This study examines the attributes and artistic achievements of three literati painters from the Haenam Yun Clan, along with the impact on their own and subsequent generations. Yun Du-seo (Pen-name: Gongjae /1668-1715), his son Deok-hui (Pen-name: Nak...
This study examines the attributes and artistic achievements of three literati painters from the Haenam Yun Clan, along with the impact on their own and subsequent generations. Yun Du-seo (Pen-name: Gongjae /1668-1715), his son Deok-hui (Pen-name: Nakseo / 1685-1766), and his grandson Yong (Pen-name: Cheonggo / 1708-1740) were descendants of Yun Seon-do (Pen-name: Gosan / 1587-1671), a leading figure of the Namin (Southerners) faction. Their family was based in Baengnyeon-dong, Haenam (now Yeon-dong, Haenam- eup, Jeollanam-do). They belonged to the Geungi Namin faction, which engaged in artistic activities mostly in Hanyang (now Seoul). These painters of Haenam Yun Clan were assessed in a group as great literati artists during the late Joseon Period, and went a long way towards developing the country's painting styles in the early 18th century.
Around 1700, the starting point of the late Joseon Period, Yun Du-seo abandoned the stereotyped characteristic painting style of the mid-Joseon Period and started a new trend in painting. Thus, contemporary critics regarded him as a pioneer of fine arts in the late Joseon Period.
The following four factors can be singled out as the basis on which he secured his fame as the leading artist of the country in the early 18th century: first, the economic and political strength and the artistic tradition established by his family's ancestors must have provided him with an advantageous position as regards his growth as an artist; Yun Du-seo could not enter the ranks of officialdom as he belonged to the Namin faction, which lost its way in a power struggle, but he could demonstrate his academic and artistic talents to his heart's content on the back of the wealth that his family had accumulated from the early Joseon Period.
Furthermore, his great-great-great-great-grandfather Yun Gu appreciated calligraphic works and paintings and was a collector of those art pieces himself. Such a family background must have helped Yun Du-seo to develop his career as an artist.
Second, Yun Du-seo formed close relationships with Yi Seo (1662-1723) and Yi Man-bu (1664-1732) due to their common academic background, shared political ideology, and connections through marriage. Thus, they formed the Geungi Namin Artists Group (a name this study attaches to calligraphers and painters belonging to the Namin faction in the vicinity of Capital Seoul for convenience). Thus, Yun Du-seo developed rapidly as a calligrapher and painter.
Third, his name as an artist came to be known to the gentry via those with discernment for artistic works, such as Yi Ha-gon, Min Yong-hyeon, Yu Ho, and Yi Sa-ryang, who belonged to the Seoin(Westerners) - Soron (Young Doctrine) faction.
Fourth, the role he played as a pioneer of the new painting trend was mainly attributable to his extensive reading, which is attested to by the large number of Chinese books, including eleven kinds of picture manuals, encyclopedias and mukbo (prints albums of engraved patterns on inksticks), 50 kinds of painters' literati works and books on painting theories, and 26 kinds of calligraphers' literati works and books on calligraphy theories contained in the Haenam Yunssi Gunseo Mongnok (List of Books Collected by the Haenam Yun Clan), compiled by the Joseon History Committee from 1927 to 1928.
Yun Du-seo stressed the artistic importance of striving to create new works based on what was established in the past. Based on such an artistic spirit, he worked in a wide variety of artistic genres, including Namjong sansuhwa (Southern-School literati landscape paintings); siuido(paintings with poems); paintings of animals, Taoist and Buddhist figures, gojukmokseokdo (mainly comprising old trees, bamboos and rocks), flowers and birds, figures from well-known stories, women knights from story books; paintings of beauty; and Chinese-style colored figure paintings. He is commonly referred to as a pioneer among the Southern-School literati painters in Joseon. He turned the trend in landscape paintings of the later Joseon Period towards a new, unique style of painting, drawing inspiration from a variety of painting manuals published in Ming and Qing Period and books on painting theories in China.
Yun Du-seo's keenly developed artistic spirit, which led him to pursue 'truth and reality', contributed greatly to the attempts to create new paintings portraying current ideas in the later Joseon Period. He stressed the importance of conveying the spirit of a subject and expressing authenticity in a portrait. Concerning true-view landscape
paintings, he regarded them as something akin to portraits, using such terms as portrayal of the truth or genuine faces. He pursued the idea of current state based on deep thoughts about himself and awareness of himself as a Korean. Such ideas led him to focus on his existing self, his house, the people and things surrounding him, and the homeland as worthwhile subjects for the portrayal of authenticity and the current state. His figure paintings - including those of saints or self-portraits, genre paintings of the ways of life of different classes of people (i.e. scholars, farmers, craftsmen and merchants), paintings of devices and machines, true-view landscape paintings, sasaenghwa (paintings made by observation) and maps of Korea and its neighboring country Japan - and his incorporation of Western-style shading techniques resulted in new artworks that were both representations of the late Joseon Period and notable artistic achievements.
