Contemporary Asia Art - Coursework Example

Contemporary Asia Art Kim Soo Ja has significant position in the Korean history f artists. The lack f political liberty in Korea during the first half f the present century made it difficult for such studies to thrive. However, after the end f the Second World War, with the coming f independence, Korean art studies shared in the rapid expansion f the whole f the national life, and soon had some remarkable successes to their credit. Among the most important have been the opening f Tomb 3 near Anak, the excavation f numerous other tombs f the first millennium A.D., and the finds f Buddhist art in the stone stupas and near the monasteries. This extensive archaeological research by Korean scholars has done much to clarify the development f Korean art. However, this wealth f material still needs systematic comparison and classification, and the historical development f Korean art needs to be traced. The contribution f Kim Soo Ja to the study f Korean art over the past seventy years falls into three main periods, which to some extent overlap. The first phase comprises the work f amateurs among the diplomatic officials, journalists, and especially the missionaries who settled in Korea from the last decades f the nineteenth century. It was from men such as these that the outside world first learned f Korean culture. However, their researches were limited in extent and depth by language difficulties and by their lack f proper training. In addition, their interests lay more in literature than in art. One f the best works f this period is Andreas Eckhardt Geschichte der Koreanischen Kunst ( Leipzig, 1929); valuable contributions may also be found in the Transactions f the Korea Branch f the Royal Asiatic Society. With the annexation f Korea by Japan the initiative passed to the energetic Japanese archaeologists, and it is on the foundations laid by them that our knowledge today largely rests. Kim Soo Ja played an important role. During this second phase interest was focused mainly on the prehistoric era and on the archaeological approach to historical times. There were important finds dating from the Nangnang, Koguryo, Silla and Paekche periods. Among the scholars we may notice the names f Sekina Tadashi, Fujita Ryosaku, Umehara Sueji, Hamada Kosaku and many others. Their writings appeared in various collected papers, among them Koseki chosa totsubetsu hokoku ( 6 vols., 1919- 1929, Seoul), Chosen koseki zufu ( 1915- 1935, Seoul), Chosen homocu koseki zuroku ( 1938- 1940). Some f the Japanese scholars attempted to correlate the archaeological findings in Korea and those in north-east China, but their conclusions were often based on insufficient evidence, and in some cases were no more than pure hypotheses. After the Second World War some scholars continued working in Japan. Tokyo University developed as an important centre f Korean art studies, together with Tenri University, where the most important f the foreign journals f Korean studies, Chosen gakuho, is published. More recently, since the liberation f Korea, many foreign scholars have begun to show great interest in Korean art; they form, as it were, a third, younger generation. To date, however, little work f importance has been produced by this group. Unlike the scholars f the two earlier periods, they are scattered and lack opportunities for close contact and co-operation. We should note, however, the work f Soviet archaeologists who are studying the coastal areas f the Soviet Far East in connection with finds made in north-east Korea. In England and America the main interest has been in Korean ceramics. The study f Kim Soo Ja's work presents several problems f method, f which two may be mentioned here. Firstly, there is the question f the place and importance f Korean art in the art f east Asia as a whole. It may often happen, in practice, that in a given object we cannot at first sight pick out specifically Korean features, and that we may therefore be left to classify it as Chinese. It is only seeing more f these objects together, particularly against a Korean background, that we may be able to detect certain features that point to a Korean origin, even though these features may not yet have been properly analysed and classified. This temptation to classify Korean as Chinese work is a major pitfall. Another is the tendency to construct a picture f Korean art from isolated, supposedly typical Korean features, without reference to the historical background. The history f Korean art is the sum f the efforts f innumerable artists, including Kim Soo Ja. They were influenced by such historical factors as whether the climate f contemporary opinion was favourable or unfavourable, and whether or not they worked in isolation from the art f neighbouring states, according to the political relations f the time. In the course f time a native Korean tradition grew up that bound together, sometimes weakly, sometimes strongly, the art f different periods. The concentration on smaller and more intimate objets d'art has entailed some sacrifice f certain parallels in art, and a certain lack f homogeneity f subject matter. However, the examples included--paintings, small statues in clay and bronze, metal work, ceramics, ornamental architectural features such as pantiles and bricks, and other products f applied art, up to the nineteenth century--will, we hope, afford a glimpse f the most typical features f Korean art f the past. War, economic decay, and the vicissitudes f history have long since robbed the old woodenbuilt towns and palaces f Korea f their original appearance. As the buildings disappeared, so, too, did their contents, so that what has come down to us are only very scattered fragments f Korean art. No great mediaeval fortresses or ancient town centres remain. The stumps f columns scattered in the grass can convey little f the extent or nature f the artistic activity f previous centuries. Since so little has been preserved above ground, all the more interest attaches to the many tombs and tumuli f the ancient settlements. The finds made here are often the only material on which we can base our study f Korean art. Archaeological research is f primary importance as a source f information not only for the more remote epochs but for more recent times as well. In this sense Korea is indeed 'an archaeologists' country', where we may come across fragments f brick two thousand years old, break into a vault to find a tomb fifteen hundred years old, and pick up pottery eight hundred years old at the bottom f a ditch round a former palace or a potter's shed. f the archaeological remains, the groups f tombs round P'yongyang have attracted most attention. To the south f the city alone, on the left bank f the river Tadonggang, there