• Title/Summary/Keyword: narrative painting

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The Tilting Vessels: Visualizing Anecdotes from the Life of Confucius (공자 고사의 시각화 - 기기도(欹器圖) 연구)

  • Song, Heekyung
    • (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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    • no.62
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    • pp.263-289
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    • 2016
  • Confucius, whose life coincided with the Warring States period of China, is one of the most respected sages in world history whose teachings and life produced countless disciples in China, Korea, and Japan. There are innumerable pictures, sculptures, and other artworks that portray memorable deeds of Confucius and interesting anecdotes that involve his pupils. One of the most popular subjects for these Confucian portrayals is the anecdote in which Confucius and his pupil, Zhi Ru, discover a tilting vessel at an ancestral shrine in the Lu dynasty and use it to understand the doctrine of the mean. The vessel becomes the basis for the famous Chinese expression, "the cautionary vessel beside one's seat," which is nowadays used to denote one's motto for life. Portraits of these tilting vessels can be divided between those showing the vessels only and others that show Confucius observing the vessels. The former serve as visual reminders, for rulers and policy makers, of the doctrine of the mean that is necessary to fair and righteous governance. The latter form part of the pictorial biography of Confucius with educational content and messages. Interestingly, portraits of Confucius observing or studying tilting vessels have been famous among members of the royal court and the literati, circulated either as single artworks or included in the folding screens of human portraits. Portrayals of other Confucian anecdotes are mostly found in albums that visualize the genealogy of the Way; in contrast, the portraits of Confucius and the tilting vessels were included in folding screens that were popular among the literati that enjoyed stylish works of art and antiques. The portraits of tilting vessels thus highlight the diverse functions and symbolic value of human portraits. This study classifies the portraits of tilting vessels into various forms, and analyzes the period-and objective-dependent changes and characteristics in these portraits. With its exploration of the diverse functions and aspects of portraits of Confucian anecdotes, this study will shed new light on how ancient artists reanimated the lives of great sages and how these artworks differ in their expressions and styles.

A Study on the Buddha's Life Relief in the Gupta Period at Sarnath, India (인도 굽타시대 사르나트 불전도에 대한 일고찰)

  • KOH, Jeong Eun
    • SUVANNABHUMI
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    • v.1 no.2
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    • pp.21-41
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    • 2009
  • The Art of the Buddha's Life which depicts the life and before-life of Buddha flourished in Sanci and Bharhut in the ancient India and in Gandhara during the Kushan period. More than one hundred scenes from Buddha's life were represented in the form of relief sculpture or wall painting. They are found in Gandhara and Mathura during the Kushan period, Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda during the Satavahana period, in Mathura and Sarnath during the Gupta period, and during the Pala Period. They unfolded in various forms and styles according to the text(Buddhist scripture), layout, and expressive technique. In Mathura, where the Evolution of the Buddha image was made about the same time as in Gandhara during the Kushan period, the Buddha's life was presented in a number of scenes related to the sacred sites; in four or eight scenes. In the case of the Eight Great Events of the Buddha's Life, the four scenes out of eight were different from those that were represented in Sarnath during the Gupta period, manifesting a transitional period. The Gupta period is widely known as the time when the classic artistic style was established. The art of Buddha's Life was produced only in Sarnath during this period, and it was the time when the Eight Great Events of the Buddha's Life was established as iconography, providing a model for those of the Pala period. Also, it was the time when the single image of Buddha was produced such as the 'Buddha delivering his first sermon,' 'Buddha's Enlightenment,' and 'Buddha's Death,' thus showing the emergence of the single Buddha image from the narrative Buddha's life image. In this paper, a general introduction of the relief sculpture of the Buddha's life from Sarnath during the Gupta period was given. The art of Buddha's life gave great influences on that of China, Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia, and can be emphasized as an important subject in understanding the development of the Buddhist art in East Asia. A further study will be made on the art of Buddha's Life of Southeast Asia in the future, which will enhance the understanding of the art of Buddha's Life in East Asia as a whole.

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A Study on the Characteristics of Chuibyong(翠屛: a Sort of Trellis) in Paintings of Late Joseon Dynasty (조선 후기 회화작품에 나타난 취병(翠屛)의 특성)

