North Korea Arts

By | October 5, 2021

The transition between the end of Neolithic pottery and the beginning of metalworking took place around the century. IV-III a. C. in Northwest Korea through direct contributions from the Chinese world and through influences from Siberian cultures (Tagar). Derivations from the nomadic art of the Scythians seem to characterize the decoration of the first phase of Korean bronze production (knives with a currency exchange function found near the Yalu River). Chinese culture played an important role in North Korea, which took root here and flourished for four centuries following the military colony established by the Han empire. in 108 a. C. The decisive influence of Chinese art is attested by the variety of objects found in the necropolis of Lolang (famous is the lacquered wicker basket now in the National Museum of Korea in Seoul). Of the subsequent art developed during the “Three Kingdoms Period” the main evidence refers to the reign of Koguryo (examples of small bronze sculpture and wall paintings in the tombs of U-hyonni, T’ung-kou and other sites that reveal, alongside evident comparisons with Chinese painting of the Han period and the Six Dynasties, autonomous characters of genuine local art). From the kingdom of Paekche very little has come down to us from the excavations carried out in its third capital of Puyo, where one of the oldest stone pagodas (Chongnimsa) stands, whose plan corresponds to that of the first Buddhist temples in Japan.

The Paekche civilization played a decisive role in welcoming, assimilating and retransmitting the culture of the Asian continent to the first historical Japan, in particular the iconography of Buddhism, documented in Japanese sculpture of the Asuka period (Maitreya in the Koryu temple of Kyōto and Kudara- Kannon in the Hōryū temple of Nara), which is influenced by the Chinese plastic of the Northern Wei and Korean art. Example of the great tradition of Korean sculpture of the century. VI is the rock relief (Buddha between a Maitreya and a Bodhisattva), discovered in 1959 in Sosan. The presence of Korean workers in Japan is evident not only in sculpture but also in architecture (“Golden Hall” of the Hōryū monastery). Typical of the art of the third of the Three Kingdoms, that of Silla, are the famous golden crowns (the first and best known is the one found in 1921 in Gyeongju in a tomb that took its name from it) formed by flat golden ribbons and jade pendants. The Punhwangsa pagoda and the building called Ch’om-song-dae (“Observatory of the stars”) date back to the kingdom of Silla. The classical season of Korean art flourishes during the reign of the Great Silla Period (668-918), but the massive destruction that occurred during the Japanese invasion of the century. XVI have reduced the artistic production of this period to a few examples.

According to itypeauto, important of the century. VIII are the ruins of the temple of Pulguk-sa (near Gyeongju) and the rock temple of Sokkuram (or Sokkulam), containing in the “rotunda” a large statue of Buddha surrounded by a series of wall bas-reliefs depicting other characters of the Buddhist pantheon, in an art that, although inspired by contemporary Chinese sculpture T ‘ ang, reveals a decisive overcoming for the imposition of distinctly Korean stylistic characteristics (stone sculptures adorned with tombs). An exceptional product of the bronzes of this period is an original type of bell, which documents high technical achievements in the casting process. The art of the subsequent reign of Koryŏ (X-XIV century) appears to be marked by the maximum flowering of Buddhism, which finds its greatest expression in the architecture of the “Hall of Eternal Life” and the “Hall of the Founder” in the monastery of Pusok -sa (Southeast Korea). While in the first (end of the 13th century) one of the major testimonies of the Koryŏ sculpture is preserved with the wooden statue of architecture of the “Hall of Eternal Life” and the “Founder’s Hall” in the monastery of Pusok-sa ​​ (Southeast Korea). While in the first (end of the 13th century) one of the major testimonies of the Koryŏ sculpture is preserved with the wooden statue of architecture of the “Hall of Eternal Life” and the “Founder’s Hall” in the monastery of Pusok-sa ​​ (Southeast Korea).

While in the first (end of the 13th century) one of the major testimonies of the Koryŏ sculpture is preserved with the wooden statue of Amitābha, in the second (14th century) valuable examples of Buddhist mural painting are documented. The construction of the Kyongch’onsa Uno dei pro pagoda dates back to this period, first built in Gaeseong, then rebuilt in Seoul in the garden of the Kyongbok palace. Major products of this kingdom were pottery (especially the pottery known as céladon Koryŏ). Sostituitosi the Confucianism to Buddhism with the coming to power of the Yi dynasty (1392), art followed a process of decline, redeemed, however, by intense craftsmanship. Even in the field of painting, whose achievements are aligned with the Chinese tradition of the Ming period, there was no shortage of important artists, such as Kang Hui-an and An Kyon (15th century), Yi Sangjwa, the painter Shin Saimdang, Yi Chong (Tanum) and the young Yi Chong (Naeong), all active in the century. XVI; to the sec. XVII and XVIII belong Kim Myong-guk, Chong Son and his pupil Shim-Sa-Jong, the famous Kim Hong-do, Shin Yun-bok and the unmistakable cat painter Pyon Sang-Byok. The ceramic factories had an important impetus, to whose workers we owe the introduction in Japan of the special pottery for the tea ceremony. In addition to Japan, Korean ceramics also had a long influence in the West, especially in England.

North Korea Arts