Visualizing “National Art”: O Sech’ang’s Art Collection and Connoisseurship against Japanese Colonialism

Abstract

O Sech’ang embarked on an ambitious cultural project by acquiring impressive numbers of Korean painting and calligraphy during the Japanese colonial period (1910–1945). This article examines how O Sech’ang played a critical role in shaping the understanding of Korean art and in shifting the collecting pattern at the personal or institutional levels. By focusing on Kŭnyŏk hwahwi (Collections of Korean Painting) and Kŭnyŏk sŏhwi (Collections of Korean Calligraphy), it demonstrates that O Sech’ang engaged in collecting practices as a means of articulating Korean cultural identity built upon his own standing as a literatus.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

I sincerely thank my adviser, Burglind Jungmann, for her insights and steadfast encouragement throughout the years of this research. I am grateful to Matthew McKelway for sharing his time and expertise with me while I developed this research as a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University’s Mary Griggs Burke Center for Japanese Art. I also appreciate the thoughtful guidance I have received from Dong Chun Lee in pursuing my research on the authenticity of O Sech’ang’s collections. A shorter version of this paper was presented at the University of Southern California and Freie Universität Berlin, and I wish to express my gratitude to Sonya Lee, Ya-hwei Hsu, and Daisy Yiyou Wang for their incisive comments. I am indebted to Christy Anderson, Sunglim Kim, Nathaniel Kingdon, and the two anonymous readers for The Art Bulletin for their constructive comments and suggestions, as well as to my colleagues at California State University, East Bay, for their support in my completing this article at a critical moment. My heartfelt thanks go to Mi Ra Lee, Kyoung Won Lee, and Sowon Lee for their unflagging support, and to Kichon Lee for his assistance in obtaining research materials and images. This research was made possible by fellowships from the University of California, Los Angeles; Columbia University; and the Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies. Finally, I dedicate this article to Professor Burglind Jungmann for years of intellectual inspiration.

1 The volumes of Kŭnyŏk hwahwi and Kŭnyŏk sŏhwi are divided between the Seoul National University Museum and the Kansong Art Museum in Korea. The parts preserved in the Seoul National University Museum comprise three volumes of Kŭnyŏk hwahwi and thirty-seven volumes of Kŭnyŏk sŏhwi. See the exhibition catalogs Kŭnyŏk hwahwi (Seoul: Seoul taehakkyo pangmulgwan, 1992); Kŭnyŏk sŏhwi Kŭnyŏk hwahwi myŏngp’um sŏn (Seoul: Tolbegae, 2002); Kŭnyŏk hwahwi (Seoul: Seoul taehakkyo pangmulgwan, 2014); Kŭnyŏk sŏhwi (Seoul: Seoul taehakkyo pangmulgwan; Sahoe p’yŏngnon ak’ademi, 2016); and Put ŭl multŭrida: Kŭnyŏk hwahwi wa Chosŏn ŭi hwaga tŭl (Seoul: Seoul taehakkyo pangmulgwan, 2022).

2 Hwang Kyung Moon, Beyond Birth: Social Status in the Emergence of Modern Korea (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004), 37. Regarding the use of ‘literati’ as a stylistic term, see Burglind Jungmann, Pathways to Korean Culture: Paintings of the Joseon Dynasty, 1392–1910 (London: Reaktion Books, 2014), 187–203.

3 Han Yongun 韓龍雲 (1879–1944) provides a glimpse of the scale of O Sech’ang’s collection and lists the original contents of Kŭnyŏk hwahwi and Kŭnyŏk sŏhwi. According to Han,

O Sech’ang began to acquire Korean paintings and calligraphy in 1909. In addition to the considerable scope of O Sech’ang’s collections and the rarity of the works he had accumulated, Han’s compliment undoubtedly enhanced O Sech’ang’s reputation as a prominent collector and foremost connoisseur; see Han Yongun, “Ko sŏhwa ŭi samil,” Maeil sinbo, December 8–9, 13–15, 1916.

4 O Sech’ang later published them in 1928 under the title Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching, which includes records for 1,117 Korean artists and calligraphers (576 painters, 392 calligraphers, and 149 who practiced both disciplines) from literary sources; see O Sech’ang, Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching (Seoul: Sigong sa, 1998). After publishing Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching, O Sech’ang distributed it with the support of journalist and art critic Ch’oe Namsŏn 崔南善 (1890–1957); see Ch’oe Namsŏn, “O Sech’ang ssi Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching—Yesul chungsim ŭi ilbu Chosŏn inmyŏngsasŏ,” Tonga ilbo, December 17–19, 1928. For discussion of Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching, see Yi Kuyŏl, “Ch’oech’o ŭi Han’guk misulga sajŏn yŏkkŏ naen Wich’ang O Sech’ang,” in Han’guk munhwajae sunansa (Seoul: Tol pegae, 1996), 37–47; Hong Sŏnp’yo (Hong Sunpyo), “O Sech’ang kwa Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching,” in Chosŏn sidae hoehwa saron (Seoul: Munye ch’ulp’ansa, 1999), 109–16; and Hong Sŏnp’yo, “O Sech’ang’s Compilation of Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa sa and the Publication of Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching,” trans. Jungsil Jenny Lee and Nathaniel Kingdon, Archives of Asian Art 63, no. 2 (2013): 155–63.

