Page 257 - Christies Japanese and Korean Art Sept 22 2020 NYC

The anthesis of folk art, this magnificent screen, with its well- in this screen compare favorably with those in two works by Kim
organized composition, detailed description, meticulous brushwork, Hongdo in the collection of the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art,
and high-quality materials—i.e., silk, mineral pigments, and Seoul: a 1796-dated painting titled “Album of the Byeongjin Year”
gold—charges the hunting scene with palpable tension by capturing (Korean Treasure 782) and an 1805-dated handscroll titled “Ode to
the dynamic movement of the hunters and thereby conveys the the Sound of Autumn” (Korean Treasure 1393), which illustrates a
thrill of the hunt. The gradually shrinking hills and narrowing poem written by the Chinese poet Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072).
mountain paths combine with the distant mountains to create
a sense of recession into deep space. And the shading carefully Known by his sobriquet, or ho, Danwon, and by his courtesy
applied in describing the garments and faces imparts a sense of name, or ja, Saneung, Kim Hongdo was a renowned painter active
three-dimensional volume. The small, cube-shaped rocks on the in the late eighteenth century and beginning of the nineteenth. A
mountains, the angular rockeries modeled with modified lotus-vein pillar of the establishment, he was a key figure in advocating new
texture strokes, and the choppy brushstrokes in localized areas of trends of the day, including the then newly introduced “true view”
the landscape clearly reflect Kim Hongdo’s style. In particular, the landscape painting—that is, a Korean style of painting that moved
very slender, leggy tree branches resembling deer antlers embrace away from the idealized Chinese landscape scenes favored by earlier
a key characteristic of Kim Hongdo’s style. In fact, the spiky trees generations to portray particular locations in Korea. Kim was an