Same subject, dissimilar paintbrushes
Different views in landscape pantings of Joseon Korea
Korea is in a position of prominence in Far Eastern landscape art. Many painters
of Joseon Korea (1392 - 1910) draw inspiration from the scenery of mountains
and torrents of Chinese painting shan
shui (山水, “mountain-water”).
Korean painters always interpreted the style of main painters of Sky-blue Empire
in a new and different way. Mountains are the real protagonists of Far Eastern landscape
painting, both those unapproachable and twisted drawn in Northern School of
Chinese painting (北宗画)
works and those smoky and just sketched mountains drawn in Southern School or literati painting (南宗画 or 文人画)
pictures. In any case true or imaginative landscapes depict always the inner
outlook of painter who represents and
reproduces nature by his brush.
In Joseon Korea three painters stand out from the mists of time. They
are different for epoch, style and conception of art: Ahn Gyeon, Jeong Seon e Yi Inmun.
We know very little about Ahn Gyeon (안견, 安堅).
He lived in first half of fifteen century and he took part in dohwaseo (도화서, 圖畫署), the group of Joseon court painters. His most
important work is the scroll painting Mongyu
dowondo (몽유도원도, 夢遊桃源圖 “Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land”) for prince
Anpyeong in 1447 and currently stored at Nara in Japan in Tenri University building.
The painting represents the dream of prince inspired by fairy journey to land
of happiness by described by Chinese poet Tao Yuanming also known as Tao Qian (陶淵明, 365 – 427) in his work Peach Blossom Spring (桃花源記) written in 421. This
never-never land is represented by Ahn Gyeon as an oasis made of flowering
trees in a landscape of very steep mountains. The contrast between harsh
mountains and lawn conveys to viewer the wish to reach The Peach Blossom Land
which appears marvellously delighted compared with sharp peaks of inhospitable
surrounding rises. Although under the influence of Northern
School and above all of
Chinese painter Guo Xi (郭熙,
1020 – 1090 ca.), Ahn Gyeon style is innovative and original as well as genuinely
Korean for the skill of conveying directly his message to viewer. 
We know a little more about Jeong Seon (정선, 鄭敾, 1676 – 1759), as knows as his pen name
Gyeomjae (겸재, 謙齋 “humble study”). He painted Geumgang jeondo (금강전도, 金剛全圖,
“General View of Mt. Geumgansan”, dated 1734), one of the masterpieces of
Korean painting which depicts Mount Kumgang (금강산, 金剛山 “Diamond
Mountain”) now in North Korea. Geumgang jeondo is National Treasure of
Korea 217th and it is displayed in Ho Am Art
Museum held by Samsung at Yongin (호암미술관). The pictorial language of Jeong Seon is deeply revolutionary:
he quits Chinese masters’ painting models
and he chooses the native landscapes of his Korea. Mount Kumgang is depicted with an innovative and
almost expressionistic technique: sharp bare peaks and overgrown roundish
smooth mountains are put side by side. The resulting contrast among lines is smoothed
over with a admirable chiaroscuro made by the skilful brush. After this
painting, many Korean painters depicted Mount Kumgang. Jeong Seon is the initiator
of jingyeong sansuhwa style which literally means “true-view landscape painting”. Anyway, as always in Far East painting, the real landscapes are portrayed by artist’s eye and sensitiveness and consequently they almost become the representation of his climate and worldview. In the upper right corner we can read the title of the painting, a poem, and his pen name Gyeomjae. The verses can be translated: “Even if you visit the mountain yourself and walk on every nook and cranny of it, how can your delight be compared with what you feel upon viewing this picture from your bedside?”.
Streams and Mountains Without End (강산무진도, 江山無盡圖, Gangsan mujindo), the most famous painting of Yi Inmun (이인문, 李寅文, 1745-1821), is a painted silk scroll divided into four parts and held at National Museum of Korea which depicts a landscape of mountains and rivers. Steep and rocky peaks together with ravines and plains where solitary pavilions can be discerned, as far as river’s inlets where fishing boats rest. Unlike Jeong Seon, who always depicts existent landscapes, Yi Inmun paints imaginary sceneries. Style of Yi Inmun and of Jeong Seon are dissimilar: the brushstroke of Yi Inmun is atmospheric and shaded while Jeong Seon’s brushstroke is bolder and more marked.
However it’s nevertheless true that descriptive effect is similar: nature, great protagonist of landscape painting, is always depicted with astonished and moved eyes, never in a purely expositive way. Both real and imaginary landscapes in Korean and Far East painting portray always the profound mystery hiding in every place of nature.
Streams and Mountains Without End (강산무진도, 江山無盡圖, Gangsan mujindo), the most famous painting of Yi Inmun (이인문, 李寅文, 1745-1821), is a painted silk scroll divided into four parts and held at National Museum of Korea which depicts a landscape of mountains and rivers. Steep and rocky peaks together with ravines and plains where solitary pavilions can be discerned, as far as river’s inlets where fishing boats rest. Unlike Jeong Seon, who always depicts existent landscapes, Yi Inmun paints imaginary sceneries. Style of Yi Inmun and of Jeong Seon are dissimilar: the brushstroke of Yi Inmun is atmospheric and shaded while Jeong Seon’s brushstroke is bolder and more marked.
Floriano Terrano