5 On O Sech’ang’s art-collector contemporaries, including O Pongbin and Chŏn Hyŏngp’il, see Pak Pyŏngrae, Toja yŏjŏk (Seoul: Chungang ilbo sa, 1974); Kwŏn Haengga, “1930 nyŏndae kosŏhwa chŏllamhoe wa Kyŏngsŏng ŭi misul sijang: O Pongbin ŭi Chosŏn misulgwan ŭl chungsim ŭro,” Han’guk kŭnhyŏndae misulsahak 19 (2008): 163–89; Yi Kwangp’yo, Myŏngp’um ŭi t’ansaeng: Han’guk ŭi k’ŏlleksyŏn, Han’guk ŭi k’ŏllekt’o (Seoul: San ch’ŏrŏm, 2009); Yi Ch’ungnyŏl, Kansong Chŏn Hyŏngp’il: Han’guk ŭi mi rŭl chik’in taesujangga Kansong ŭi sam kwa uri munhwajae sujip iyagi (P’aju: Kimyŏngsa, 2010); and Kim Sangyŏp, Misulp’um k’ŏllekt’ŏ tŭl: Han’guk ŭi kŭndae sujangga wa sujip ŭi munhwasa (P’aju: Tolbegae, 2015).

6 For extensive analyses of O Sech’ang’s life and collections, see Kim Kyŏngt’aek, “Chungin ŭi sahoe chŏk sŏnggyŏk kwa ch’inil kaehwaron hanmal chunginch’ŭng ŭi kaehwa hwaltong kwa ch’inil kaehwaron: O Sech’ang ŭi hwaltong ŭl chungsimŭro,” Yŏksa pip’yŏng 21 (1993): 250–63; Wich’ang O Sech’ang, exh. cat. (Seoul: Yesul ŭi chŏndang, 1996); Yi Sŭngyŏn, Wich’ang O Sech’ang (Seoul: Ihoe, 2000); Wich’ang O Sech’ang: Chŏn’gak · sŏhwa kamsik · k’olleksyŏn, exh. cat. (Seoul: Yesul ŭi chŏndang, 2001); Yi Sŭngyŏn, “Wich’ang O Sech’ang ŭi chŏn’gak kwa inbo,” Sŏjihak yŏn’gu 41 (2008): 397–425; and Kŭnmuk, exh. cat. (Seoul: Sŏnggyun’gwan taehakkyo pangmulgwan, 2009).

7 In a discussion of O Sech’ang’s Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching (1928), Hong Sŏnp’yo notes that O Sech’ang’s collecting activity mirrored his “continuation of the patriotic historical consciousness,” and at the same time projected a period trend toward patriotic enlightenment; see Hong Sŏnp’yo, “O Sech’ang kwa Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching,” 111. Regarding O Sech’ang’s collecting practice, Chin Chunhyŏn offers a brief discussion of the provenance and the contents of Kŭnyŏk hwahwi and Kŭnyŏk sŏhwi; see Chin Chunhyŏn, “Kŭnyŏk hwahwi e taehayŏ,” in Kŭnyŏk hwahwi, 79–81; and Chin, “Kŭnyŏk sŏhwi wa Kŭnyŏk hwahwi e taehayŏ,” in Kŭnyŏk sŏhwi Kŭnyŏk hwahwi myŏngp’um sŏn, 137–42. Although he focuses on O Sech’ang’s pivotal role as an art collector and art historian, Kim Sangyŏp rarely examines the details of O Sech’ang’s art collections; see Kim Sangyŏp, “Kŭndae misulsa ŭi ch’oego kwŏnwija ija sujangga O Sech’ang,” in Misulp’um k’ŏllekt’ŏ tŭl, 137–58. Focusing on Kŭnyŏk hwahwi in the Seoul National University Museum, Yi Chawŏn demonstrates that O Sech’ang’s connoisseurship needs to be questioned due to the coexistence of genuine artworks and forgeries in his collections; see Yi Chawŏn (Lee Ja Won), “O Sech’ang ŭi sŏhwa sujang yŏn’gu” (master’s thesis, Seoul National University, 2009).

8 Yi Tongch’ŏn points out that a massive number of forgeries produced in this era are currently housed in Korea’s major museums. On the authentication of Korean paintings and calligraphy, see Yi Tongch’ŏn (Lee Dong Chun), Chinsang (Seoul: Tonga Ilbosa, 2008), and Yi, Kamjŏnghak paksa Yi Tongch’ŏn ŭi misulp’um kamjŏng pich’aek (Seoul: Ra ŭi nun, 2016). For an overview of forgery and its value, see Chŏng Hyŏngmin (Chung Hyung-Min), “Chang Sŭngŏp kwa Han’guk kŭnhyŏndae hwadan: Chinwi ŭi chae chomyŏng,” Chŏngshin munhwa yŏn’gu 24, no. 2 (2001): 83–103; Jonathan Hay, “The Value of Forgery,” RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 53/54 (2008): 5–19; see also Sŏ Yunjŏng (Seo Yoonjung), “Chosŏn hugi sŏhwa sijang ŭl t’onghae pon myŏngjak ŭi t’ansaeng kwa wijak ŭi yut’ong,” Taedong munhwa yŏn’gu 109 (2020): 155–86; and J. P. Park, “Art-Historical Fiction or Fictional Art History? Zhang Taijie, Dong Qichang, and the Literary Making of the Past in Early Modern China,” Archives of Asian Art 72, no. 2 (2022): 181–219.

