This is the first post in a series about the exhibition I visited in April 2024 at the Kim Sechoong Museum in Seoul, Korea, called ‘민화, 나눔의 아름다움’ (Minhwa, the beauty of sharing). This was an exhibition curated by Professor Jeong Byeong-mo, who also wrote the ‘한국의 채색화’ (Coloured Paintings of Korea) books, which are a great guide for Minhwa artists.
14 of Korea’s representative contemporary minhwa artists presented their works at this exhibition. Because I would like to write in detail about each artwork I saw at this exhibition, I split this story into four posts, each containing about seven artworks. Inspired by these paintings, I grouped them into four topics I want to write about.
Fusion - This post is about the fusion of materials, genres, styles, etc in one artwork
Chaekgeori - This is a big genre in Korean painting, depicting books and things you can find in a room.
Fur - Korean painting has a technique for painting almost each individual strand of hair in fur.
Time travel - In this post I want to show the differences between traditional, modern, and contemporary Korean folk art.
Fusing Materials and Subjects - paintings by Moon Sunyoung
To start this series of posts, I want to show the main artwork of this exhibition, which is also shown on the exhibition posters. It is a work by 문선영 Moon Sunyoung @moonsunyoung_artist. The artwork ‘Peonies in Waltz’, is a colourful painting depicting a paper-folded crane in the foreground, with several flowers and small drawings behind it. The painting is large, sized 190 x 127cm.
Moon has a dreamy imagination full of childhood memories and appreciation for mothers who have an infinite love for their children and families. Her paintings often include traditional Korean pillows, children’s drawings, and seashells. Also, she regularly uses patterns found in Gyubang crafts (handmade crafts made by women since the Joseon Dynasty) like embroidery. In the next paragraphs, I will highlight some parts of this painting, and explain the story behind them.
Paper-folded crane, flying through the flower field
The paper crane is soaring across an ‘embroidery’ flower field full of peonies and other flowers. It carries beautiful pillows on the back, representing the family going down the road where they can find luck and happiness.
In the artist's note seen at Moon Sunyoung's solo exhibition 꽃빛정원 (flower garden) at the Gyeomjae Jeongsong Museum, she wrote the following: “꿈속에서라도 꽃길을 걸으며 고귀하게 한세상을 살기를 바라던 어미의 마음들이 녹아 험한 세상도 힘을 내어 살 수가 있는듯하다.”
When I freely translate this, it means something like this: Mothers living in a harsh world can draw strength from just dreaming about walking down a flower road in a noble world.
Traditional Pillows
Moon wrote in her artist's note that pillows are not only objects for comfortable sleeping. The sides of these traditional pillows are full of embroidery with flowers, birds, and other patterns. She explained that these embroidery patterns help your mind escape from the harsh reality, and let your mind and body fully rest.
On its back, the crane carries four pillows representing the artist's family with her husband and two sons. They are shaped like the traditional Korean pillows. In other paintings, this artist regularly uses pillows as a painting subject.
Embroidery peonies
As shown above, Korean traditional pillows have embroidery patterns on the ends. The texture of the embroidery is used when painting some of the flowers. Traditionally, flower petals are painted with smooth gradients, but in this painting, numerous thin lines are used, resembling the texture of threads in embroidery.
Seashells
An interesting point of this painting can be found in the patterns on the crane. The Parts with a black background and floral patterns, remind us of the traditional Korean craft called ‘Mother-of-Pearl’. This is a craft where thin slices of seashells are attached to objects like jewellery boxes or side tables. In this painting, Moon also used particles of real shells and stuck them to the painting.
Moon grew up in an island town, where shining seashells were treasures from nature. As a little girl, she would imagine the shells had magic powers that could turn her into a princess. Her innocent childhood memories give a feeling of imagination, freedom and happiness, which is also conveyed through her paintings.
Children’s drawings
In the middle of this painting, a rainbow is drawn with crayons. At the bottom, several drawings of underwater creatures like sharks and fish are drawn. The crayon drawings are contrasting and fusing with the other elements painted with traditional Korean paints. And they are not just inspired by children's drawings, Moon let her son draw them on her painting. This is really an exhibit of the love of a mother.
