동아시아 삼국의 개항장(開港場)과 미술

Abstract

The Opium War of 1840 was an event of huge historical importance that shattered the existing order in East Asia. The conflict marked the beginning of a period of upheaval in the region that included plunder at the hands of Western powers, political struggle between conservatives and reformists, and numerous revolutions and other wars. These political and social changes also influenced the field of art, bringing new and unprecedented developments, the most striking of which was the clash between traditional painters and those who aimed for Westernization. In Korea, China and Japan, traditional artists appeared victorious at first, but the gradual influx of Western culture brought ever more force and influence to the tide of Western painting. Changes brought by the opening of East Asian ports included the translation and adoption of the concept of “art” itself. A new perspective formed, according to which statues, which had previous been regarded in East Asian culture as religious objects, and various everyday items began to be placed in artistic sub-categories such as sculpture, painting and crafts. East Asian painting, meanwhile, was placed into categories such as “Chinese,” “Korean,” “Japanese” or “Oriental,” producing the term “Western painting” in response. Change in painting was influenced by a conservative attitude on the part of traditional artists to new culture, and by the gradual spread of Western painting techniques. Despite the recognition of the superiority of Western science, technology and culture in Korea, China and Japan, traditional artists were slow to accept this. This was partly because they had grown used to their countries' previous policies of isolation from the outside world, but also partly because of an age-old perception in East Asia that Western art was inferior. The powerful influence of the West manifested itself in several ways, but visits from Western artists and journalists were among the most important. The visit of artist Charles Wirgman to Guangzhou brought images of China to the West. In Shanghai, works by artist Wo Youru(吳友如, ?~1893) published in the newspaper Dianshizhai huabao(點石齋畵譜) brought readers images of change in China rendered using Western painting techniques. The opening of ports in Korea, too, led to visits from large numbers of Westerners, allowing images of the country's street life and customs to reach Europe. Art in the period of open ports in Japan took several forms. This included woodblock prints such as Yokohama-e(橫浜繪), which depicted the culture and customs of Yokohama, an open port ; kaika-e(開化繪), which took new culture as their themes ; and ukiyo-e “war pictures” used for reporting and propaganda purposes during the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War. Such works are characterized by their combination of traditional Japanese media and painting techniques such as Western perspective. Another aspect of change at this time was the way craft items, which had previously been no more than everyday objects, began making frequent appearances at shows and exhibitions as industrialization altered their status. Paintings, meanwhile, became export items and were sold to foreigners. This commercialization and export of artworks was another characteristic of the open port period. The inclusion of art as a category in international and domestic expositions and the use of artworks as items for export was something that happened in Korea, China and Japan alike. In short, changes in East Asian art during the open port period can be summarized by the passive response of the Shanghai school(海上畵派) in China, the traditional expressions of An Jung-sik and Jo Seok-jin in Korea, and the rise of the Kan and Maruyama-Shijō schools in Japan. However, factors such as the increasing number of artists who studied in the West, visits by Western artists, and their cultivation of East Asian students led to a gradual shift towards the path of Western painting. Perhaps the main tasks faced by artists in the open port period were to defend their native cultures in defiance of the powerful West, based on pride, and to overcome the differences between East and West through compromise.