9 For more on O Kyŏngsŏk’s life and collection, see O Sech’ang, Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching, 1013, and Wich’ang O Sech’ang: Chŏn’gak · sŏhwa kamsik · k’olleksyŏn, 78–91. O Kyŏngsŏk’s intellectual association with Chinese scholars, including Pan Zuyin 潘祖蔭 (1830–1890), He Qiutao 何秋濤 (1824–1862), and Wu Dacheng 吳大澂 (1835–1902), enabled him to obtain a wide range of Chinese artworks; see Lee Juhyun, “Wu Changshuo and Modern Korean Painting,” in Burglind Jungmann, Adele Schlombs, and Melanie Trede eds., Shifting Paradigms in East Asian Visual Culture: A Festschrift for Lothar Ledderose (Stuttgart: Reimer Verlag, 2012), 351–68.

10 Poetry, painting, and calligraphy are traditionally considered the “Three Perfections” in East Asian cultures, especially in literati ink painting. Yet, Wu Changshi and Zhao Zhiqian integrated seal carving into their artistic practice and made it indispensable to literati painting since the nineteenth century; see Lothar Ledderose, “Aesthetic Appropriation of Ancient Calligraphy in Modern China,” in Maxwell K. Hearn and Judith G. Smith eds., Chinese Art Modern Expressions (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001), 227–30, and J. May Lee Barrett ed., New Songs on Ancient Tunes: 19th–20th Century Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy from the Richard Fabian Collection (Honolulu: Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2007). Regarding epigraphic scholarship in the Qing dynasty, see Benjamin A. Elman, From Philosophy to Philology: Intellectual and Social Aspects of Change in Late Imperial China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984), and Claudia Brown and Ju-hsi Chou, Transcending Turmoil: Painting at the Close of China’s Empire, 1796–1911 (Phoenix, AZ: Phoenix Art Museum, 1992).

11 Kim Chŏnghŭi made the close acquaintance of Qing scholars, such as Weng Fanggang 翁方綱 (1733–1818) and Ruan Yuan 阮元 (1764–1849), and devoted himself to the study of ancient ritual bronzes and stone monuments for epigraphic research and artistic purposes. For discussion of Kim Chŏnghŭi, see Chŏng Pyŏngsam and Ch’oe Wansu, Ch’usa wa kŭ ŭi sidae (Seoul: Tol pegae, 2002); Yu Hongjun, Wandang P’yŏngjŏn (Seoul: Hakkojae, 2002); Sung Lim Kim, “Kim Chŏnghŭi (1786–1856) and Sehando: The Evolution of a Late Chosŏn Korean Masterpiece,” Archives of Asian Art 56, no. 1 (2006): 31–60; and Fujitsuka Chikashi, Ch’usa Kim Chŏnghŭi yŏn’gu (Kwach’ŏn: Kwach’ŏn munhwawŏn, 2009).

12 Wich’ang O Sech’ang: Chŏn’gak · sŏhwa kamsik · k’olleksyŏn, 232.

13 Han Yongun reported that the seven volumes of Kŭnyŏk hwahwi comprised 250 paintings by 191 artists ranging from King Kongmin 恭愍王 (r. 1351–1374), of the Koryŏ dynasty, to the contemporary artist An Chungsik 安中植 (1861–1919), while the thirty-five volumes of Kŭnyŏk sŏhwi contained 1,350 pieces of calligraphy by 1,291 scholars and artists, ranging from the leading scholar Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn 崔致遠 (857–?), of the Great Silla period (668–935), to the influential politician and painter Min Yŏngik 閔泳翊 (1860–1914), of the early twentieth century; see Han Yongun, “Ko sŏhwa ŭi samil,” Maeil sinbo, December 8–9, 13–15, 1916.

14 Chin Chunhyŏn, a former curator of the Seoul National University Museum, notes that Pak Yŏngch’ŏl 朴榮喆 (1879–1939), who donated these compilations to Kyŏngsŏng (Keijō) Imperial University (the predecessor of Seoul National University), might have added to the compilations certain paintings and pieces of calligraphy by Yi Toyŏng 李道榮 (1884–1933) and Sŏ Pyŏngo 徐丙五 (1862–1935) after he had acquired O Sech’ang’s compilations of Kŭnyŏk hwahwi and Kŭnyŏk sŏhwi; see Chin Chunhyŏn, “Kŭnyŏk hwahwi e taehayŏ,” in Kŭnyŏk hwahwi, 79–80. On Pak Yŏngch’ŏl collections, see Kim Sangyŏp, “Chegukchuŭi ŭi hyŏmnyŏkcha ija munhwa aehoga Pak Yŏngch’ŏl,” in Misulp’um k’ŏllekt’ŏ tŭl, 159–79.