Fusion of genres - paintings by Kim Younghee
This is a set of two paintings by 김영희 Kim Younghee, with the titles 꽃책 and 새책 (sae-chaek kkot-chaek) meaning bird-book and flower-book. What is special about this painting, is that multiple well-known genres of Korean painting are mixed into one painting. Below I will point out each one of them.
Munjado - character paintings
The first genre that can be recognized is called 문자도 (Munjado). These paintings include Chinese characters, often with a meanings like wealth, filial piety, respect, righteousness, loyalty, etc. These kinds of paintings show the Chinese character and images inside or around it that support the meaning of the character.
In this painting, Kim chose to use Korean characters to depict two words that describe her painting. So she used the concept of Munjado but used it differently.
Chaekgori - paintings of books and things
Next, you can see a genre which is called 책거리 (Chaekgori), meaning paintings of books and things. In the next post of this series, I will write about this Genre in detail.
The letters are made in 3D in the shape of books, with lines of pages on the front. In traditional Korean folk paintings, books are painted similarly: as a box with lines on the side, representing the pages. And no thickness was added to the cover, like the old books which had a thin cover.
Hwajo-do - paintings of flowers and birds
Lastly, this painting also represents the genre called 화조도 (Hwajo-do) which are paintings of birds and flowers. These are Painted inside the shapes of the 3D text. In Hwajo-do paintings, birds and flowers are painted together, but in this set of paintings they are split up. The word ‘kkot’ only includes flowers, and the word ‘sae’ mainly includes birds.
Colours
Another point that makes this painting stand out is the colour usage. For example, the gradient on the lotus leaf is not only outwards in brightness like traditional painted leaves but there is also a gradient in hue going around the leaf.
Tradition, Modernity, and the Spirit of Time - Paintings by Park Soeun
박소은 Park Soeun is known for painting women wearing hanbok, the traditional Korean dress. At the exhibition were two of her paintings shown, named 봄애 (spring love), and 믿음애 (love of belief).
A theme that can be seen in all her works is ’the heart of women‘. Her paintings do not just show the beauty of the appearance of a woman, but also the beauty of their mind, heart, and personality. The paintings often show happy memories, giving them a nostalgic and dreamy ambience.
The first painting shows a woman holding a flute, looking at the audience. Behind her are blossom branches, and in the background, you can see a part of a room or hallway. The other painting shows a woman holding a book in her hands, which seems to be a bible. The room also shows other Christian objects, like a Maria statue, angels, and a painting of a praying child.
She combines various elements seen in traditional paintings like flowers and hanbok dresses, and adds new elements to them like a modern window and book. The lamp she painted looks like an antique to us now, but it didn’t exist 400 years ago when Minhwa was popular.
In an interview, Park said “... 당시 시대상을 담아냈던 선조들처럼 저 역시 현대의 이야기를 표현한 작품을 그리고자 합니다.” Source: Minhwa News (https://www.minhwatown.co.kr) This means that Park would like to paint works that express modern stories, just like our ancestors captured the spirit of a cultural period in their paintings.
Park takes components of the traditional paintings and makes them fit into the current zeitgeist. For example, in the past when there were no cameras, paintings with people were often simply a recording of daily life or special events. However, Park uses her paintings to tell a story about someone. A room is a personal space where you can relax, and be comfortable. So a room shows someone's personality, and Park used this in her paintings to tell stories about people.
Fusion in Contemporary Minhwa
In this post, I have shown different ways in which Korean artists fuse different styles, materials and subjects to create beautiful new paintings.
문선영 Moon Sunyoung uses materials like seashells and crayons to create unique artworks. Also, she was inspired by children's drawings and traditional Korean crafts.
김영희 Kim Younghee combined three different traditional genres into one painting, namely 문자도 (Munjado), 책거리 (Chaekgori), and 화조도 (Hwajo-do). She also used bright and vibrant colours that are more imaginary than true to nature, giving the paintings a lively and magical atmosphere.
박소은 Park Soeun fused traditional and modern elements in one painting. Like the paintings painted during the Joseon Dynasty, which are a good depiction of the culture of that era, Park’s paintings represent modern times.
Even though seeing artworks on a screen is different from seeing them in real life, I hope my story about them gave you a broader picture.
This was the first post in the series about this exhibition, so if you want to read more, follow me on Instagram or Facebook, or subscribe to my newsletter, to know when I upload the next post.
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