In Korea, the status of folk paintings as part of traditional art was obscure up until the 20th century. Folk painting, or "minhwa," which is not unique to Korea, is typically understood to fall under folk studies rather than art history. Yet, there is a great difference in opinion among Korean scholars concerning the position of folk art in the traditional art world, as well as the scope and definition of the term. In the 1960s, a pioneering Korean scholar by the name of Jo Ja-yong collected folk art works and conducted excavations. Beginning with the "Tiger Exhibition" in 1969, special exhibitions of folk art were held on a regular basis. Around this time, information on folk art began to appear in publications, creating popular interest in the subject.

Since folk paintings are generally ordinary paintings made for a practical purpose, typically no mention is made of the artist's name. At first glance, the paintings seem crude. Yet, they vividly portray the simple beauty of the common people, and express a faith filled with secular aspirations and optimism. With their humor and variegated colors, they capture the honest and natural aesthetic of the Korean people.

Since folk paintings are created for a practical purpose, few old examples remain. Yet, folk paintings have a diverse range of subjects, are colorful, concise in expression and treat familiar themes. Notably, since the 1960s, folk painting has begun to influence modern art circles.

Folk paintings can be classified, according to content, into a few or as many as 20 or 30 different styles. Distinguishable from general landscape paintings, minhwa landscapes include the typical Eight Scenic Views of the Hwiao and Hwiang Rivers (a theme from China) and Korean landscapes. One can also find folk paintings created to decorate the interiors of rooms. These often depict the flower and bird motif, peonies, tiger-hunting scenes, comical magpie and tiger scenes and genre pictures of farmers working. Other pictures depict scholarly implements or contain inspirational verses _ clear demonstration of the respect for scholarship found in Confucian countries such as Korea.


Flower and Bird Motif

Paintings of flowers and birds, along with depictions of landscapes and people, developed early within the general painting tradition of Northeast Asia. Indeed, paintings of the flowers and birds motif are the most common decorative folk paintings among those that remain. These works were sought after since they were most suitable for interior decorating. Such paintings, with their depictions of gorgeous blossoms and pairs of beautiful birds, symbolized the love between husband and wife and the desire for abundant offspring. They were generally kept in the bridal chamber or the bedroom where the wife and children slept.


Paintings of Peonies

As a symbol of wealth, the peony, with its splendid blossoms and wide, smiling leaves, has been adored by the people of Northeast Asia. During the late Joseon period, artists such as Heo Yu made black-ink painting of peonies. In folk paintings, on the other hand, blue and red ink was used to paint peonies jutting forth from rocky crags. These paintings are classified according to their size, which varied from small works to others that were more than nine meters long and were hung in the palace.


Scholarly Implements

Depictions of scholarly implements, known as chaekgeori or chaekgado, are important as a uniquely Korean theme that is rarely seen in other countries. These paintings, which often covered the folding screens of the palace, incorporated the Western techniques of perspective and shading. The pictures typically show unusually large shelves of books and scrolls along with decorative pottery and metal bowls. Government painters (particularly Yi Hyeong-nok) are especially famous for paintings of this theme. Pictures of this type are diverse and include depictions of tableware or books and just scholarly implements without the accompanying shelves. Symbolically, these paintings reflect the honored position of scholarship in Confucian societies.


Calligraphy Paintings

In these paintings, each character of a classical Chinese phrase extolling Confucian virtues such as filial piety, loyalty, etiquette or humility, is decorated with designs and pictures. The motifs within each character give hints to its significance, thus this style of painting is used for purposes of edification. As with other folk arts of the period, one rarely comes across two calligraphy paintings that are alike. Thus, this artistic form demonstrates extensive experimentation, imagination and colorful techniques of expression.


Tiger Hunting Paintings

Paintings of hunting scenes have been around for a long time. Due to the large number of folk paintings of this type, hunting scenes are often thought of as a subject matter belonging exclusively to the minhwa style. However as with other types of folk paintings, tiger hunting scenes were first painted by professional painters. These thrilling depictions of large groups of hunters dressed in the attire of Manchurian nomads, are generally used to decorate military housing and installations. They are also used, by the common people, to ward off evil spirits.