15 The term “true scenery landscape paintings” refers to paintings depicting actual landscapes in Korea. In contrast to Korean painters who portrayed ideological landscapes based on Chinese paintings or painting manuals, Chŏng Sŏn depicted natural landscapes directly—resulting in a new trend in landscape painting in eighteenth-century Korea. For a discussion of true scenery landscape, see Burglind Jungmann, Painters as Envoys: Korean Inspiration in Eighteenth-Century Japanese Nanga (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004), 188–94; Ch’oe Wansu, Korean True-View Landscape: Paintings by Chŏng Sŏn, eds. and trans. Youngsook Pak and Roderick Whitfield (London: Saffron Books/Eastern Art Publishing, 2005), 16–21; Jungmann, Pathways to Korean Culture, 135–54; J. P. Park, “The Anxiety of Influence: (Mis)reading Chinese Art in Late Chosŏn Korea (1650–1800),” Art Bulletin 97, no. 3 (2015): 301–22; and J. P. Park, A New Middle Kingdom: Painting and Cultural Politics in Late Chosŏn Korea (1700–1850) (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2018), 101–74. Regarding the authentication of Chŏng Sŏn’s true scenery landscape paintings, see Yi Tongch’ŏn, “Chosŏn sŏhwa kamjŏng kwa kŭngŏ charyo unyong,” Chohyŏng chi 1 (2009): 251–99.

16 O Sech’ang, Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching, 209–17, 658.

17 Kim Chŏnghŭi’s intellectual association with Qing antiquarians was crucial for the development of his own calligraphic style and his interest in Korean epigraphy. On Kim Chŏnghŭi’s calligraphy and his followers, see Ch’usa Kim Chŏnghŭi: Hagye ilch’i ŭi kyŏngji (Seoul: Kungnip chungang pangmulgwan, 2006), 186–307.

18 Jungmann, Pathways to Korean Culture, 190–93.

19 For an analysis of An Kyŏn’s Landscape in Kŭnyŏk hwahwi, see Chin Chunhyŏn, “Kŭnyŏk hwahwi e taehayŏ,” 79, and Yi Chawŏn, “O Sech’ang ŭi sŏhwa sujang yŏn’gu,” 36–38. On the authenticity of An Kyŏn’s works, see Yi Tongch’ŏn, “Chosŏn sŏhwa kamjŏng kwa kŭngŏ charyo unyong,” 261–69.

20 Yi Tongch’ŏn, Chinsang, 175; Yi Chawŏn, “O Sech’ang ŭi sŏhwa sujang yŏn’gu,” 42–45.

21 O Sech’ang, Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching, 66.

22 For the authenticity of Sin Saimdang’s works, see Burglind Jungmann, “Changing Notions of ‘Feminine Spaces’ in Chosŏn-Dynasty Korea: The Forged Image of Sin Saimdang (1504–1551),” Archives of Asian Art 68, no. 1 (2018): 47–66. The style of Snowy Herons is closer to works by the late-nineteenth-century artist Hong Sesŏp 洪世燮 (1832–1884) than to those by Sin Saimdang; see Yi Chawŏn, “O Sech’ang ŭi sŏhwa sujang yŏn’gu,” 54–55.

23  君用熙示此畵帖. 余之, 其神, 尙琅琅映眸. 且紙 饒之色, 洵累百年遺. 其筆 極精緻, 欠健, 是幃中停繡染毫之作歟. 老拙素不好妄評, 然斷之曰, 眞蹟, 喜眼福焉. 況有申直文此帖由來甚詳且確乎. 於案頭, 玩殆半. 題於其帖尾以之. 君寶哉. 丙戌. 槿窓, 八十三老人, 吳世昌 書. English translation of O Sech’ang’s colophon from Jungmann, “Changing Notions of ‘Feminine Spaces,’” 57.

24 According to Burglind Jungmann, both colophons were actually written by O Sech’ang because the same ink is used on the same paper. She further argues that the painting should be dated to the late nineteenth or early twentieth century in terms of the style and the quality; see Jungmann, Pathways to Korean Culture, 66–67.

25 O Sech’ang, Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching, 51.

26 O Sech’ang, “Pŏmnye,” Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching, 3–4.

27 O Sech’ang’s gathering of textual sources and art objects has been recognized as reflecting a patriotic awareness of the period, in which historical inheritance served as “the foundation of national superiority and strength”; see Hong Sunpyo, “O Sech’ang’s compilation of Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa sa and the publication of Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching,” 157.

28 “Pyŏlgyŏn sŏhwa ch’ong,” Maeil sinbo, January 13, 1915. According to this report, O Sech’ang had already acquired 1,275 items by that time, including 1,125 pieces of calligraphy and 150 paintings. Considering that O Sech’ang completed his compilation of Kŭnyŏk hwahwi and Kŭnyŏk sŏhwi with about 1,600 paintings and pieces of calligraphy in 1916, he had acquired roughly 300 works between 1915 and 1916.

