Culture & the Art
Music and Dance
Painting
Ceramics
Literature
While in some ways quintessentially East Asian,
the canon of Korean art does much to distinguish
itself from neighboring traditions. In doing so,
it often reveals what is unique in the Korean people,
as well.
From a broad view, Korean art reflects a yearning
for serenity spiced with the motions and colors
of struggle and life. Scenes where all of nature
seems as poised as a Chinese character stand in
contrast to the grim humor of a leering, avuncular
tiger. Korea's world-renowned ceramics, steeped
in calm colors and repetitive motifs, play it
cool amid the controlled chaos of Samulnori, a
dance of shamanistic intensity. Ancient legend
and folklore have been brightly trussed in a theatrical
tradition embroidered with satire, melodrama,
and morality play.
To encounter the art of Korea is to encounter
fresh and sometimes startling variations on universal
themes - variations that continue to flourish
under the direction of many talented living artists.
Music
and Dance
Throughout their long history, Koreans have nourished
an ardent love of music and dance. In the distant
past, villagers gathered to celebrate plantings
and harvests. Such festivities were probably the
origin of folk songs and dances that are still widely
enjoyed.
Korean traditional music can be divided into
two major types: jeongak for the noble class,
and sogak for the common people. Jeongak, performed
at court, tended to be slow, solemn, and elaborately
melodic. Sogak drew from a variety of influences,
including Buddhist and shamanistic rituals. The
songs are often dramatic, depicting love stories
and folk tales. Performances are vibrant, full
of strong emotion. Western music was introduced
at the end of the 19th century and gained rapid
acceptance. There are a number of Korean musicians
performing and competing internationally today.
Traditional Korean dance may be divided into
court dance, folk dance, ritual dance, and the
dance of professional entertainers. Court dances
are slow, stately, and elegant, the movements
balanced and restrained. Folk dance includes farmers’
dances, mask dance-dramas, and various group dances
meant to accompany work. Ritual dance appears
in Confucian, shamanistic, and Buddhist ceremonies.
Professional entertainers performed both court
and folk dances, often combining features of the
two. Many traditional dances were forgotten during
the Japanese colonial period (1910-45) and the
chaotic early years of the Republic, but in the
1980s, interest in these long-forgotten dances
revived. Several were designated Intangible Cultural
Properties by the Korean government, while their
most notable performers were recognized as Human
Cultural Treasures.
Painting
The earliest known Korean paintings were murals
painted on the walls of tombs of the Three Kingdoms
period (53 B.C. ? A.D. 668). The paintings of Goguryeo
were generally dynamic and rhythmic, those of Baekje
elegant and refined, and those of Silla somewhat
speculative and meticulous. Little is known of the
painting of the Unified Silla period (668-935),
as only one example survives, but it is believed
that painting developed a great deal during this
culturally rich and harmonious era. In the Goryeo
period (918-1392), painting flourished in rich variety,
with heavy Buddhist influences reflected in temple
murals and scroll paintings. Many master painters
produced works of the so-called "Four Gentlemen":
the plum, the orchid, the chrysanthemum, and the
bamboo. Early Joseon (1392-1910) painters seemed
unable to free themselves from what had become conservative
styles, but their descendents grew in creativity
and originality, relaxing classical tropes and depicting
scenes from everyday life. Understandably, traditional
painting suffered under the policies of the Japanese
colonial period. Meanwhile, Western styles were
introduced and gained a degree of prevalence. After
liberation in 1945, interest in both Korean and
Western styles of painting grew rapidly. Today,
Korean artists engage in both traditions, often
fusing them in new and surprising ways.
Ceramics
Ceramics are by far the most famous Korean art objects
among the world's art historians and connoisseurs.
Neolithic ceramic pots had narrow, rounded bases
and were decorated with parallel lines and dots.
Early Silla ceramics, free and original in style,
varied in color from gray to black and sometimes
held brown tones resulting from oxidation in the
kiln. Ceramics in Korea reached an apex during the
12th century of the Goryeo Dynasty with the attainment
of a mysterious bluish-green celadon glaze and the
innovation of a decorative inlay technique. Sung
Chinese influences diminished, replaced by features
more distinctly Korean. Most of these techniques
were lost during the Mongol invasions, so that modern
potters can only approximate the glorious achievements
of their Goryeo forebears. In the Joseon period,
Korean ceramics tended toward austerity. Much favored
among the Chinese and Korean aristocracies were
plain porcelain vessels of a luminous white. At
the same time, however, the lower classes were producing
for their own use a colorful variety of cruder porcelain
vessels, later prized by collectors for their artless
charm.
Literature
Early Korean literature was heavily influenced by
shamanism, Buddhism and Confucianism. The early
literature, which began as an oral tradition, depicted
a love of nature and man and held that man was a
part of nature. Good was rewarded and evil was punished,
and values like loyalty to the King, filial piety,
respect for one's elders, true friendship and chastity
were emphasized. Some of the earliest extant Korean
writings are poems, called hyangga, written during
the Unified Silla period (A.D. 668-935) using Chinese
characters phonetically to represent the sounds
of the Korean language, which as yet lacked a native
alphabet. Only 25 remain. During the Goryeo period
and the later Joseon period, Korean literature of
the upper class, mostly written in classical Chinese,
was characterized by an emphasis on philosophic
expositions on the Chinese classics, an art that
was essential for government service, the only respectable
avenue to success outside of teaching. Scholarly
essays and the diaries of scholars and court ladies
compose one strain of the literature of this time.
Also during this period, hansi, poems in Chinese
characters, developed to maturity, and toward the
end of the dynasty, a new form of poetry called
sijo gained wide acceptance. The sijo, a short three
line poem written in Hangeul (the Korean alphabet),
remained popular throughout the Joseon Dynasty,
as did the later gasa, a new vernacular verse genre
which was more descriptive and expository. The Joseon
period also saw a great outpouring of literature
written in Hangeul which often centered on the concept
that all men are equal and attacked social inequality,
spurred by the introduction of Silhak (Practical
Learning) in the 17th century. The predecessor of
this genre was The Story of Hong Gildong, generally
considered to be the first Korean novel, written
in the early 17th century to criticize the inequalities
of Joseon society. This trend was reinforced during
the late 19th century by the introduction of Western
influences, as writers were inspired by ideas of
enlightenment, freedom and independence. Modern
writers have also focused on social injustice, particularly
under the authoritarian regimes, as well as the
dehumanizing influence of industrialization and
modernization.
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