箕山 金俊根 繪畵 硏究 = Study on the paintings of Kim Jun-geun

국문 초록 (Abstract)

19세기 말에 활동했던 箕山 金俊根은 원산, 부산 등의 개항장에서 풍속화를 제작하여 외국인에게 판매하였던 화가이다. 김준근은 당시 주류 화가도 아니었고 18, 19세기 초 풍속화가였던 金弘道나 申潤福과 같이 회화적 역량이 뛰어나다고 평가를 받는 것도 아니다. 그럼에도 불구하고 김준근을 주목하는 이유는 당시 우리의 풍속을 그린 천여 점의 그림이 미국, 프랑스, 독일, 덴마크, 영국, 네덜란드 등 외국 박물관이나 미술관에 소장되어 있기 때문일 것이다. 더욱이 1894년에는 독일 함부르크민속공예박물관에서 김준근의 그림이 전시 되었으며 1958년에는 독일의 대표적 한국학 학자인 융커(Heinlich F. Junker, 1889-?)에 의해 그의 작품집이 간행되었다.

그런데 100여 년 전에 김준근이 외국인의 주문에 의해 풍속화를 제작하였고, 그 그림이 외국의 박물관에 소장되었다는 사실에 주목한 나머지 당시 풍속화단의 동향 속에서 김준근의 풍속화가 제작되고 있었다는 사실을 간과하였다. 이 논문에서는 김준근의 풍속화와 관련하여 19세기 후반 시정에서 제작되고 있었던 풍속화의 제작 양상을 파악하고 당시 시정의 풍속화단 동향 속에서 김준근의 풍속화의 특징을 고찰하였다. 즉 조선에서도 김준근 외에 외국인을 위해 풍속화를 제작하는 시정의 화가들이 있었다. 그러나 대부분 화가들은 국내 수요를 위한 그림을 함께 제작했던 市井의 화가들이었다. 이들은 대체로 18세기 명성을 얻었던 김홍도, 김득신, 신윤복 등의 그림을 모방하여 판매하였다. 특히 김홍도는 서민들을 생활을 다양하고 생동감있게 그렸기 때문에 김홍도의 그림을 모방하는 그림들이 서양인의 구미에 맞았던 것으로 보인다. 한편 신윤복은 당대에는 여러 가지 제약으로 명성을 얻지 못했지만 20세기 초 재발견되면서 많은 시정 화가들이 그의 그림을 모방했다.

김준근은 이러한 시정 화단의 흐름 속에서 자신도 역시 김홍도, 김득신, 신윤복 등 18세기 화가들의 그림을 모방하면서 새로운 소재를 개발하고 자신의 양식을 구축했던 화가들 중 하나였다. 특히 서양인의 풍속화 구입은 김준근으로 하여금 다양한 소재 개발의 주동력으로 작용했다. 중국의 수출화와 마찬가지로 형벌, 상장례 등 뿐만 아니라 다양한 직업 관련 장면 등은 분명히 김홍도 등의 18세기 풍속화에서 영향을 받기는 어렵다.

한편 서양인 수요로 제작된 김준근의 풍속화와 관련하여 중국, 일본, 인도, 동남아시아 등에서 서양인의 요청으로 제작된 풍속화[수출화]를 비교하여 살펴보았다. 중국에서는 서양인의 수요에 맞추어 개항장에서 풍속화 및 다른 화목의 그림들을 대량으로 제작해서 판매했기 때문에 ‘수출화(export painting)’ 라는 명칭이 생겨날 정도로 중국 개항기의 특이한 미술 현상으로 부각되었다. 같은 시기 일본 역시 우키요에 전통에 기초해서 제작된 그림들, ‘요코하마 판화’, ‘나가사키 판화’ 등이 역시 개항장에서 서양인들에게 판매되었다. 주로 외국인과의 왕래가 활발했던 개항장에서 제작된 중국과 일본의 그림들은 서양인에게 판매되었다는 조건은 같았지만 그림 소재는 상이하게 나타났다. 즉 일본의 경우 국내 수요자를 중심으로 제작되었기 때문에 일본의 근대적 발전상을 담은 그림들이 화려한 채색의 일본풍 양식으로 제작되었던 반면에 중국은 전적으로 서양인의 구미에 맞추었기 때문에 자국의 수요자들은 선호하지 않았을 형벌, 상제례 등의 그림들도 다수 제작되었던 것이다. 김준근의 풍속화는 일본 보다는 중국 수출화와 주제면에서 유사한데, 이는 김준근의 풍속화가 중국의 수출화와 같은 시대적, 역사적 맥락 속에서 서양인의 요청으로 제작되었기 때문으로 여겨진다.