29 O Sech’ang, “Pŏmnye,” Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching, 3.

30 After the Japanese annexation of the peninsula, the colonial government forced the court to change the name of the museum from “Imperial Museum” to the “Yi Royal Family Museum.” For the record on the establishment of the Yi Royal Family Museum, see Sŭngjŏngwŏn ilgi, year of 1908, the 7^th day of the 3^rd month, the 18^th day of the 6^th month, and the 15^th day of the 7^th month. Compared to the royal family collection during the late Chosŏn period, massive art collections in the Yi Royal Family Museum were newly acquired by Japanese staff. On the royal family art collections during the Chosŏn dynasty, see Hwang Chŏngyŏn, Chosŏn sidae sŏhwa sujang yŏn’gu (Soungnam: Sin’gu Munhwasa, 2012).

31 See Yiwangga pangmulgwan sojangp’um sajinch’ŏp (Kyŏngsŏng: Yiwangjik, 1912). Because museum staff were not experts in Korean art and culture, they relied mostly on Japanese dealers and collectors to build the collection; see Mok Suhyŏn, “Ilcheha iwangga pangmulgwan ŭi singminji chŏk sŏnggyŏk,” Misulsahak yŏn’gu 227 (2000): 91–95.

32 Kim Brandt, “Objects of Desire: Japanese Collectors and Colonial Korea,” Positions 8 (2000): 715–16.

33 Pak Sohyŏn, “Koryŏ chagi nŭn ŏttŏk’e misul i toeŏnna: Singminji sidae Koryŏ chagi yŏlgwang kwa Yiwangga pangmulgwan ŭi chŏngch’ihak,” Sahoe yŏn’gu 11 (2006): 9-45; ŏm Sŭnghŭi, “Ilche sigi chaehan ilbonin ŭi ch’ŏngja chejak,” Han’guk kŭnhyŏndae misulsahak 12 (2004): 151–89; and ŏm, “Ilche kangjŏm chŏnban’gi ilbonin ŭi koryŏ ch’ŏngja sujip kwa chaejo ilbonin ŭi chaehyŏn ch’ŏngja chejage ttarŭn sanggwansŏng yŏn’gu,” Han’guk tojahak yŏn’gu 18, no. 2 (2021): 49–69. The colonial government even built a ceramic production center to revive Koryŏ celadon in 1911; see “Misul kongjang hwakchang,” Maeil Sinbo, March 7, 1911, cited from Ch’oe Kongho, Han’guk hyŏndae kongyesa ŭi ihae (Seoul: Chaewŏn, 1996), 185–86.

34 Yiwangga pangmulgwan sojangp’um sajinch’ŏp (Kyŏngsŏng: Yiwangjik, 1912), fig. 228. Regarding the history of the National Museum of Korea, see Ch’oe Kwangsik, “100 Years of Korean Museums: History and Meaning,” The International Journal of Korean Art and Archaeology 3 (2009): 58–81, and Ch’oe Sŏgyŏng, Han’guk pangmulgwan yŏksa wa chŏnmang (Seoul: Minsogwŏn, 2012).

35 A total of 522 pieces of ceramic and porcelain belonged to the Yi Royal Family Museum in 1908—the first year of building the museum’s art collection. That same year the museum acquired an additional 313 works in painting and calligraphy. In 1912 the first catalogue published by the museum included its collection of Korean arts, such as celadons, Buddhist sculptures, and paintings. Pak Kyeri discovered that the actual collections of painting and calligraphy differ from those cited in the catalog, Yiwangga pangmulgwan sojangp’um sajinch’ŏp, of 1912, because the museum purchased a great number of Korean paintings and calligraphy subsequent to the catalog’s publication. It is possible, however, that O Sech’ang understood the museum’s art collection based on this early publication. For an analysis of the Yi Royal Family Museum’s annual collection activities between 1908 and 1917, see Pak Kyeri, “T’aja nosŏ ŭi Yiwangga pangmulgwan kwa chŏnt’ong kwan,” Misulsahak yŏn’gu 240 (2003): 221–48. On the museum’s collection of Buddhist art, see Seunghye Lee, “Korea’s First Museum and the Categorization of ‘Buddhist Statues’,” Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies 21, no. 1 (2021): 51–81. For Itō Hirobumi’s involvement with aficionados of the tea ceremony, see Christine Guth, Art, Tea, and Industry: Masuda Takashi and the Mitsui Circle (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993).

