18 Traditional Painting
Four Representative Genres Broadly speaking, Korean traditional paintings can be divided into four genres.
Landscapes (see chapter 5) Called sansuhwa (“paintings of mountains and water”) in Korean, landscapes were an important part of the Korean painter’s repertoire. In the Confucian tradition, Korean artists initially took their cues from China, painting the beautiful—if not terribly realistic—scenes of mountains and rivers favored by the Chinese masters. Later in the Joseon era, painters would switch to painting Korean scenes, with some artists even venturing out to find particularly beautiful locations to paint.
genre Paintings (see chapter 6) These are possibly the most uniquely Korean paintings, depicting the lives of ordinary Koreans. These paintings can be quite frank, earthy, and even erotic. Unlike landscape paintings, which tend to
Landscape (Sim Sa-jeong, National Museum of Korea) (left) A Washing Place (Kim Hong-do, National Museum of Korea) (right)