ART

SHIN YUN-BOK COULDN'T HELP HIMSELF BECAUSE HE SAW THE WORLD

And depicted it with bold strokes

By Jiwon Kim

 

Women on the move

Delicate lines, bold and colorful colors are the most prominent features of the paintings by artist Shin Yun-bok (1758-1813) from the late Joseon Dynasty. Shin painted people in everyday life, and he was especially interested in the social lives of aristocrats. His style was subtle and realistic and is still praised by many people to the present day. However, Shin’s paintings were not welcomed during his time, most likely because of the frankness of his depictions of the sexual lives of everyday people: a married gentleman meeting a prostitute; a man meeting his lover under cover of the night; and a monk secretly looking at naked women taking a bath. The question is why does Shin chose to paint scenes that he knew would make government censors upset: the answer is a complex relationship between his artistic upbringing and in his own artistic inclinations.

Shin loved to create pieces about people's daily lives, or as they are more commonly known, genre paintings. Among the many genre painters of the Joseon Dynasty, he was the most ingenious. With his delicate hand drawing, precise expression, rich use of color, the figures in his paintings seem to be right in front of the viewer's eyes, full of life, almost alive. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why he kept on painting scenes that he knew were going to run afoul of government censors.

A moonlit meeting

To be a genre painter is to paint what you see, no matter what that is. And so in the painting, "Wolha Jeongin," a woman meets her lover on a street corner lit only by the moonlight; in "Ibubamchun," a widow who lost her husband secretly watches a couple of dogs mating in her backyard. In both these works, there is a distinct lack of moral censure, it is as if the artist is merely recording what he sees. If we look at his paintings nowadays, we may think that he painted quite boring and cliche subjects, but those who know the history of the Joseon Dynasty can see how revolutionary and stylish Shin’s paintings are. Of course, his artistic skills are beautiful and full of movement, but what recent people enjoy is how he views everyday life in the Joseon Dynasty. This is because the Joseon Dynasty, like any other time, is filled with private moments that elude history. We only can see the Joseon nations’ secrets by Shin’s paintings.

Along the same lines, many critics have tried to guess why he was drawn to women’s private or secret lives. The most likely guess is that he painted at a time when the world was changing in terms of cultural mores. It was a time when women weren’t free, but were starting to demand some amount of autonomy. They were not just housewives anymore. But since the Joseon Dynasty espoused a kind of Neo-Confucianist philosophy, the official thinking of the Joseon rulers was that the country would be ruined if women were free to do what they wanted to do, although some were doing it anyway. And so you can see that tension in the paintings.

There are some freedoms

As a genre painter, Shin was attracted to moments of cultural conflict and he duly painted it over and over again. So, the time he was painting was an incredibly tricky moment. Women were kind of free, but not. People were kind of good, but not. Women from noble families could not learn to write, but some women from Silhak families had social reform ideas that were emerging around the 18th century. There are women’s writings on these subjects, insisting on equal rights and it is this change in women’s consciousness that Shin is catching.

The hat or "gat" is important

In his painting, 'A lady in a gat', the audience can see a woman who seems to be a courtesan wearing a traditional Korean hat, called a ‘gat’. In the Joseon Dynasty, gats were worn by men rather than women, and the men were only allowed to wear them if they were of high social status. A woman of low status wearing a gat would be just like women wearing miniskirts 50 years ago. However, the woman in the painting is wearing a free costume, ignoring the social mores of the time. These are the types of tensions that Shin loves.

In addition, a lady with a skirt wrapped around her head is riding on a palanquin in the painting, 'Huigi Dappung'. During the Joseon Dynasty, only noble women could wear a skirt. However, it can be seen that she is a prostitute who is not bound by such social status or gender. The man passing her in the painting is of high social status: we can tell by his clothes. His ornaments were a luxury that only people of great wealth could afford, and the black, long hat he is wearing could only be worn by aristocrats. It was a time when men from noble families could not fall in love with prostitutes recklessly, but the men and women in the painting made eye contact with each other and smiled lightly. The woman looks curious as if seeing a man for the first time. And the man seems to enjoy her gazing at him, even though he knows she shouldn't. In the Joseon Dynasty, when love between men and women was not free, this provocative painting would be shocking.

Just one look, a glance

His bold paintings of love between men and women also reveal the changes in the consciousness of the Joseon Dynasty. Castles were considered places of secrecy where people could indulge in behavior that they normally couldn’t. However, many of his paintings show the man cheating on his wife and hanging out with a prostitute. Again, he reveals what is not commonly depicted or talked about during his times.Born into a noble family where every action was strict, Shin did not lose heart and portrayed the society of the time realistically and somewhat within Joseon restrictions. On the other hand, he expressed his philosophy that the human body and human emotions are as precious as art. This is the vitality of Shin, who has gained admirers in age after age and probably will do so way into the future.

©Jiwon Chun and the CCA Arts Review