Korean Landscape Paintings

Landscape painting occupies the highest position among the painting styles of Northeast Asia. Landscape was inspired by the idea of portraying beautiful scenery, majestic mountains and other lovely scenes from nature. Although it is often compared with Western landscape, Eastern landscape painting, having begun several centuries earlier, is clearly distinguishable. Gradually developed out of Northeast Asians' unique view of nature, Eastern landscape painting eventually surpassed the painting of people or flowers and bird motifs, to become the chief artistic form.

A folk painting of a tiger and magpie.

Flowers and birds.

Cranes and pine tree

The beginning of Korean landscape art can be seen on the wall paintings of Goguryeo tombs. In the Tomb of the Dancers, there is a painting of a hunting scene. This excellent piece of the 5th to 6th century, showing hunting and dancing, captures the vibrant, optimistic spirit of the Goguryeo people. The fresco also depicts numerous other people in twisting valleys. In the Gangseo great tumulus, amateurish texture strokes are used to depict mountains. Although it is not a painting, Baekje tiles bearing "mountain and river" motifs demonstrate an improvement in terms of the use of space in landscape composition. Since there are no extant Silla landscape paintings, we do not know exactly what they may have looked like, but it can be assumed that they underwent considerable development along with other Silla art forms, and the same can be said of Goryeo.


Realistic Landscapes

The realistic landscape style, known in Korean as "silgyeong sansu" or "jin-gyeong sansu," does not simply represent an attempt to create photo-realistic reproductions of actual Korean landscapes. For in this style of painting, not only the subject matter but even the artistic techniques are different. While painting their own native landscapes, Korean artists created unique illustrative techniques for depicting mountain landscapes, which look quite different from those of the main-stream idealistic style.

Korean painters are generally classified as either professional painters working for the government's Office of Paintings or literati who painted as a hobby. These two types of painters played complementary roles in the development of Korean art. Literati artists at times displayed crude technique, but played a positive role in the introduction and popularization of new styles from China.

The Toyotomi Hideyoshi invasions (1592-98) and the Manchu invasion of 1636 led to a period of introspection. The national awakening that was born out of this period appeared throughout Korea, affecting its society, economy and culture. In this sense, these changes can be compared to the renaissance that the West underwent from the late-14th to the early-15th centuries.

This Korean renaissance also occurred in the realm of painting, for it was during this era that genre paintings became popular. In addition to depicting high-ranking officials, these paintings took the daily lives of farmers, artisans and merchants as their main subject matter. These paintings, which would have previously been unthinkable, have today become invaluable as historical materials. Looking at these paintings, scholars can get a vivid glimpse of the vibrant atmosphere of the times and learn much that has not been passed down in the texts of the period. In addition to genre works, realistic landscape painting was also popular at this time. The elegant landscape style of this period is often referred to as the most characteristically Korean art style. Fortunately, many paintings from this period still exist today. Just as kimchi is the representative Korean food, realistic landscapes along with genre paintings are artistic styles that exhibit the true Korean character.


The Gyeomjae School

The government official Jeong Seon (1676-1759, styled Gyeomjae) developed a unique landscape style which served as a model for Korean painters. Clearly distinguishable from Chinese landscape, this new style, which came to be known as the Gyeomjae school, had a deep impact on literati painters of the period. Although to a lesser extent, Jeong Seon's influence was also felt among government artists.

Kim Eung-hwan (1742-1789), who is thought to have been Kim Hong-do's teacher, demonstrated composition and brush style similar to those of Jeong Seon in his work Mt. Geumgangsan and his album of Mt. Geumgangsan paintings. Kim Hong-do (1745-1806), in particular, developed the style, establishing a distinctive form for Korean landscape. This style's influence can also be seen in Mt. Dobongsan by Kim Seok-sin (1758-?), Pyohunsa Temple by Choe Buk (1712-1786) the paintings of Kim Yu-seong (1725-?), Jo Jeong-gyu (1791-?), Yu Suk (1827-1873), and Eom Chi-uk, which resemble those of Kim Hong-do.

