Art and Culture

Traditional Korean Painting, the 27th book in The Spirit of Korean Cultural Roots series, explores the history of Korean painting. In doing so, it gives an overview of the changes and developments in Korean painting through the ages, from prehistoric to modern times, by looking at the major trends and the philosophical and stylistic characteristics according to period.

As such, this book does not just focus on a few genres but covers the whole spectrum, including prehistoric rock carvings, ancient tomb murals, Buddhist painting, shamanic painting, folk painting, court painting, portraits, genre paintings, landscapes and bird-and-flower paintings. The works of Korea's major artists such as Seo Gu-bang, Jeong Seon, Kim Hong-do, Jang Seung-eop and Park Rae-hyeon are introduced in detail to promote greater understanding of Korean painting.      

This book was written from the consciousness that traditional Korean painting has often been written about and discussed from the perspective of others, through modern or Western ideologies such as colonialism, anti-colonialism, nationalism and modernism. Moving away from the development theory inherent in the Western model, the author takes a critical perspective and attempts a new historical systemization of traditional Korean painting.