His artistic talent was inherited by his son Deok-hui and his grandson Yong. These three generations of the same family secured their position as masters of literati paintings who were able to represent the country in the late Joseon Period. Deok-hui and Yong did not cover as wide a range of objects as Yun Du-seo, but they held a strong respect for their ancestors and faithfully inherited his artistic spirit and painting style.
Yun Du-seo's son, Yun Deok-hui inherited and further developed his father's style of Southern-School literati paintings, devoting himself to siuido (paintings with poems), paintings of horses,Taoist and Buddhist figures, and figures from well-known stories, as well as paintings of beauty, paintings of female chivalries` character, genre paintings, true-view landscapes, and also incorporated Western-style shading techniques. As for Yun Deok-hui, he applied himself to Southern-School literati paintings, accommodating a wide range of techniques, including Mi Youren-initiated landscape paintings, and the styles of Huang Kungwang, Wu Chen, Ni Tsan, and Wang Meng, i.e. the four leading artists at the end of the Yuan Period; Tung Chichang of Ming Period, and the Anhui School of painters in Qing Period. Thus, he also contributed to the spread of Southern-School literati paintings in Joseon during the early 18th century.
Yun Deok-hui's paintings of horses drew in and further developed the classical works of Yi Gong-rin of North Song China and Zhao Mengfu of Yuan Period under the influence of his father. Thus, Yun Deok-hui and his father came to be called the two masters of horse paintings in Joseon. Yun Deok-hui was deeply interested in Taoism and painted in most Taoist and Buddhist figures paintings than any other painter in the early 18th century. He is also said to have been a painter who further developed the paintings of Saints Crossing the Sea. According to some historical records, the term, true view, was used by Yun Deok-hui in 1709 for the first time. His true-view landscape paintings made by sketching scenes around Geumgangsan Mountain in 1747 left a great footprint in the history of Korea's fine arts.
Yun Yong, Yun Du-seo's grandson, continued the family tradition, developing further still landscape paintings, genre paintings, Taoist and Buddhist figures paintings, true-view landscape paintings, paintings of beauty and sasaenghwa (paintings made by observation). He enjoyed siuido (paintings with poems), simultaneously exercising his literary talents and building his own unique world of paintings, while accommodating the style of the Anhui School of artists. The precise and detailed sketches of flowers, trees, birds, animals and worms in his album of paintings titled Chwiucheop shows that he too inherited and developed his grandfather's artistic spirit and pursuit of truth and reality. Indeed, his genre paintings display a level of artistic skill that surpasses the work of both his father and grandfather.
The impact of the combined works of the Yun Family on subsequent generations of painters of the late Joseon Period - including Kim Seok-dae, Jeong Seon, Jo Yeong-seok, Kang Se-hwang, Kim Hong-do, and Heo Ryeon (Pen-name: Sochi / 1808-1893) - lasted for about 200 years.
Kim Du-ryang (1696-1763), who served as a royal court painter, belonged to Yun Du-seo's school of artists. It is noteworthy that the heritage left by the Yun Family was inherited by leading fine artists in the late Joseon Period, including: Kang Se-hwang (1713-1791), who belonged to the Sobuk (Small Northerners) - Namin (Southerners) faction aligned with the calligraphers and painters belonging to the Namin faction in the vicinity of Capital Seoul; Jeong Yak-yong, Yun Du-seo's great-grandson-in-law; Yun Jeong-gi, Jeong Yak-yong's great-grandson-in-law. Kang Se-hwang, who inherited Yun Du-seo's self-portrait and Western-style shading techniques, as well as the landscape paintings of Yun Du-seo and Yun Deok-hui. He not only continued to use the term true-view as Yun Du-seo, Yun Deok-hui and Yi Ik had done, but also inherited Yun Deok-hui's approach to true-view landscape paintings, attaching importance to the sketching of true-view on the scene. Jeong Yak-yong started painting pictures during a period of exile in Gangjin, having been greatly influenced by Yun Du-seo's collection of paintings and maps kept at nearby Nogudang in Haenam and Yun Yong's Chwiucheop. We can see that Yun Du-seo's influence continued to be felt until the end of the 19th century from a copy made by Yun Jeong-gi of Yun Du-seo's Ilbonyeodo (Map of Japan).