Page 258 - Christies Japanese and Korean Art Sept 22 2020 NYC

exceptional artist in every field of traditional painting, even if he landscape and the depiction of the figures in the two screens share
now is best remembered for his genre paintings that captured the many similarities, even though the Leeum screen includes particular
lives of ordinary people with humor and empathy. scenes that are absent from this painting and the composition
and motifs in its right half show differences from this work. The
Kim Hongdo studied under the renowned master painter and style of this screen’s landscape elements also recall those of Kim
government official Kang Sehwang (1713–1791), who was then Hongdo’s contemporaries Yi Inmun (1745–1821) and Kim Deuksin
living in seclusion in Ansan in Gyeonggi province. On Kang’s (1754–1822), who were fellow court painters. In fact, Yi and Kim
recommendation, Kim Hongdo in 1766, at the age of 21, entered received high marks in the special court-painter examinations of
royal service as a member of the Dohwaseo, the Royal Bureau of 1812, when “Manchus hunting” was included among the painting-
Painting. After a productive life in which he created numerous examination topics.
paintings of the highest caliber, Kim died in loneliness and poverty,
though the circumstances of his later life remain unknown, and Among the few related Korean screens in the West is an eight-
even the year of his death is shrouded in mystery. (Various sources panel, folding screen representing the hunt in the collection of
suggest that he likely died in 1806, in 1810, or even after 1814.) the British Museum, London (2000,0610,0.1), which the museum
curators have dated to the late nineteenth century. Although it
Kim Hongdo was King Jeongjo’s (r. 1776–1800) most trusted shows some similarities to the present screen, the British Museum
court painter, and, with the king’s patronage, he arguably was the screen is less meticulously painted and lacks the present screen’s
most versatile and accomplished painter Korea had ever produced. courtly flavor.
Not only was he greatly admired during his lifetime for his genre
paintings, but he also was known to have originated, at the king’s This painting was formerly in the collection of Dr. Kathleen J.
request, a number of new painting themes, including chaekgeori Crane (1927–1987), an American Methodist missionary who served
(paintings of books and scholars’ accoutrements). in Korea for thirty-five years, from 1952 to 1987. While teaching
English and journalism at Ewha Womans University in Seoul for
In his Imwon Gyeongjae-ji, or Treatise on the Management of thirty-one years, she fostered interest in Korean art, culture, and
Forests and Gardens, Seo Yugu (1764– 1845) wrote, “my family people and dedicated her life to furthering her understanding of and
for a long time owned a painting by Kim Hongdo representing appreciation for Korean art and culture.
a hunting scene. Painted on an eight-panel, folding screen, the
scene depicted hunters chasing animals in a vast wilderness; it was Meticulously painted in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth
so vividly painted that hunters and hunted alike all seemed as if century by a court painter and employing the finest materials of the
alive. Kim Hongdo considered this screen to be his masterwork. day—silk, mineral pigments, and gold—this majestic portrayal of a
He mentioned that although many painters might copy this work, hunting scene ranks among the masterworks of Korean painting. In
it would be quite easy to distinguish the copies from his own excellent condition, this screen, though not previously published,
work.” Textual evidence suggests that Kim Hongdo excelled in has an enviable provenance and sheds valuable light on a heretofore
this subject and that his paintings were influential in establishing little-studied subject of late-Joseon painting: the hunting expedition
this genre during the late Joseon period. Alas, no existing screens and its connections to both Chinese imperial hunting expeditions
on this subject have yet been confirmed definitely to be by Kim and to pictorial documentations of such. Virtually unique among
Hongdo himself. the finest Korean paintings collected in the West, this magnificent
screen well reflects both the high quality of late Joseon court
A square, red, relief seal reading Saneung appears in the lower paintings and the essence of the painting tradition established by
left corner of this screen’s last panel. Saneung was Kim Hongdo’s Kim Hongdo.
courtesy name, or ja. If this screen was produced for the court— or
for the king, in particular—a court painter was not allow to sign or
to impress his seal on the work. Thus, it is likely that the seal was
later impressed on this fine screen. Yoonjung Seo

More than seventy Korean hunting screens survive today. Among Myongji University, Seoul
them, the eight-panel screen in the collection of the Leeum
Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, is the most similar in style to
the present screen. Considered one of the earliest extant Korean
Robert D. Mowry
hunting screens, the Leeum screen is datable to the late eighteenth
or beginning of the nineteenth century. Close examination reveals Harvard Art Museums, Emeritus and
that both of these screens were done by court painters who were
heavily influenced by Kim Hongdo. In particular, the style of the Senior Consultant, Christie’s