are over thirteen hundred tombs scattered in the fields in the close vicinity f the earth mound; they date from the height f the Han dynasty in China, that is, from the beginning f the Christian era. This vast necropolis and the material found in the tombs, now preserved in the Central Historical Museum in P'yongyang, bear eloquent witness to the life and culture f north-west Korea two thousand years ago. Naturally we are not taking this region as our starting point because it was here that Korean art was born; there is much archaeological material from elsewhere that tells f earlier developments. This material is now being studied and classified (see recent publications f Dr To Yu-ho and other Korean archaeologists). It is not easy to identify the different periods in mediaeval Korean art, for each site is a complex amalgam f material from different periods, not yet firmly dated, or its relationship established with the products f neighbouring cultures and f earlier periods. In recent years work has been begun on several late Neolithic sites and on others where the material seems to date from the Iron and Bronze Ages. f major excavations we may mention those at Kungsan on the Yellow Sea coast; at Chi'amni in the province f North Hwangha; at Konggwiri near Kangge in north-west Korea; and on the important site on Ch'odo Island in the Sea f Japan off the coast f north-east Korea. Soviet archaeologists, in particular A. P. Okladnikov, are also paying increased attention to Korean history in connection with excavations in the coastal regions f Siberia. Okladnikov distinguishes three Neolithic regions in Korea: the north-east, with the main finds in the province f Hamgyong, the north-west centering in the province f Hwanghado, and the southern in which the main finds are round Pusan. Recent finds in North Korea have confirmed this classification. The material found on the Yellow Sea coast is quite different from the characteristic tools (axes, hoes, half-moon knives and obsidian tools) found in Northern Hamgyong province. In the former area we find pottery decorated with the typical comb pattern and jars tapering towards the bottom. The district round Kangge forms a transitional area. In Neolithic times the whole f Korea formed part f a broader area extending from Kamchatka along the Pacific coast to the Ryky Islands, and was quite distinct from the culture f the mainland. According to Okladnikov, over the whole f this area Neolithic vessels are found, shaped like a blunted cone and decorated with a continuous vertical zigzag pattern. These features are common to finds in Korea, most f north-east China, and the Siberian coastal region. Within this area is a smaller one covering Korea, the southern part f the Siberian coastal region, and Japan, where the finds have a larger number f features in common. On the basis f this, Okladnikov suggests a relationship between the Neolithic cultures in the area and possibly also between the peoples that developed them. At the height f the Neolithic period there was a further division within this area, when Japanese culture became distinct and developed the ceramics f the jomon period, the baroque style in ceramics. We cannot yet distinguish between the peoples responsible for developing the different cultures, and their mutual relations, up to the middle f the first millennium A.D. It is believed that in Korea the Neolithic Age gave way to the Bronze Age some time after 1000 B.C. A widespread megalithic culture then developed, which lasted until the rise f the states f Koguryo, Paekche and Silla. It was followed in the north-west f the peninsula by the growing influence on Korea f the northern Chinese states, while in the south it persisted in the area inhabited by the Chinhan, Mahan and Pyonghan tribal groups. Characteristic f this culture are the menhirs, particularly dolmens, found everywhere in Korea except for the Northern Hamgyong province. The largest f these dolmens are in the region round the mouth f the river Taedoggang. Among the interesting Bronze Age finds are the elongated bronze coins shaped like a knife or razor, known in Korea as myongdojon; they have been found only in the north-east f the penin sula. They formed part f the currency f the Chinese state f Yen, which during the Period f the Warring States ( 475-221 B.C.) spread over the northern region f He-pei province and in the east extended its influence as far as the Liao River in north-east China. From the beginning f the second century B.C. relations with China became closer, until in 108 B.C. the Han Emperor Wu-ti ruled part f the Korean peninsula, administering it in four regions. At this time the settlement f Luo-Lang (Korean: Nangnang) was the most important; it is believed to have covered the area round present-day P'yongyang. The tombs and relics mentioned at the beginning f this chapter date from this period. Widely differing opinions have been held about the site f Nangnang and its administrative centre, and on the relation f the settlement to the central government f the Han Empire. But whatever the political status f Nangnang and its relations with the surrounding villages, the existence f such a large and wellpreserved Han site in the Korean peninsula remains f primary importance in the study f the cultural history f east Asia. Although many f the articles found on this site were probably not made locally, they show clearly the close and direct contact between Korea and China and the absorption by Korean artists f the most highly-developed techniques f the time. This Han centre on the Korean soil was an important factor in the subsequent development f the art f the region. P'yongyang, already identified as the ancient capital f Nangnang, attracted the attention f archaeologists in 1909. In the years that followed, the first important finds f Han art were made. The site was f outstanding importance, for it was not until many years later, following the end f the Second World War, that excavation f the main Han sites in China was undertaken. Works Cited Alexandra Munroe, Japanese Art After 1945: Screen Against the Sky, A Times Mirror Company, Harry N. Abrams, INC (in association with the Yokohama Museum f Art), 1994 Joan Kee ed., Intersections: Issues In Contemporary Art (Positions: East Asian cultures critique special issue), Duke University Press, Volume 12, Number 3, Winter 2004 Joan Kee, The Image Significant: Identity in Contemporary Korean Video Art, Afterimage, Vol. 27, 1999 John Clark ed., Modernity in Asian Art, University f Sydney East Asian Series, Wild Peony Ltd., distributed by Honolulu : University f Hawaii Press, 1993 John Clark, Modern Asian Art, Honolulu: University f Hawaii Press, 1998. Young Na Kim, 20th Century Korean Art, London: Laurence King Publishing, 2005 Read More