ARTS AND CRAFTS OF

KOREA
KOREAN PAINTING
TRADITIONAL AND FOLK PAINTING
 Rainy Landscape
late 18th century
Kim Su-gyu Title Lorem Ipsum Dolor

This work depicts two fishermen

crossing a bridge and entering a
mountainous forest, possibly on
their way to the village at top right.
Saturated in washes of blue and
grey, the landscape appears damp,
as described in the two-line verse:

Rain clears and brightens a

thousand mountains,
Men in straw coats return with
fishing rods.
 ◦ The history of Korean painting dates back to 108
CE, when it first appears as an independent
form. It is said that until the Joseon Dynasty the
primary influence of Korean paintings were
Chinese paintings.
◦ However Korean paintings have subjects such as
Korean landscapes, facial features, Buddhist topics and
Painting an emphasis on celestial observation in keeping
with the rapid development of Korean
astronomy.
◦ Mountains and water are important features in
Korean landscape painting because it is a site
for building temples and buildings.
Minhwa – Korean Folk Painting
Minhwa
◦ refers to Korean folk art produced mostly by itinerant or unknown artists
without formal training, emulating contemporary trends in fine art for the
purpose of everyday use or decoration.
◦ The term "minhwa" was coined by Yanagi Muneyoshi.
◦ Minhwa literally means "painting of the people" or "popular painting". This
type of painting was often the work of anonymous craftsmen who faithfully
adhered to the styles, canons and genres inherited from the past. Minhwa also
involved a magical dimension.
◦ They were believed to possess beneficial virtues and to protect the owner and
his family from evil forces. They feature popular themes such as cranes, rocks,
water, clouds, the sun, moon, pine-trees, tortoises, insects and flowers.
TRADITIONAL KOREAN MASK
KOREAN MASK
◦ Called tal or t’al originated with religious meaning just like
the masks of other countries which also have religious or
artistic origins.
◦ They use it in funeral services to help vanish evil spirits and
theater plays dating back to the prehistoric age.
◦ Masks were also use in shamanistic rites and were kept
within temples where they were honored with offerings.
◦ By the 12th century, the mask became part of elaborate
dances and dramas.
The Roles of Colors in the Korean Mask
◦ Black, Red and White masks – bright and vibrant colors
that help establish the age and race of the figure.
◦ Half red and Half white mask – symbolize the idea that
the wearer has two fathers, Mr. Red and Mr. White.
◦ Dark-faced mask – indicates that the character was
born on an adulterous mother
HANJI – traditional Korean paper
HANJI
◦ is made from the inner bark of Broussonetia papyrifera known colloquially as paper
mulberry, a tree native to Korea that grows well on its rocky mountainsides, known in Korean
as dak. The formation aid crucial to making hanji is the mucilage that oozes from the roots of
Hibiscus manihot. This substance helps suspend the individual fibers in water.

◦ Traditional hanji is made in laminated sheets using the we bal method (a sheet formation
technique), which allows for multi-directional grain The process of creating hanji also
employs dochim, a method of pounding finished sheets to compact fibers and lessen ink
bleed
Hapjukseon Fan

◦ is estimated to date back to the Goryeo

Dynasty (918-1392), the folding fan offers some
tidbits about ancient times. Fans made with 50
strips of bamboo were only allowed to be used
by the king and royal families, while noblemen
were permitted to use fans made with 40 strips
of bamboo.
 ◦ objects made of clay and hardened by heat: earthenware,
stoneware, and porcelain of Korea.

Korean Ceramics ◦ The influence of Chinese pottery on Korean pottery was so great
that it is difficult to distinguish some Korean wares from those
made in the northern provinces of China
Najeonchilgi – Mother-of-
Pearl Craftwork
◦ The very term 'Najeonchilgi' is a combination
of two particular words: 'najeon'– mother-of-
pearl and ‘chilgi’ which refers to lacquerware.
‘najeon’ refers to the composite material
which forms the inner shiny shell layer. Korean
craftsmen generally use the processed abalone
shells. While the ancient China was where it
was originated primarily, throughout the
years, it gained popularity across Japan and
South Korea.
JOGAKBO
Jogakbo
◦ is a style of patchwork, traditionally used to create domestic wrapping cloths (known as bojagi) from scraps of
left-over fabrics. The art of making wrapping cloths has enjoyed a long history in Korea. During the Joseon
dynasty (1392 – 1910), women, living in a male-dominated society and excluded from formal education,
concentrated on domestic tasks such as weaving and embroidery. They produced costumes, beddings, and
wrapping cloths for the whole household. Following the ideas of frugality and simplicity advocated during the
dynasty, the left-over fabrics were not discarded, but would be used to create a jogakbo by patching those
scraps together into larger squares or rectangles.

◦ A jogakbo is comprised of scraps of one type of fabric, such as cotton, silk or ramie (a plant fibre
native to eastern Asia which has a particularly lustrous appearance), hemp or even paper. The
scraps are sewn together using a triple-stitched seaming technique known as gekki, which results
in a sealed, flat seam and gives the jogakbo their distinctive 'window pane' appearance. Patches
are joined into squares and extended in an irregular, improvisatory fashion until a cloth reaches
the required size. The jogakbo can include several colours composing a modern abstract pattern,
or be made of one single-colour, as seen in an elegant piece in our collection dating to the 1940s.
MAEDEUP

◦ the traditional Korean art of

decorative knots, demonstrates
this law as piece of string
originates at a certain point then
creates wonderful, intricate
shapes before finishing where it
began, completing its cycle.