Yi Sang Su･baksunhaeng･bagyongho･yangjuseung Portrait

In 1911 Bak Mun-ho (pen name Hosan, 1846-1918), a Confucian scholar of the late Joseon period, built Chuyangjeongsa, a private Confucian study hall, on the former site of the house where his teacher Yi Sang-su (1820-1882) had lectured, and enshrined a portrait of Yi there. Afterwards, portraits of Yang Ju-seung (d. 1910), Yang Ju-hak (1850-?), Bak Yong-ho (1859-1927), Bak Sun-haeng (1866-1916) and Yang Ju-ha - all of whom, together with Bak Mun-ho, had studied under Yi Sang-su - were enshrined alongside it, and rites were held there each spring and autumn. When the site was submerged by the construction of Daecheong Dam, the hall was relocated in 1995 to its present location in Geumgok-ri, Hoenam-myeon, Boeun-gun. Among the portraits enshrined at Chuyangjeongsa, those of Yi Sang-su, Bak Sun-haeng, Bak Yong-ho and Yang Ju-seung are the originals made at the time, while the other three portraits were so badly damaged that copies were recently made and enshrined in their place. All four surviving portraits date from the early twentieth century, but they differ somewhat in size, material and style, and together reveal the varied ways in which late-Joseon portraiture was giving way to modern figure painting. They are also thought to be the work of painters active in the Boeun area, making them useful material for studying the regional style of portraiture at the time. The portraits of Yi Sang-su, Bak Sun-haeng, Bak Yong-ho and Yang Ju-seung were painted in colour and ink on silk or paper, as half-length or full-length seated figures, and are all kept mounted in frames. It appears that when they were mounted in their present form they were altered from their original shape, and the backing is damaged with some flaking of pigment, so their state of preservation is not very good; it would be preferable to remove them from their glass frames and remount them as hanging scrolls for conservation. The portrait of Yi Sang-su is a half-length figure painted in ink on silk, shown wearing a dopo robe and a square cloth cap (banggeon). In the lower right corner is the painter's signature "久軒" (Guheon), though the identity of this painter has not been established. Slight shading has been applied to the eyes, forehead and ears, and the folds of the clothing are rendered with simple brush lines. The portrait of Bak Sun-haeng is a half-length figure painted in ink on paper, shown wearing a changui robe and a jeongjagwan cap. Shading is used on the clothing folds and around the body to create a sense of volume, but there is an area of blank space at the bottom that gives the composition an awkward look. The portrait of Bak Yong-ho is painted in colour on silk; like the portrait of Bak Sun-haeng, he wears a changui robe and jeongjagwan cap, but is shown as a full-length figure seated in a chair. Compared with the other portraits it stands out for its very delicate rendering and its use of a background colour, though in its present mounting the top, bottom and both sides appear to have been trimmed. The portrait of Yang Ju-seung is a seated figure painted in ink on paper, wearing simui robes and a pokgeon headcloth, with very strong shading used throughout. The neck is excessively thin, the seated posture and the shape of the hands are awkward, and the overall bodily proportions are not quite right. All of these portraits depart from the traditional portrait-painting methods of the Joseon dynasty and show a new style that emerged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, influenced by the portrait technique of Chae Yong-sin (1850-1941) and by photographic methods introduced from the West. Except for the portrait of Yi Sang-su, all are shown facing forward, and the technique of building up shading on the face through repeated brushstrokes and emphasising the clothing folds to suggest volume is characteristic of portraiture of the period. Judging by their technique, the four works are thought to be by different painters; although not of particularly high artistic quality, they capture the distinctive features of their subjects with reasonable accuracy, and are valued as examples that show the techniques, as well as the costume and posture of sitters, typical of portraiture in the first half of the twentieth century.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Boeun, Chungbuk

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료