Under Jeong Seon's influence, literati painters also began to develop a slightly different painting style. Although few in number, the realistic landscape paintings of Sim Sa-jeong (1707-1769) bear traces of Jeong Seon's influence. Other masters of realistic landscape created a distinctive style based on the Southern school. Examples include the "Sea and Mountains" album and the more than 10-meter-long painting of the Han-gang river by Jeong Su-yeong (1743-1831), "A Trip to Songdo" by Gang Se-hwang (1713-1791), and the paintings of Yi In-sang (1710-1760) and Kim Yun-gyeom (1711-1775).

In the mid-19th century, Kim Jeong-hui (1786-1856) developed new artistic style and theory that signified the end of the realistic landscape; yet its traces can still be detected in the landscapes of Byeon Gwan-sik (1899-1976) and Yi Sang-beom (1897-1972).

The period from 1700 to 1850 was the heyday of realistic painting. Preceded by the mid-Joseon period (16th century) with its emphasis on Neo-Confucian thought, the 17th century in China was marked by the transition from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing dynasty established by the Jurchen people of Manchuria. Koreans were greatly confused by these events, yet, on the other hand, they felt a great sense of pride as the true successors of Chinese culture. It is thus natural that Koreans, at precisely this time, began to look to their own landscape for subject matter and started to paint human figures wearing Korean instead of Chinese clothing. Both genre paintings and realistic landscape paintings appeared precisely from this background.

This new movement was not limited to painting. For calligraphy, crafts, sculpture and ceramics, the late-Joseon period was a "golden age" during which Korean art developed its most distinctive form.

Folk painting comprises the so-called "functional" pictures widely used by commoners in old Korea to decorate their homes or to express their wishes for a long, happy life. Folk paintings, normally unsigned, often depict the same motifs as those of the so-called "orthodox" paintings, including landscapes, flowers and birds, but abound with humor and simple, innocent ideas about life and the world.

Ancient Korean folk paintings present the age-old customs of the Korean nation. Their repeated themes represent the unique lifestyle of the Korean people, their dreams, wishes and artistic imagination. Although folk painting, typified by its simple compositions of stylized motifs and bright primary colors, is usually considered a low form of art, it does not necessarily mean that all paintings in this genre are technically inferior to those categorized as standard paintings.

Folk painting actually includes a wide variety of paintings ranging from those by professional painters at the royal court to those by wandering monks and unknown amateur artists. Some pieces demonstrate marvelous artistry, but some are considerably less skilled and sophisticated. The earliest examples of Korean folk painting, or minhwa, date from prehistoric times.

Picture and patterns in folk style are found in artifacts from all periods, including Neolithic rock carvings, early bronze articles, the murals and bricks in the tombs of the Goguryeo period (37 B.C-A.D.668), and handicraft objects from the Goryeo (918-1392) and the Joseon period (1392-1910). It may be said that folk painting has its roots in animal patterns on primitive rock carvings, the four Taoist guardians and immortals in tomb murals, pictures of the ten longevity symbols, hunting scenes and bricks ornamented with landscape designs.

Folk paintings were produced by artists who obviously belonged to a low social class in traditional Korea. But their paintings were used by people of all social strata, from the royal household and temples down to the farmers in remote villages. The paintings were needed for rites in various religious denominations like shamanism, Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, and for decoration of public facilities and private homes. They were intended mainly to stand for the common wishes of the public to repel evil spirits and to invoke good fortune, or to depict daily customs and moral concepts.

Consequently, folk paintings may be divided largely into two categories: religious paintings and nonreligious paintings. Religious paintings depict shamanist, Taoist and Buddhist themes as well as Confucian precepts for ancestor worship and moral discipline. Nonreligious paintings include genre pictures, portraits, illustrations of ancient episodes, documentary pictures, maps and astronomical charts. Folk paintings may be classified into the following categories by theme:

1. Tao-shamanist paintings

Longevity symbols: Pictures of the ten longevity symbols figure most prominently among folk paintings of this category. The ten longevity symbols, including the sun, clouds, mountains, water, rocks, pine trees, cranes, deer, turtles and the elixir of immortality, are often presented all together in a single picture. Also representing the predominant wishes for a long life are pictures of pine trees and cranes, or flocks of deer. It is of special note that the royal throne had a picture of the sun and the moon rising over a mountain of five peaks as a backdrop.