이렇게 두 가지 관점에서 접근한 김준근 풍속화의 분석을 통해 김준근이 개항기에서 일제강점기로 넘어가는 과도기적 상황 속에서 시대의 변화를 재빨리 감지하고 능동적으로 미술 환경에 적응하였던 화가임을 알 수 있었다. 이는 김준근이 당시에는 주류 화가로 활동하지는 못했지만 자신도 알지 못하는 사이에 근대적 미술 문화를 받아들였던 선구적 화가로 자리매김할 수 있었던 원동력이었다.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Gisan, Kim, Jun-geun is the artist in the late 19th century who produced genre paintings at open ports of Wonsan and Busan and sold them to foreigners. Kim, Jun-geun was, in those days, neither the artist in the mainstream nor as highly evaluated in the aspect of pictorial capability as Kim, Hong-do or Shin, Yun-bok, who were renowned as genre painters in the late 18th and early 19th. Nevertheless the reason why Kim, Jun-geun became the focus of public attention is presumably that approximately a thousand of his genre paintings, peculiar to those days’ custom, are currently collected at museums and art museums in the US, France, Germany, Denmark, England, and the Netherlands. Moreover in 1894, Kim, Jun-geun’s paintings were exhibited at Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Germny, and in 1958, his collection of paintings was published by Heinlich F.Junker(1889-?), who was the leading scholar of Korean studies in Germany.

The multiple exhibitions of his paintings at some globally renowned art museums were deeply related with the historical background of ‘opening of ports’ in the late 19th century. The Korean government(Yi Dynasty) was forced to sign the Byungja Treaty of Peace and Amity with Japan in 1876(13 King Gojong), which made Korean ports commence opening, and through the mediation of China, which was concerned Japan could have its own way in Korea, consecutive treaties were followed with the US in 1882, the UK in 1883, Germany in 1883, and France in 1886. Subsequently the ports of Busan in 1876, Wonsan in 1879, and Incheon in 1880 were singled out for trades with those treaty nations. Foreigners from the West who entered through the open ports needed genre paintings to study and understand Korea whose native custom was hardly known to them, or they wanted Korean genre paintings as a souvenir of a visit to Korea, and Kim, Jun-geun moved quickly to comply with the trends of the times.

That was how the genre paintings of Kim, Jun-geun were ordered and manufactured by Westerners. His genre paintings did not emerge suddenly by the demand of the Westerners, but the positioning of his paintings in the move of genre paintings at that time was overlooked, because the collections of his paintings at Western museums 100 years ago were mainly the focus of the public attention. In this study, the aspects of how genre paintings were created on market and in the street in the late 19th would be researched for the closer study of Kim, Jun-geun’s genre paintings, and the features of his paintings in the relation with the trends of genre paintings in those times would be investigated.

In those times, other than Kim, Jun-geun, some other artists on market streets manufactured genre paintings for Westerners. Most of them were also creating paintings for domestic demands, who sought profit through paintings as merchandise of the market rather than artistic commitment. Those artists, generally, imitated the paintings of Kim, Hong-do, Kim, Deuk-sin, and Shin, Yun-bok, whose paintings obtained renown in the 18th century. Among target paintings were those of Kim, Hong-do, which attracted the exceptional attention of Westerners, because the images of working ordinary people in his paintings were captured in various aspects. Shin, Yun-bok, in contrast, did not achieve a high reputation in those times under some restrictions, but when he was rediscovered in the early 20th century, many artists on market streets copied his paintings. Even though some paintings of the artists on market streets reached a considerable level, many of those paintings became stereotyped and lost vivid touch. However, the number of those artists indicated the increasing demand for paintings, and their paintings, thanks to the modern printing technology during the Japanese occupation, became commercial.

