UCLA

ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS

Expanding Horizons

Kim Hongdo's Album of the Four Districts of Kŭmgang and European Inspiration in Korean True Scenery Painting of the Eighteenth Century

By

Nathaniel Kingdon

Masters of Arts in Art History

University of California, Los Angeles, 2012

Professor Burglind Jungmann, Chair

The authenticity of the Album of the Four Districts of Kŭmgang attributed to Kim Hongdo (1745-before 1818) is contested by scholars. Yi Song-mi argues that the style of the paintings correspond to a European sensibility that was not known in Korea in the late eighteenth century, whereas, Oh Ju-seok does not question the attribution to Kim Hongdo or the early dating of the album to ca. 1788. This debate contests Kim's progressive role in the development of the genre of true scenery painting as well as the extent to which Korean artists utilized European techniques and styles at the end of the eighteenth century.

In order to understand whether Kim's painting is truly an anomaly, I examine the development of true scenery painting through two other major figures, Chŏng Sŏn (1676-1759) and Kang Sehwang (1713-1776), with special attention as to the extent to which they integrate and expand on tradition. I also compare Kim's album with his set of eight hanging scrolls (ca. 1788) that contain similar techniques, styles, and calligraphic elements. My research indicates that both Chŏng and Kang were keen innovators in the true-scenery genre, experimenting with many of the European techniques and styles that appear in the Four Districts album. In addition, Kim's set of eight hanging scrolls confirm that he used a similarly detailed style of painting for other commissions and that there may be calligraphic evidence to prove that the contested album is by his same hand. Although the true origin of the album may never be proven, my research indicates that it sits comfortably within the development of true-scenery painting in the eighteenth century as well as Kim's oeuvre of landscape works.