Court Painter An Geon-yeong (1841~1877), His Life and Figure Painting of the Late Joseon Period

Abstract

An Geon-yeong (sobriquet: Haesa, 1841~1877) is a court painter from the late Joseon period. An honorable mention, “[t]he expertise of the [Royal] Academy [of Painting] went no farther than Jang Seung-up and An Geon-yeong,” testifies to the strong impression An has left. The scarcity of literary sources and extant works, however, has led to address him no more than briefly or fragmentarily. A recent study that examines the introduction of pictorial styles from the Qing dynasty through the lens of An’s works certainly deserves recognition, although it contains a few misunderstandings and a limited grasp of his works. This study aims to correct the biographic misapprehensions and take a comprehensive look of his figure paintings. The misunderstandings are of his name, style name, and dates. It turns out that during his career An Geon-yeong favored his given name of a different Chinese character from what has been known. His style name is Hakwon, not Hyowon. The year of his death should be modified from 1876 to 1877. No records clearly indicate An’s social relations, but verbal accounts and seals of his daughterin-law provide a clue for the painter’s associations. First, this essay pays a particular attention to the relation between An Geon-yeong and An Jungsik (1861~1919) that the daughter-in-law has mentioned. The reliability of her accounts and An’s painting styles combine to suggest a close relationship between the two Ans. The seals and writing styles remaining on An Geon-yeong’s paintings make it possible to infer his connection to Yi Sangjeok (1804~1865) and Jeong Hakgyo (1832~1914). Figure paintings by An Geon-yeong divides largely into a decorative type and another type in the manner of Gim Hongdo’s sytle. The decorative ones feature exquisite splendors, while taking themes from painting manuals or historical narratives. An’s revivals of old paintings from the manuals seem to have fulfilled a growing demand and desire to own antique paintings in the late Joseon period when the collecting fever of antiquities, ancient paintings and calligraphy was prevalent. Likewise, his illustrations of classical narratives with decorative touches have accommodated consumers’ preferences. On the other hand, An’s figure paintings in the manner of Gim Hongdo take advantage of stock images or Gim’s style, a widespread practice among late Joseon court painters. Jin dogeum gyonbon cheop (Album of Sample Drawings for Daoist Gilt Painting), produced while in work shifts at Dohwaseo (Bureau of Painting), displays the way in which court painters produced albums by sharing a body of pictorial motifs. Dohwaso sihwa (Painting Examination at Bureau of Painting), preserving exam grades, shows Gim’s styles in addition to sharing the motifs. The several aspects of An Geon-yeong’s figure paintings speak to the court painters of the late Joseon period. This paper’s examination of his paintings goes along with discussions on the artistic trends of the late Joseon and the production contexts surrounding Dohwaseo. An has so far been noted for a court painter representing the cultural exchange between the late Joseon and the Qing dynasty. Besides the exchange, An’s figure paintings lead to a synthetic understanding of how court painters of the period produced works of art.