Kim, Jun-geun was, also, one of those artists who established their own style while imitating the renowned artists in the 18th century such as Kim, Hong-do, Kim, Deuk-sin, and Shin, Yun-bok. Moreover, Westerners’ purchase of the genre paintings of Kim, Jun-geun facilitated his development of multiple painting materials. The paintings of Kim, Hong-do could not have influenced Kim, Jun-geun, since Kim, Jun-geun displayed in his paintings a variety of handicrafts as well as punishment or ceremonial occasions in ‘export paintings’ of China. Also in the style, Western styles of art such as shading or perspective tended to deepen in the paintings of Kim, Jun-geun. When it comes to such intensified shading or perspective, the artwork production of The Pilgrim's Progress published in Korea is considered to have been a starting point for Kim, Jun-geun, when he must have seen the artworks of the original version of The Pilgrim's Progress in English, created by H. C. Selous and M. Paolo Priol, whose artworks were under the initiative of Gale, the planner of publishing and translator into the Korean language, and featured remarkable shading and perspective. The Pilgrim's Progress was published in a large quantity by using modern printing as one of modern conveniences from the Western Industrial Revolution, whose artworks contributed largely to realize the generalization of cultivation. In other words, it meant the pursuit of modernity.

Also, in this study, the aspects of how genre paintings were created on China, India, Japan market in the late 19th would be researched for the closer study of Kim, Jun-geun’s genre paintings. Genre paintings manufactured in China, Japan, India, and Southeast Asian nations by the request of Westerners would also be considered for the study of those differences, because China, especially, to meet the demand of Westerners, created and sold in large quantities paintings in other genres as well as genre paintings at trading ports, which was prominent as the unique phenomenon of the opening period of China, so the term ‘export paintings’ was freshly coined. In the same period in Japan, Yokohama's Prints and Nagasaki's Prints of paintings based on the tradition of Ukiyo-e were also sold to Westerners at trading ports. The situation of sales of the paintings manufactured at the booming trading ports was the same in China and Japan in that they were sold to Westerners, while the subject matter displayed dissimilarities. Japan manufactured brilliantly colored paintings of Japanese style with modern developments of Japan because there were the domestic consumers in the center of the sale demand, while China manufactured many paintings totally loyal to Westerners’ preference displaying punishment or ceremonial occasions which would not have satisfied domestic needs. The genre paintings of Kim, Jun-geun are similar to Chinese export paintings in the light of a subject matter, because his genre paintings seemed to come from the request of Westerners in the same background with Chinese export paintings.

As the genre paintings of Kim, Jun-geun were included as artworks of Westerners’ travelogues, his pattern of genre paintings would have sticked in the memories of Western readers. However, the genre paintings of Kim, Jun-geun hold passiveness in that his paintings assumed the role to reflect the images of Korea from the viewpoint of Westerners. The pattern of genre paintings of Kim, Jun-geun was revealed in the paintings of Kim, Yun-bo and Choe, Woo-seok, artists in the mainstream during the Japanese occupation. It appears that even the artists aiming for the artistic achievement could not but manufacture the vulgar paintings in financial difficulties during the Japanese occupation. Hyung Jeong Do Chup, a picture book by Kim, Yun-bo, cannot have been manufactured to satisfy the domestic demand, because its theme was punishment, while the genre paintings of Choe, Woo-seok are considered as the products for Korean or Japanese buyers with economic power. Also in the early 20th century, there were some other artists, like Kim, Jun-geun, who were professionally painting for Westerners. Some artists, including Hwang, Jong-gu in the center, are estimated to have worked in cooperation, whose production of paintings dates back to 1894, the same time with the activities of Kim, Jun-geun, and they maintained existence until the early 20th century.

In this way, Kim, Jun-geun in the trend of genre paintings of the late 19th century, when artists on market streets imitated the paintings of Kim, Hong-do, Kim, Deuk-sin, and Shin, Yun-bok, and manufactured genre paintings, manufactured the genre paintings for the commercial purpose. Kim, Jun-geun solidified his presence creating his own style as he developed his unique material to meet the demand of Westerners and manufactured the artworks of The Pilgrim's Progress by taking advantage of modern printing technology. The influence of the genre paintings of Kim, Jun-geun went down in history as the mainstream artists, especially in the Japanese occupation, followed the pattern of genre paintings of Kim, Jun-geun who was merely one unknown artist among many artists on market streets.