Objects in Motion: Chinese Bronzes in Nineteenth-Century Korean Paintings

Objects in Motion: Chinese Bronzes in Nineteenth-Century Korean Paintings

Date: 22 March 2018 (Thursday)
Time: 4:30-6:00pm
Venue: Room 2.58, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus

Yi Hyongnok (1808-after1863) and An Chungsik (1861-1919) developed the new genres of paintings that depicted a wide range of bronzes from ancient times to contemporary Qing China. This talk analyzes a trend in collecting Chinese bronzes in nineteenth-century Korea and their visualization in paintings to understand the aesthetic principles that were shaped and shared by collectors and artists. By examining possible pictorial sources, modified visual elements, and cultural transmission, it discusses how collectors perceived Chinese bronzes as symbols of culture in the course of cultural exchanges and how artists appropriated the motifs of Chinese bronzes in response to the aspiration of collectors. The representation of Chinese bronzes enabled collectors to demonstrate their knowledge of Chinese culture as part of their cultivation and thereby to enhance their social prestige.

Speaker: Ja Won Lee

Dr. Lee has just completed her PhD at UCLA, with a dissertation entitled Visualizing the Past: Collecting and Representing Chinese Antiques in Late Chosŏn Korea. A specialist in Korean and Chinese art and material culture, Dr. Lee has received numerous doctoral awards, including fellowships at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies at Seoul National University. She is currently a visiting lecturer at HKU.