36 In addition to excellence in poetry, painting, and calligraphy, the acquisition of valuable works of art is closely related to literati culture as a distinctive marker of social identity. As a result, Korean intellectuals sought to demonstrate their status as educated elites through their collections. Chief State Councilor Nam Kongch’ŏl 南公轍 (1760–1840), for instance, wanted to distinguish himself as a yangban apart from collectors of lesser social status, namely wealthy chungin, whom he considered as belonging to the nouveaux riche; see Chang Chin-Sung, “Ambivalence and Indulgence: The Moral Geography of Collectors in Late Joseon Korea,” in Elizabeth Lillehoj ed., Archaism and Antiquarianism in Korean and Japanese Art (Chicago: The Center for the Art of East Asia, Department of Art History, University of Chicago, 2013), 118–42. For a similar situation in China, see Judith Zeitlin, “The Petrified Heart: Obsession in Chinese Literature, Art, and Medicine,” Late Imperial China 12, no. 1 (1991): 1–26. Moreover, Regent Hŭngsŏn Taewŏn’gun 興宣大院君 (known as a painter under his personal name Yi Haŭng), who was an ardent follower of Kim Chŏnghŭi and his artistic antiquarianism, demonstrates his cultural sophistication and social standing as a member of the elite by having his acquisition of Chinese antiquities and scholarly objects depicted in his portraits; see Ja Won Lee, “Collecting Culture, Representing the Self: Chosŏn Portraits of Collectors of Chinese Antiquities,” Seoul Journal of Korean Studies 31, no. 1 (2018): 1–20. On the relationship between art and literati culture in East Asia, see Aida-Yuen Wong, “A New Life for Literati Painting in the Early Twentieth Century: Eastern Art and Modernity, a Transcultural Narrative?”, Artibus Asiae 60, no. 2 (2000): 297–326; Jungmann, “Literati Ideals and Social Reorganisation in the Early Chosŏn Period,” in Shifting Paradigms, 313–29; and Peter C. Sturman, “Inscriptional Practices of the Song Literati: Revisiting Su Shi’s Old Tree, Rock, and Bamboo,” Archives of Asian Art 72, no. 1 (2022): 75–95.

37 For further discussion on how chungin artists negotiated their position within elite society, see Jiyeon Kim, “Kim Hongdo’s Sandalwood Garden: A Self-Image of a Late-Chosŏn Court Painter,” Archives of Asian Art 62 (2012): 47–67, and Sunglim Kim, Flowering Plums and Curio Cabinets: The Culture of Objects in Late Chosŏn Korean Art (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2018).

38 得天機之全 發神光之秘 著色人文 竝驅不朽 則書畵於兩處 洵爲不可少者 梁翰大興 意不匱人 性情所近 淵源所自 氣類 之感 不以山河間之 況我邦諸先輩 磊落相望 若裝朝暮遇焉 雖謂之眷屬可也. English translation cited from Hong Sŏnp’yo, “O Sech’ang’s Compilation of Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa sa and the Publication of Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa Ching,” 157.

39 Inspired by the British arts and crafts movement, Yanagi Sōetsu became the founder of the Mingei movement in Japan and played a major role in developing this new aesthetic experience of Korean ceramics both in Korea and in Japan. As he appreciated the beauty of Korean crafts, particularly utilitarian ceramics, he extensively displayed Chosŏn artifacts in exhibitions, including Exhibition of Chosŏn Folk Art, in 1921, in Tokyo, and the Exhibition of Ceramics of the Yi Dynasty, in 1922, in Kyŏngsŏng (present-day Seoul). His admiration for the unpretentious beauty of Chosŏn artifacts became fundamental to his Mingei movement in the 1920s and 1930s. He not only acquired Chosŏn ceramics and furniture, such as small portable dining tables, but he also established the Chosŏn Folk Crafts Museum with his own collection, within Kyŏngbok Palace, in 1924. His collection is currently housed at the Japan Folk Crafts Museum in Tokyo. On Yanagi’s collecting of Chosŏn artifacts and his Mingei movement in Japan, see Yanagi Muneyoshi, Chōsen o omou (Tokyo: Chikuma shobō, 1984); Yanagi Muneyoshi and Bernard Leach, The Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight into Beauty (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1972); Pak Kyeri, “Yanagi Muneyoshi wa Chosŏn minjok misulgwan,” Han’guk kŭnhyŏndae misulsahak 9 (2001): 41–68; Yuko Kikuchi, Japanese Modernisation and Mingei Theory: Cultural Nationalism and Oriental Orientalism (London: Routledge Curzon, 2004); and Kim Brandt, Kingdom of Beauty: Mingei and the Politics of Folk Art in Imperial Japan (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007). Many works formerly categorized as minhwa (folk painting) are nowadays considered court paintings. For a discussion of minhwa, see Cho Chayong, Chosŏn sidae minhwa (Seoul: Yegyŏng sanŏpsa, 1989), and Jungmann, Pathways, 268–300.

40 Historical records show that numerous works by court painters were reproduced in accordance with public taste. For the crucial resources on artwork circulated in this area, see Hansan Kŏsa, Hanyang ka, trans. Sin Yŏngju (Seoul: Chisŏn dang, 2006), 63–66. On the art market during this period, see Kang Myŏngkwan, Chosŏn sidae munhak yesul ŭi saengsŏng konggan (Seoul: Somyŏng ch’ulp’an, 1999), and Kim Ch’wijŏng, “Kaehwagi Seoul ŭi munhwa yut’ong konggan—Kwangt’ong kyo iltae ŭi sŏhwa, tosŏ yut’ong ŭl chungsimŭro,” Sŏurhak yŏn’gu 53 (2013): 51–60.

41 The Chosŏn Fine Art Exhibition was mainly aimed at promoting Japanese artistic practice; see Youngna Kim, “Artistic Trends in Korean Painting,” in War, Occupation, and Creativity: Japan and East Asia, 1920–1960 (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2001), 125–37.

