Page 336 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

transformed by An Kyon's imagination into a Although a very few Korean Buddhist paint- heroes moved from engagement at court to soli-
fantastic and irrational organization — ordinary ings from the period 1450-1550 are known, the tude in nature. His love for the flowering plum
nature to the left, the fantasy world of the Peach social climate of the Choson state at this time tree was legendary, and the scroll, which begins
Blossom Land to the right, hemmed in all was hardly conducive to a flourishing art or and ends with a flowering plum tree, shows him
around by craggy peaks and rocks. Notwith- craft of icon painting. Beginning with the sup- seeking out the first blossoms of the new year.
standing Tao Yuanming's emphasis on happy pression of Buddhism in 1406, the faith was Here one can be reasonably sure that the paint-
and hospitable farmers, in the painting no fig- dealt a series of severe blows, culminating in the ing style is informed by a conscious archaism —
ures are visible. An Kyon depicted the magic abandonment of a state-supported examination that the artist, a Korean court official who expe-
land utterly desolate of people; only in the system for the Buddhist clergy in 1501. From rienced the great factional struggles which
middle of the peach grove, beside a reach of this time until the de facto reign of Queen began in the later fifteenth century, was allud-
water, can one see a small boat with an aban- Munjong (r. 1546-1565) Buddhist worship and ing to the similar tensions and uncertainties
doned oar, signifying the fisherman. Buddhist art were hardly a factor in Korean cul- besetting government service in eighth-century
This knotty and expressive style was imitated ture. From 1549 onward the situation changed; China. Meng Haoran put it well:
by various still unknown masters (cat. 264) for numerous Buddhist icons of varying degrees of
at least a century or more, and created a manner artistic interest were thenceforth produced and Slow and reluctant, I have waited
day, till now I must go.
Day after
for the later depiction of Korea's dramatic Dia- are extant in Korean, Japanese, and Western
mond Mountains. But it had almost no impact collections (Kim, New York 1991, 22-23). How sweet the roadside flowers might be
in Japan after the fifteenth century. Two of the paintings included here are with- If they did not mean good-bye, old friend.
The third style reflected in Korean ink paint- out any contemporary parallels, indicating The Lords of the Realm are harsh to us
ing was that associated with the professional either that others like them have been lost or And men of affairs are not our kind.
painters of Ming China, including the landscape that Choson Confucianism encouraged hetero- I will turn back home, I will say no more,
masters of the Zhe school (cat. 288, 290, 291). dox individualism. The Dog and Puppies by Yi I will close the gate of my old garden.
(Witter
The Chinese Translations
Bynner,
Kang Hui-an (1419-1464) and his younger Am (cat. 268) is a rather rough work, evidently
brother Kang Hui-maeng (1424-1483) are the by an amateur princely painter. The huge dis- [New York, 1978], p. 153)
best-known practitioners of this conservative crepancies in scale among tree, puppies, and the
Chinese style. The older painter had acted as an dog's head and tail are both naive and effective.
envoy to the Ming court in 1455 and, just as his Its "folkish" character reflects a recurring strain
colleagues knew artists in Kyoto, Kang surely in Korean art.
became aware of the style practiced by the pro- Seeking Plum Flowers, attributed to Sin
fessionals at the Chinese court. His Sage in Cham (cat. 269), is quite another matter, sug-
Contemplation (cat. 265), despite its small size, gesting a ninth- or tenth-century Chinese
has much in common with the work of Zhang master reborn. The slow, grave rhythms of the
Lu, for example (cat. 305). The younger broth- landscape and the lonely separations of figures
er's Sage Fishing (Tokyo National Museum) and trees all recall such Chinese masters as
practices the same simplifications of tone and Zhao Gan in his famous First Snow on the River
composition, adding an unusual and personal in Taibei. The dignity and decorum of the mood BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE
way of modeling in light and shade in the tree is most appropriate for the subject. Meng McCune 1962; Rhodes 1970; Seoul 1972; Nara 1973;
trunk, which lends a touch of Western solidity Haoran (689-740) was a noted poet of the Tang Kim and Lee 1974; San Francisco 1979; London 1984;
to the image. dynasty (618-907), and like many Confucian Kim 1990-1991; New York 1991, esp. pp. 22-23.

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