  • Jung, Woo-Jin;Sim, Woo-Kyung
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.31 no.4
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    • pp.1-21
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    • 2013
  • This study has researched the characteristics and elements of the chuibyong, a sort of trellis in the Joseon Dynasty through the old pictorial data. The results were as follows; First, as a result of the analysis for the 25 pictorial data in the Joseon Dynasty, the chuibyongs have usually functioned as screening the facility to protect the private life and dividing the spaces of the site, but it was internally regarded as the props which symbolized the dignity and elegance of high class. Especially, not only the faunas such as crane and deer, and the floras such as Pinus densiflora, Musa basjoo, bamboo species and Paulownia coreana, but also various garden elements including oddly shaped stone, pond and pavilion were shown in the surrounding area of the chuibyong, and they were considered as a series of combination that was needed in the ideal garden for the literati. Secondly, the chuibyong was recognized as the ideological object which was typical of the literati culture in the story derived from an ancient event of China. Such image has been reflected intactly in the garden culture, and the chuibyong has been used(considered) as the important scenery of the season to imitate and reenact the Chinese Classical Garden in the narrative painting. Thirdly, in terms of the shape and function, the chuibyong in the paintings in the Joseon Dynasty basically had the function of the shielding and spatial division. Fourthly, the height of the chuibyung was similar to the one of fence which exceeds the person's height or Youngbyek(影壁) which is installed in the front and the rear of the main gate in China, and the various shape's chuibyung was properly set up in many spaces. Lastly, the making of the chuibyong in Joseon Dynasty was related to the trend of the writer's culture which was popular nationally in Ming dynasty rather than the particular functions or the location conditions. Especially, the symbol expression of the chuibyong showed on 'Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden' which was brought from China was recreated in the mansion of the upper class in Hanyang city as the center, and the primary mode for the expression of the wealth and writer's spirit through the chuibyong was transformed into the high-quality's garden element which could be created in the royal palace or the mansion of the upper class. Also, the use of the chuibyung was changed by spreading into the residential style for common people after the mid-nineteenth century, and it means that the chuibyung was developed into Korean styles.

The post-epic characteristics in Jan Lauwers' theatre -, and - (얀 라우어스(Jan Lauwers) 공연의 탈서사적 특징들 -<이사벨라의 방(Isabella's Room)>, <랍스터 가게(The Lobster Shop)>, <사슴의 집(Deer House)>을 중심으로-)

  • Nam, Jisoo
    • Journal of Korean Theatre Studies Association
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    • no.48
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    • pp.447-484
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    • 2012
  • This study aims to analyze the characteristics of post-epic theatre in the Belgian theatre director Jan Lauwers' trilogy titled in "Happy Face/Sad Face": (2004), (2006) and (2008). I regard that it played a very important junction for him to create his own theatrical style compared to earlier years. From this period, Lauwers has tried to create his original plays in order to concentrate the story of our era and has showed to combine a variety of media such as dance, installation, video, singing etc. In this context, I would like to study his own theatricality from the three perspectives of dramaturgy, directing and acting largely based on Hans-Thies Lehmann's theory of post-epic theatre, who pointed out the significance of Lauwer's theatrical leading role very early. First, from the dramaturgical point of view, we need to pay attention to the theme of translunary death; where the living and the dead coexist on the stage. In fact, death is the theme that Lauwers has been struggling to research for quite long time. In his trilogy, the dead never exits the stage. The dead, who is not a representative tragic character, even meddles the things among or with the living and provide comments to people. As a consequence, it happens to reduce a dramaturgical strong tension, leads depreciation of suspense and produces humanism in a way. This approach helps to create his unique comical theatrical atmosphere even though he deals with the contemporary tragic issues such as war, horror and death. Second, from the directing point of view, it is worth to take a look at the polyphonic strategy in terms to applying various media. Among all the things, the arts of dancing and singing in chorus are actively applied in Lauwer's trilogy. The dance is used in individual and microscopic way, on the other hand, singing shows collective and is a macroscopic quality. The dance is the representing media to show Lauwer's simultaneous microscopic mise-en-scene. While main plot takes place around the center-stage, actors perform a dance around the off-centered stage. Instead of exiting from the stage during the performance, the actors would continue dance -sometimes more like movements- around the off-centered stage. This not only describes the narrative, but also shows how each character is engaged to the main plot or incident, and how they look into it as a character. Its simultaneous microscopic mise-en-scene intends to function such as: showing a variety moments of lives, amplifying some moments or incidents, revealing character's emotion, creating illusionary theatrical atmosphere and so on. Meanwhile, singing simple lyrics and tunes are an example of the media to stimulate the audiences' catharsis. As the simple melody lingers in the audiences' mind, it ends up delivering a theatrical message or theme after the performance. This message would be transferred from the singing in chorus functions as a sort of leitmotive in order to make an impression to the audience. This not only richens their emotion but also creates an illusionary effect. Third, from the acting perspective, I'd like to point out the "detachment" aesthetic which Lehmann has pointed out. The actors never go deep into the drama by consistently doing recognize a theatrical illusion. The audience happens to pay attention to their presence through the actor's deliberate gesture, business, movement, rhythm, language, dance etc. The actors are against forming closed action by speaking in various languages or by revealing deliberately stage directions or acts, and by creating expressive mise-en-scene with multiple media. As a consequent, the stage can be transformed to not a metaphoric but a metonymic place. These actions are the ultimate intention for a direct effect to the audience. So to speak, Lauwers uses the anti-illusionary theatrical method: the scenes of fantastic death, interruption of singing and dance, speaking many kinds of languages, acting in detachment-status and so on. These strategies function to make cracks in spectators' desire who has a desire to construct a linear narrative. I'd like to say that it is the numerous potentiality to let the reality penetrate though and collide the reality with a fiction. By doing so, it induces for spectators to see the reality in the fiction. As Lehmann says, "when theatre presents itself as a sketch and not as a finished painting, the spectators are given the chance to feel their own presence, to reflect on it, and to contribute to the unfinished character themselves". In this sense the spectators can perform an objective criticism on our society and world in Lauwer's theatre because there are a number of gaps and cracks in his theatrical illusion where reality can penetrate. This is also the point that we can find out the artists' responsibility in this era of our being.