Chong Son
Chŏng Sŏn was an influential Korean painter renowned for his landscape artwork that captured the essence of Korea's natural beauty. Born into a family of scholars in Seoul during the late 17th century, he received a classical education and later joined the royal painters' academy. His artistic journey was marked by a departure from the traditional Chinese styles that were prevalent at the time, as he sought to depict authentic Korean landscapes rather than imitate Chinese scenes. Notably inspired by a trip to Mount Kūmgang, Chŏng Sŏn's works showcased a unique blend of techniques that highlighted the distinct features of Korea's geography, such as steep granite mountains and wind-bent pine trees.
Throughout his career, Chŏng Sŏn gained recognition for his innovative approach and garnered the patronage of King Yŏngjo, which allowed him to thrive both as an artist and a government official. His paintings, characterized by vigorous brushstrokes and realistic representations of Korean life and landscapes, made a significant impact on 18th-century Korean art. Despite experiencing fluctuations in his reputation over the years, Chŏng Sŏn's legacy endures through the hundreds of surviving works and the inspiration he provided to future generations of artists. His contributions played a crucial role in establishing a national identity in Korean art, particularly following the country's independence from Japanese rule in 1945, when his works regained appreciation.
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Chong Son
Korean landscape painter
- Born: January 3, 1676
- Birthplace: Seoul, Korea
- Died: March 24, 1759
- Place of death: Seoul, Korea
Chŏng Sŏn revolutionized Korean art by painting realistic Korean landscapes, using a popular Chinese style but choosing not to copy the customary Chinese scenes of this genre. He influenced generations of Korean painters and contributed to the success of authentic Korean national art in the eighteenth century.
Early Life
Chŏng Sŏn (chuhng suhn) was born into a family of land-owning scholars. His father, Chŏng Si-ik, was a government official who rose to the lower fourth rank and was responsible for handling government documents, sitting on the Royal Education Council, and working as royal secretary. His mother, Choe, came from a family of prominent Confucian and Neo-Confucian philosophers. Chŏng Sŏn’s family lived in the Samch’ongdong district of Seoul, which had become capital of Korea with the rise of the Yi (or Choson) Dynasty in 1392. His first name, Sŏn, means “healing” or “completing.”
Chŏng’s ancestors on his father’s side had been provincial governors and a professor of a Confucian school. Learning, government service, and relative material security were part of his family background. He received a classical education, stressing calligraphy, literature, philosophy, and the arts. Upon reaching maturity he took the adult name of Wŏnbaek.
Some time between 1694 and 1703, Chŏng Sŏn joined the royal Korean painters’ academy upon the recommendation of Kim Ch’ang-jip, a high official of ruling king Sukchong. Chŏng was one of the few painters appointed on merit alone under the Chongo rule, which stated that once every three years, in the first month of the year (generally February according to the Western calendar), high government officials, such as his sponsor Kim, could recommend three candidates to join the academy.
Chŏng Sŏn was one of the few young artists chosen to join the academy under this rule—an indication of his talent. He chose Kyŏmjae, meaning “modest studio,” as his first artistic name with which he signed his paintings.
Life’s Work
Chŏng Sŏn’s art, particularly his landscape paintings, soon stood out because they combined elements of the two opposed artistic styles of the period as well as adding a definite Korean dimension. Court painters, like those trained at the academy, generally followed the Northern Song style from China. They were expected to paint Chinese landscapes and follow rigid rules regarding theme, style, composition, and technique. On the other hand, literary painters like Chŏng’s teacher Yun Tu-sŏ, who painted for aesthetic pleasure and appreciation, followed the new techniques of the Chinese Southern Song style.
Chŏng Sŏn painted landscapes, as expected, but defied tradition by not faithfully copying Chinese masters. Instead, he turned to the techniques of the Southern Song School, incorporating Mi Fu drops, or dots, named after the Chinese painter who used this technique. Chŏng Sŏn also used “axe stroke” brushstrokes to depict the steep, barren granite mountainsides of his native Korea.
In 1705, a trip to the famous rugged Mount Kūmgang (Mount Diamond) in northern Korea decisively influenced Chŏng Sŏn. Taking in the majestic scenery provided inspiration for his decision to depict real Korean landscapes rather than copied or imagined Chinese scenes in his paintings. Filled with impressions and concrete ideas of the natural beauty of his own country, Chŏng Sŏn returned to his studio to create realistic Korean landscapes. According to artistic tradition, painters worked in their studios rather than on location, adding a layer of reflection to their immediate impressions. The thirteen eaves of his album P’ung-akdo (c. 1705) represented Chŏng Sŏn’s first creative reaction to his trip to Mount Kūmgang.