42 Yi Chunghŭi, “Chosŏn misul chŏllamhoe ch’angsŏl e taehayŏ,” Han’guk kŭnhyŏndae misulsahak 3 (1996): 95–146, and Chosŏn misul chŏllamhoe kisa charyojip (Seoul: Han’guk misulsa yŏn’guso, 1999).

43 Igarashi Kōichi, “Chosŏn misul chŏllamhoe ch’angsŏl kwa sŏhwa,” Han’guk kŭnhyŏndae misulsahak 12 (2004): 342–58.

44 Yi Hanbok understood the different hierarchies of art due to his education in Japan. On Yi Hanbok’s artistic practice, see Kang Mingi, “Kŭndae ŭi hwajohwaga Yi Hanbok,” Misulsa yŏn’gu 26 (2012): 215–36.

45 The Japanese antique businesses expanded with support from the Japanese colonial government. A tremendous number of Japanese immigrants to Korea engaged in the art market by operating antique shops targeting Japanese clients, and by looting ancient Korean tombs; consequently, Japanese collectors could easily purchase celadon. See Chŏng Kyuhong, Uri munhwajae sunansa: Ilchegi munhwajae yakt’al kwa yurin (Seoul: Hagyŏn munhwasa, 2005), and Chŏng, Yurang ŭi munhwajae (Seoul: Hagyŏn munhwasa, 2009).

46 Kŭnyŏk sŏhwi Kŭnyŏk hwahwi myŏngp’um sŏn, 52.

47 Kim Chŏnghŭi painted Winterscape for his disciple Yi Sangjŏk 李尙迪 (1804-1865), a chungin interpreter of Chinese, while he was in exile in 1844 at Jeju Island. Yi Sangjŏk later mounted this painting with eulogies by sixteen Chinese scholars. During the period of Japanese colonial rule, Fujitsuka Chikashi took this painting to Japan, but Son Chaehyŏng eventually brought it back to Korea and received O Sech’ang’s colophon, among others. For further discussion of the transmission of Winterscape and a translation of Kim Chŏnghŭi’s inscription and colophons, see Sung Lim Kim, “Kim Chŏnghŭi (1786–1856) and Sehando: The Evolution of a Late Chosŏn Korean Masterpiece,” Archives of Asian Art 56, no. 1 (2006): 31–60.

48 English translation cited from Sung Lim Kim, “Kim Chŏnghŭi (1786–1856) and Sehando,” 39.

49 For the orthodox perspective of Southern School traditions, see Jungmann, Pathways to Korean Culture, 135–43.

50 O Sech’ang was invited by the Japanese Culture Ministry to teach Korean language in Tokyo during 1897 and 1898. He again lived in Tokyo and Kyoto from 1902 to 1906; see Yi Sŭngyŏn, Wich’ang O Sech’ang, 35–37. In 1897, the Japanese government enacted laws to protect old shrines. On the Japanese government’s cultural policy, see Satō Dōshin, Modern Japanese Art and the Meiji State: The Politics of Beauty, trans. Hiroshi Nara (Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2011), 52–54, and María Román, “Asian Values in Japan’s Cultural Heritage: The Role of Chinese and Korean Ceramics,” in Shifting Paradigms, 198–208.

51 Okakura Kakuzō, The Ideals of the East, with Special Reference to the Art of Japan (London: J. Murray, 1903), and Karatani Kōjin, “Japan as Museum: Okakura Tenshin and Ernest Fenollosa,” in Alexandra Munroe, ed., Japanese Art After 1945: Scream Against the Sky (Yokohama: Yokohama Museum of Art, 1994), 33–39.

52 Satō Dōshin notes that the protection of art provided the foundation for the study of art history, and at the same time the research of artworks offered an evaluation for designating art treasures; see Satō Dōshin, Modern Japanese Art and the Meiji State, 162–64.

53 For discussion of Sŏhwa hyŏphoe, see Yi Sŏnghye, “Han’guk kŭndae sŏhwagye ŭi hyŏngsŏng kwa sŏnggyŏk,” Tongyang hanmunhak yŏn’gu 33 (2011): 301–24, and Chung Hyung-Min, Modern Korean Ink Painting (Elizabeth, NJ: Hollym, 2006).

54 Sŏhwa hyŏphoebo 1 (Kyŏngsŏng: Sŏhwa Hyŏphoe, 1921), 20. O Sech’ang also displayed his calligraphy in the style of bronze scripts at the first annual exhibition of Sŏhwa Hyŏphoe; see “Sŏhwa Hyŏphoe chŏllamhoe,” Tonga ilbo, March 10, 1922.

55 O Sech’ang, “Ko ch’ŏngnyŏn chegun,” Taehan Hyŏphoe hoebo 4 (July 1908): 3.

56 In Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching, O Sech’ang emphasizes the significance of Chŏng Sŏn’s true scenery landscape paintings as a way of understanding the essence of Korean art; Kŭnyŏk sŏhwa ching, 651–59.

