Description
- Abstract:
- Abstract of “‘Art on the Edge between Creation and Dissolution’: Nakhwa, the Korean Pyrography,” by He Ri Kwon, Degree M.A., Brown University, May 2020. This study focuses on the specific genre of pyrography practiced in Korea called nakhwa. It was first practiced in China and became popular in Korea in the 1800s, especially among the royal and upper-class. The study was conceived due to the lack of existing scholarship regarding the subject, notwithstanding the historical and cultural significance it holds. The study attempts to answer the question of why and how once highly praised genre lost its prestige and became a mere tourist souvenir. Along with the existing nakhwa paintings, spread nationally and internationally, a handful of texts dated to Chosŏn period left by the contemporary literati and scholar painters and the newspaper articles published much later on the subjects help trace and put the fragmented history of nakhwa together. With these visual and textual references, the genealogy of the Pak of Milyang—the family carried on the nakhwa tradition—verifies some misconceptions of the previous studies. Pak Ch’angkyu, the earliest nakhwa artist who began the popularity of the genre, was well-known among then most influential literati painter group, and even worked for King Hŏnjong. He trained his young relatives to continue the tradition. However, the glory of nakhwa started to fade as the country entered the colonial period. Nakhwa was favored and promoted by the high-class Japanese officials, yet simultaneously abused under the Cultural Policy proclaimed by the Japanese colonial government. During this period the taste of the market changed and the style of nakhwa, either willingly or unwillingly, also shifted to the style of Korean folk art, minhwa. After the independence, the genre faced the challenges that the minor crafts including nakhwa went through in the midst of the rapid modernization under the military regime by President Pak Chŏnghŭi. Thanks to the Framework Act on the Promotion of Art and Culture in 1972, nakhwa was supported and appreciated again. However, it has still struggled to recapture its former magnificence until today. There are a considerable number of works left by unidentified artists, and many of those works survived but with little clues about the identity of artists themselves. In conclusion, the fate of nakhwa has followed the ups and downs of the arts and crafts history of the nation; it was once backed by the royal and ruling elites, and regressed to the point where there was only one apprentice to continue its practice. Despite the hardships throughout the history, nakhwa artists were successful in cultivating their own styles and distinguishing the genre from other genres of arts including ink paintings that the earlier nakhwa artists tried to emulate. KEYWORDS: Nakhwa, Pyrography, Korea, Crafts, Traditional Craft, Yakie.
- Notes:
- Thesis (A. M.)--Brown University, 2020
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Citation
Kwon, He Ri,
"‘Art on the Edge between Creation and Dissolution’: Nakhwa, the Korean Pyrography"
(2020).
History of Art and Architecture Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:1129440/
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History of Art and Architecture Theses and Dissertations
Theses and Dissertations for the History of Art and Architecture department....