수출회화로서 기산 김준근(箕山 金俊根) 풍속화 연구

A Study on the Genre Painting by Gisan Kim, Jun-Geun as Export Painting

Kim, Jun-Geun(Gisan) was a late 19th century Chosen dynasty painter who created numerous genre paintings for West European clients in the newly opened treaty ports of Wonsan, Busan and Inchon. The treaty ports in the late 19th century Chosen represented of the crossroads the economy, values, and the institutions of the West European powers. In particular, the agriculture-based economy, Confucianism, and land-owner noble class started being eroded by a commerce-based economy, the values of Christianity, West European institution, and a new class of people who amassed wealth from commerce. As Kim, Jun-Geun's paintings were created for sale to West European clients, they exhibit characteristics that are distinct from the traditional genre paintings in terms of presentation style and the selection of the subject matters. The export genre painting originated in the 18th century around Guangdong, China. Broadly, there are two styles of genre paintings: the Guangzhou style and Ningbo style. Kim, Jun-Geun's paintings resemble the Ningbo style. The Ningbo style tends to highlight the main subjects, form an album of small paintings, and provide a simple treatment of the scenes without the background. Kim, Jun-Geun's paintings cover most aspects of life of common people of his time, ranging well beyond the subjects matters of the traditional genre paintings. His subject matters include the scenes of funeral, folk games, Buddhist and ancestor worship, prison and punishment, shaman custom, debauchees, government officials' formal trips, beggars and handicapped, etc. Many of the subjects are the neglected and the oppressed of the society. And he presents in detail the dress and its ornament that the subjects wear, and all the utensils and things around them. Besides, his subjects' faces are generally expressionless, and their postures are stiff; as such, the feeling of liveliness or movement is lacking. It may be the results of Kim, Jun-Geun's taking the other perspective, namely of his West European clients, rather than his own. The adoption of the other perspective may in turn be a product of the Social Darwinism and the new sense of values that accompanied the infusion of Christianity and West European institutions. Kim, Jun-Geun's portrayals of his subjects appear to reflect the attributes with which the West European Orientalists' of the period characterized the people of the Far East, namely, backwardness, barbarity, irrationality, violence, and mysticism.