Korean shamanism started with the history of Korea as a fork religion and represents the Korean inner mind and the spiritual world. The icons of this shamanism are the paintings of shaman god's. Shaman paintings are enshrined by charismatic shamans, w...
Korean shamanism started with the history of Korea as a fork religion and represents the Korean inner mind and the spiritual world. The icons of this shamanism are the paintings of shaman god's. Shaman paintings are enshrined by charismatic shamans, who have attained supernatural power through the experience of possession. Shaman painting is known as Hwan , Hwabun (picture), Maji (a kind of paper), Shinyongnim (spirit) or Grandfather in the shamanic world.
According to the Handangogi which describes the ancient history of Korea, the painting of Lord of heaven Hwanwoung was enshrined from the Gochosun era which was a first country in Korea. Another reference to shaman paintings is in the Tongguk Yi Sang-guk chip, a collection of writings of Yi Kyu-bo (1168-1241). In an episode entitled "The Old Shaman", he wrote that a shaman "set up an altar in her house with the walls of the room covered with many images of gods painted in Tanchong". The images of gods in Tanchong colours are believed to be the same as today's shaman paintings of deep colors.
Judging from the long history of shamanism and ancient records like the above mentioned, shamans are believed to have begun to revere shaman paintings as manifestations of their gods.
The gods in shaman paintings are classified into two types ; deified nature and deified humans. The first type includes heaven, the sun, the moon, constellations and mountains. The second type includes kings, generals, high-ranking officials, and shaman ancestors.
Shaman paintings can be classified into two types; those of a purely shaman nature and those influenced by Buddhism. The first type is characterized by bold, crude delineation without much style Being the work of untrained painters, the composition tends to be poor and the colours are not harmonious, often resulting in a rather disorganized impression. The Buddist type, on the other hand, is marked with delicate, elaborate delineation and refined composition. The colours harmonize well.
The compositions of Shaman paintings are adapted trigonal, parallel and full canvas type. The trigonal type is usually used for Pyolsang, Sambul chesok to give a sense of security and dignity. Shaman paintings are characterize by a bold exaggeration of the god, the main figure at the center, while the attending figures in the lower parts are depicted in small size. But in spite of the lack of perspective, the golden proportion is kept between main god and attendants.
The 5 colours, red, blue, yellow, black, and white, are mainly used with strong constrating effects. They are based on Yin and Yang and the five elements theory. The space is treated not by perspective representation but instead with colour perspective.
The shape of shaman paintings has a relation with the regional distribution. The hereditary shamans, who occupy the southern region of Korea, don't enshrine shaman paintings. The charismatic shamans, who are in the central and northern regions, enshrine.
There are outstanding differences between the Hwanghae-do region and the Seoul and Kyonggi-do resions. The Seoul and Kyunggi-do type of paintings are usually on silk or cotton cloth and are drawn in a Buddist style. The Hwanghae-do type are on paper and are drawn in a folk style.
Tangchae, strong, bright pigments imported from China, and Sokchae, mineral colors made in Korea, are used. But in recent years the usage of mineral colors has been reduced and chemical pigments are used because of their price and convenience.