Directional guardians and the 12 zodiac symbols: Ancient folk paintings often depict the five directional spirits and the animal gods symbolizing the 12 zodiac signs as an expression of the desire to disperse evil spirits and invoke happiness. The five directional spirits are the blue dragon of the west, the white tiger of the east, the red peacock of the south, the black turtle-snake of the north and the yellow emperor of the center. As time passed, the red peacock was substituted with a phoenix or a mythical animal called the kirin, and the black turtle-snake with a turtle. The 12 zodiacal signs are represented by the mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

Tiger: The tiger was among the most popular motifs in Korean folk paintings. Originating probably from the mythical "white tiger" as the guardian spirits of the east, the tiger was often personified in Korean folklore. A notable characteristic of the tiger as featured in Korean folk tradition is that it is seldom portrayed as a ferocious beast but as a friendly animal, sometimes even funny and stupid. The tiger appears as a docile companion and messenger of the mountain spirit in many folk paintings. It often appears with a magpie in a pine tree, a rooster or a lion. The magpie in Korean folklore is an auspicious bird believed to bring good news.

Immortals: As symbols of the Taoist ideal of harmony with nature as a way to achieve eternal life, immortals have been important motifs in the Korean folk tradition over the centuries. Immortals, often portrayed as hermits in the mountains, were also believed to help the mortals to live happily, content with good health, wealth and many children.

The mountain spirit and dragon king: The popular mountain spirit and the dragon king motifs have their origins in two famous figures in Korean history, Dangun and Munmu. Dangun is the progenitor of the Korean people who is said to have turned into a mountain spirit in old age; King Munmu of the Silla Kingdom is said to have become the dragon king after death, and his remains were buried in the East Sea in accordance with his will. The mountain spirit is portrayed in folk paintings as a benevolent old man with a white beard, accompanied by a tiger messenger. The dragon king is usually depicted as a mighty animal flying amidst the clouds over a sea of high waves. The pictures of the mountain spirit and the dragon king motifs are housed at shrines in the mountains or by the sea as the guardians of peace and prosperity of the nation. Also appearing frequently in ancient folk paintings are various other Taoist or shamanist deities as well as famous kings, generals, ministers or their wives.


2.Buddhist paintings

Buddhist temples and hermitages across the country are rich archives of folk paintings, ranging from large icons for ritual use to illustrations for sutras and anecdotes about famous monks and their portraits. These temple paintings are noted for their simple compositions and bright colors.


3. Confucian paintings

Confucianism, based on the teachings of Confucius and other sages, has developed in Korea as an important intellectual and moral belief system. It also incorporated the nation's unique shaman and Taoist concepts of ancestor worship and respect for nature. Folk paintings in this category, included character designs of the popular themes of loyalty and filial piety, pictures depicting the life stories of renowned scholars, and a carp jumping up from the river to transform into a dragon, symbolizing the widespread aspiration for distinguished academic achievement and a successful career in officialdom.



4. Decorative paintings

A great majority of ancient folk paintings handed down to the present were used for decorative purposes. These paintings generally repeat popular motifs with relatively poor techniques, but attest to the nation's religious tradition harmonizing various faiths such as shamanism, Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Ancient Korean folk paintings have the following characteristics: First, the folk paintings show an unequivocal yearning for happiness. They stand for the universal desire to chase away evil spirits and to enjoy a long life blessed with good health, affluence and high social position.

Second, folk paintings attest to the honesty and simplicity of the Korean people. The paintings are unrefined, sometimes even childish and crude. Yet they demonstrate the nature of the Korean people, prone to simplicity and unpretentiousness.

Third, folk paintings show the deep love Korean's have for nature, humankind and the deities. They are full of humanity, peace and warmth, which can seldom be found in orthodox paintings.

Fourth, the folk paintings, with their bold compositions, dynamic brushwork and intense colors, display the indomitable will and courage of an agrarian society braving class warfare and foreign invasions.

Fifth, the folk paintings abound with humor and satire. They manifest the considerable mental strength of the Korean people who are able to wisely surmount difficulties. Pains and sorrows are sublimated into joys and happiness with rich humor and satire.

Sixth, Korean folk paintings have a unique style which was derived from the indigenous artistic flair of the Korean people.