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A Study on Siksan Yi Man-bu (1664-1732) and the Painting-Calligraphy Album "Nuhang-do"

이선옥

Published: January 2000 · No. 227 · pp. 5-38
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Abstract

This paper examines a painted album titled Nuhangdo by Siksan Yi Man-bu (1664-1732). Yi Man-bu is a Sirhak scholar, who belonged to the faction of the Southerners. Without serving the government office, he lived in Sangju, the Ky?ngsang province writing a number of books, which include such renowned works as Chihaengnok 地行錄. He is also famous for Nuhangdo, which shows his talent as a painter.*br* It was common during the Chos?n period that a scholar built a hermitage 精舍 in mountains and represented it in a painting. This custom, which was popular from the early Chos?n period, was related to the tradition that the famous Confucian scholar Zhu Xi (1130-1200) in China left the depiction of his Mui jingsi 武夷精舍. This paper attempts to explore the significance of Nuhangdo in the history of Chos?n-dynasty painting.*br* The second chapter discusses Yi Man-bu's life as a scholar and artist. Not only did he wrote a number of important works as a Sirhak scholar, but also he was a master in calligraphy and had profound knowledge of art. The third chapter examines the content of Nuhangdo. This album consists of "Nogokki and Hugi," which explains his reason for building the hermitage Siksan ch?ngsa, along with his poems and paintings depicting the hermitage.*br* The forth chapter discusses the orgaruzmg features of the Nuhenado. In this album, there is a writing in front of each painting, and paintings match with poems. This format is quite distinct from other pictorial depictions of a scholar's hermitage of this period. The paintings are also connected with a new tendency of the period. True-view landscape. He used a bird's-eye view and textual strokes and evoked an archaic atmosphere by employing blue colours. The fifth chapter looks into Yi Man-bu's activity of writing and painting as well as his view of painting presented in Siksenjib 息山集, Although he was a literati painter who painted only at leisure, he drew maps and portraits of prominent scholars as well. This seems to show his attitude as a Sirhak scholar.*br* Nuhando is connected to the preceding period in painting structure and textual strokes. In the depiction of real scenery, however, it is closely related to the contemporaneous True-view landscape: it also shows associations with genre paintings. In this respect, this album is quite significant in illuminating an important aspect of literati painting of this period.