Gallery Hyundai is hosting an exhibition that illuminates the mutual influences between Joseon-era folk paintings and court art. Titled 'Magnificence and Creativity: Variations in Korean Folk Painting,' it features 27 works showcasing the dialogue between the two traditions, including rare pieces shown publicly for the first time. The exhibition runs through February 28.
Korean minhwa, folk paintings that flourished in the later centuries of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), decisively break from the refined conventions of court art. Unbound by strict stylistic codes, the genre is marked by raw charm and vitality. Some works abandon perspective rules altogether; others revel in daring colors, fluid brushwork, and playful compositions brimming with whimsical details.
Gallery Hyundai's new exhibition, 'Magnificence and Creativity: Variations in Korean Folk Painting,' moves beyond rigid separation between folk and court painting. It traces how the two traditions influenced each other. Painters, even those in royal service, moved between court and beyond, fulfilling commissions for royalty and affluent patrons. Court painting's iconography and scale seeped into minhwa, while folk art's lively sensibilities and everyday depictions enlivened court visuals.
The show focuses on this dialogue through 27 works, featuring many rare pieces shown publicly for the first time. Among them is a 19th-century eight-panel folding screen, 'Two Dragons and a Pearl,' depicting two dragons frolicking around a yeouiju orb. Dragons were emblems of the emperor; Joseon kings were represented by the lower-ranked phoenix. Dragon imagery increased after King Gojong proclaimed the Korean Empire (1897-1910) to assert sovereignty.
Highlights include six variations of hojakdo paintings featuring tigers and magpies. The motif has seen a pop culture revival, notably through the 'derpy' tiger and sharp-witted magpie in Netflix's 'KPop Demon Hunters.' Historically, the tiger guarded against misfortune and spirits, but here it is a bumbling caricature of the aristocracy with bulging eyes, gaping mouth, and lolling tongue. The clever magpie represents the common people, unbothered by power, forming a sly jab at the elite.
A curious detail in all six: animals' bodies combine tiger stripes and leopard spots, reflecting the belief that tigers and leopards were variations of the same creature—julbeom for striped tiger, donbeom for spotted leopard. A 19th-century folding screen, 'Tiger Skins,' is covered edge-to-edge with leopard-pelt patterns, each hair painted with uncanny precision.
Unfolding simultaneously is 'The Way of Painting,' surveying six contemporary artists—Kim Nam-kyoung, Kim Ji-pyeong, Bak Bang-young, Ahn Seong-min, Lee Doo-won, and Jae Jung—who reinterpret Joseon folk and court art. Recurring motifs include tigers and magpies, chaekgado still-lifes of books and scholarly items, and irworobongdo screens symbolizing royal authority, cosmic order, and dignity. They incorporate late-19th-century Western objects alongside fertility symbols like grapes, pomegranates, and watermelons.
Both exhibitions run through February 28.