By 1731, Chŏng Sŏn’s painting of a Korean embassy making its way through the mountains on its way to Beijing symbolized the national importance of his art. Like the ambassador it depicted, his painting reflected Korean national self-assertiveness. Even though his decision to depict realistic Korean landscapes followed the groundbreaking tradition of an earlier Korean painter, Cho Sok (b. 1595), Chŏng’s paintings captured the spirit of the times. The paintings also won the favor of the new king, Yŏngjo. The fifty-eight leaves of Kyo-nam-myongs ngch’ op (1734; album of diamond mountain paintings) contained some of Chŏng Sŏn’s masterpieces.
The decade from 1740 to 1750 is considered Chŏng Sŏn’s great creative period. His landscape paintings showed full development of his vigorous, Southern School brushstrokes and his individual ink technique. His opposition to Chinese stereotypes and abstractions and his innovative depiction of real Korean natural scenes, including human figures in Korean instead of Chinese dress, solidified his fame.
As was Korean custom, court painters also worked as government officials, one of the attractions of the profession. By 1742, at age sixty-six, Chŏng Sŏn was administrator of the Yangchon district, north of Seoul. In November, 1742, he joined a fellow magistrate to welcome a visiting high royal official, and the three men took a boat trip that inspired two landscape drafts, which some critics consider Chŏng Sŏn’s most important literary painting. While drinking on the boat, the three men were reminded of a similar scene in Chinese literature. Chŏng Sŏn’s paintings depicted this famous literary incident within a Korean landscape. Following tradition, friends wrote the circumstances of its inspiration directly on Chŏng’s painting.
Some time between 1742 and 1755, King Yongjo promoted Chŏng Sŏn to the rank of chomjong, or supervisor, for the royal grain supply in Sadosi. Yongjo’s patronage supported the famous painter, who used the artist’s name of Kyŏmno (modest old man) by this time. Chŏng Sŏn felt confirmed in his artistic choices. His painting of a pavilion in 1748, for example, was widely praised for its realism in depicting a Korean building. His album Sakondo sip’um (1749) featured paintings inspired by Korean literary poems based on Chinese models, yet the landscapes depicted in the album were clearly and identifiably Korean.
A contemporary Korean biographer asserts that Chŏng Sŏn made a fortune f rom his paintings. The date of Chŏng Sŏn’s marriage is no longer known, but both his son, Chŏng Man-su, and his grandson, Chŏng Hwang, became well known in Korea. In March, 1759, Chŏng Sŏn died at age eighty-three in his native city of Seoul.
Significance
Chŏng Sŏn’s national Korean art boldly followed the path of Cho Sok and represented real Korean landscapes instead of Chinese landscapes that were copied or imagined, giving eighteenth century Korean art a major creative impulse. His ability to render the Korean landscape in an artistic style most suitable to its realistic depiction, including his “axe stroke” brushstrokes to paint granite mountains and his portrayal of wind-bent pine trees rather than the straight Chinese version, created a major stylistic shift in Korean painting of the period. More than five hundred of his works have survived.
Chŏng Sŏn’s individual style and the composition of his landscape paintings deeply influenced both his contemporaries and his successors. He taught literary painters such as Sim Sa-chŏng and the accomplished Kim Hong-do. Chŏng Sŏn’s legacy survived through his art and the generations of future artists who were inspired by his choice of theme and artistic execution.
By the end of the nineteenth century, with Chinese traditionalists winning the favor of the artistic community, Chŏng Sŏn’s reputation lost some of its brilliance. It was not until Korean independence from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 that appreciation for Chŏng Sŏn’s Korean landscapes reemerged.
Bibliography
Ahn, Hwi-joon. “A Scholar’s Art: The Chinese Southern School.” In Fine Arts. Vol. 1 in Korean Cultural Heritage, edited by Chu-hwan Park. Seoul: Samsung Moonhwa, 1994. Explores the traditional Chinese influence on Korean landscape painters of the eighteenth century, with a good discussion of Chŏng Sŏn’s artistic development and significance. Illustrated with reproductions of some of his major paintings.
Huh, Young-hwan. “Choson Landscape and Genre Painting.” In Fine Arts. Vol. 1 in Korean Cultural Heritage, edited by Chu-hwan Park. Seoul: Samsung Moonhwa, 1994. Places Chŏng Sŏn in the context of Korean painting of the period and discusses his influence and legacy. Illustrated.
Portal, Jane. Korea: Art and Archaeology. London: Thames & Hudson, 2000. Written upon the occasion of the opening of a new gallery for Korean art at the British Museum in London, the text provides a good account of Chŏng Sŏn’s achievements. Valuable for placing the artist in context and discussing the adaptation of Chinese artistic traditions in Korea in the eighteenth century. Illustrated, with an index and a bibliography.
Pratt, Keith. Korean Painting. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Discusses the work of Chŏng Sŏn in light of his significant contributions to realistic Korean landscape painting and places him in the context of Korean art. Provides a useful history of painting style in the period and after. Includes illustrations and a map.