, factory and craftsmanship as well as Sung Confucianism and the theory on etiquette. Especially his scholarship was closely related to the realism that was reflected on his works. Therefore he emphasized the realities of life based on the objective and realistic perception of materials. He left works over various genres like portrait, genre painting, landscape, animal painting, greens and fruit painting and horse painting.
The best of Gongjae's portraits is the self-portrait. His portrait shows almost perfect harmony between ellipsis, simple composition, dynamism and stability and realizes the ideal world of the whole body that oriental painting aims at. Especially the realistic and detailed representation of the face revels his world of inner mind and personality well.
Gongjae led the way of genre painting in late Chosun dynasty. For example, the portraits like ‘Seonchado’ or ‘Seokgongdo’ represent the aspects of the people of the lower classes, reflecting the painter's various scholastic interests and affection towards them. The appearance of the people of the lower classes on Gongjae's genre paintings suggests the change towards a new society. Gongjae is assessed as a pioneer in speaking for and creating the images of new age and new person through his paintings.
Gongjae's genre painting is realistic taking themes from production or cultivation in the life of common people.
The realistic feature of Gongjae's works is also apparent on the horse painting or the greens and fruit painting as well as the genre painting. The realistic feature on the greens and fruit painting suggests that Gongjae employed the miniature-like refinement and shading. The horse painting also shows Gongjae's ability to observe the object and express it realistically.
Gongjae's creativity is also revealed through his landscape. He opened a new stage of landscape introducing the Namjong landscape style, a new style. In the work 'Spring in the Hills', it is notable that he worked not in the idealistic, but in the realistic technique representing the peasant cultivating at a real hillside in Chosun.
The realistic aspects of Gongjae's works of painting are also shown through episodes of his life. The modernity contained in the realism firms Gongjae's standing as a pioneer.
The creative endeavor savored in Gongjae's paintings and especially the realistic style of painting that contains the realism is the matrix of the realistic tendency from the genre painting to the paintings in late Chosun dynasty. The reality of life appearing as the theme of the genre painting was connected to Jo, Yeong-Seok․Kim, Hong-Do and Sin, Yun-Bok and seemed to open the revival of the late Chosun painting at last.