57 Ayugai Husanoshin, Yiwangga pangmulgwan sajinch’ŏp, 10–11.

58 “Chosŏn ch’ongdokpu pangmulgwalyak annae,” Pangmulgwanbo 1 (1926), cited from Tongyang ŭl sujip hada (Seoul: Kungnip chungang pangmulgwan, 2015), 184.

59 O Sech’ang participated in Sŏhwa misulhoe when Kyŏngsŏng sŏhwa misulwŏn 京城書畵美術院 (Kyŏngsŏng Arts Institute of Painting and Calligraphy) was reorganized by An Chungsik, Cho Sŏkchin 趙錫晉 (1853–1920), and Kim Ŭngwŏn 金應元 (1855–1921), in 1912, with the support of the Yi Royal Family; see Yi Kuyŏl, Kŭndae Han’guk misulsa ŭi yon’gu (Seoul: Mijinsa, 1992), 51–54, and Hong Sŏnp’yo, Han’guk kŭndae misulsa (Seoul: Sigong sa, 2009), 106–15.

60 Hong Sŏnp’yo, “Han’guk kŭndae misulsa t’ŭkkang 8—Sŏhwagye ŭi hujin yangsŏng kwa tanch’e kyŏlsŏng,” Wŏlgan Misul 15, no. 4 (2003): 126–27.

61 Subsequent to the establishment of the Chosŏn Art Museum, O Pongbin featured a number of exhibitions and wrote several articles in Tonga Newspaper (Tonga ilbo) to promote them; see O Pongbin, “Kogŭm sŏhwajŏn,” Tonga ilbo, September 10, 1929; “Ko sŏhwajŏn,” Tonga ilbo, October 19, 1930; see also “Chosŏn myŏnghwa chŏllamhoe rŭl mach’iko,” Tonga ilbo, April 10–12, 1931.

62 According to newspapers and extant exhibition catalogs, there were numerous exhibitions in which art collectors participated, as follows: Grand Exhibition of Paintings and Calligraphy (Sŏhwa tae chŏllamhoe) in June 1913, organized by Sŏhwa Misulhoe; Ancient and Modern Paintings and Calligraphy (Kogŭm sŏhwajŏn) in September 1929, at the Chosŏn Art Museum; Exhibition of Treasure (Chinp’um chŏllamhoe) in October 1930, at the Chosŏn Art Museum; and Treasure of Ancient Chosŏn Paintings and Calligraphy (Chosŏn ko sŏhwa chinjangp’um chŏn) in November 1938, at the Chosŏn Art Museum. Exhibitions showcased works of art with inscriptions and seals by celebrated collectors or connoisseurs to ensure an artwork’s value and authenticity. One of the most representative examples is Nam Kyeu’s 南啓宇 (1811–1888) painting, Cat, which carries not only the artist’s colophon and seal, but also O Sech’ang’s inscription. This example demonstrates that O Sech’ang’s inscription on paintings served as a means of not only guaranteeing authenticity, but—most probably—a higher price at the time. By having their names and collections published in the newspapers and exhibition catalogs, collectors not only enhanced the significance of their collections, but also gained fame for judging their authenticity. See Yi Chawŏn, “O Sech’ang ŭi sŏhwa sujang yŏn’gu,” 16–28.

63 Yi Toyŏng, “Ko sŏhwa chinjamgp’um chŏn chinyŏl chakp’um e taehayŏ,” Tonga ilbo, October 19, 1930.

64 Treasures of Ancient Chosŏn Paintings and Calligraphy consisted of 98 works, including calligraphy by Kim Chŏnghŭi, and paintings by Kim Hongdo and An Chungsik drawn from the collections of prominent collectors, such as Pak Ch’anghun 朴昌薰 (1897–1951), Yi Toyŏng, Yi Hanbok, and O Sech’ang; see O Pongbin, “Chosŏn kosŏhwa chinjamgp’um chŏllamhoe nŭl yŏlmyŏnsŏ,” Tonga ilbo, October 4, 1932.

65 For a detailed discussion of Charles Lang Freer’s collecting practice, see Kathleen Pyne, “Portrait of a Collector as an Agnostic: Charles Lang Freer and Connoisseurship,” Art Bulletin 78, no. 1 (1996): 75–97; Julian Raby, Ideals of Beauty: Asian and American Art in the Freer and Sackler Galleries (London: Thames and Hudson, 2010); Ingrid Larsen, “‘Don't Send Ming or Later Pictures’”: Charles Lang Freer and the First Major Collection of Chinese Painting in an American Museum,” Ars Orientalis 40 (2011): 6–38; Daisy Yiyou Wang, “Charles Lang Freer and the Collecting of Chinese Buddhist Art in Early-20th-Century America,” Journal of the History of Collections 28, no. 3 (2016): 401–16; and Louise Allison Cort, “Charles Lang Freer and Japanese Ceramics,” Impressions 39 (2018): 130–63.

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Ja Won Lee

Ja Won Lee is an assistant professor of Asian art history and visual studies at California State University, East Bay. Her current projects focus on antiquarianism, intellectual culture, and transcultural movements of Asia [Department of Art, California States University, East Bay, Hayward, CA 94542, [email protected]].