A Study of application on the Figurative Aesthetics of Oriental Painting

동양회화(東洋繪畵)에서 형상(形象)의 심미작용(審美作用)

The purpose of this thesis is to explore a common characteristic of the diverse oriental images mainly from the figurative point of view, and apply it to the contemporary expressions and methods of painting. To do that, I separated the concept of figure into two factors - form and image - and then approached and solved the problems of figure by explaining the two factors respectively. Separating form from image is neither to set two factors against each other nor to isolate any of those values. It is worth dividing the form and the image not only because the image of the oriental painting has a figurative value constituted from an external frame of the form, but also because it has a close connection with the meaning that the form holds inside. These are the reasons why I conceptualize the individual language of form and image. Furthermore, I attempted to investigate how those two factors and mutual relations between them make real figurative images under the principle of harmony and coexistence. The theme of this thesis - the figurative aesthetics and its contemporaneity in the oriental paintings is analyzed based on the understanding of 'figure' within the framework of oriental paintings. A research of image from the figurative point of view is valuable in that it criticizes the past method of thinking, and proposes an alternative formula for new way of thinking. In this regard, I indicated the limit of the theory of form-and-spirit that has been one of the most important conceptual theories . Instead, I' accessed to various aesthetic concepts - that are created in the course of image formulation - from the actual figurative point of view, and then even interpreted it as a figurative value of the oriental paintings and it's application within the specific and practical scope. During the course of research, I explored the conceptual elements of the tradition and the principle of figuration. I expect this study to make a footstone for bringing traditional aesthetics to the contemporary context of oriental painting.