Minhwa Korean Folk Paintings

By Shim Hyun-chul
Staff Reporter

Every country has its own special form of art. In the case of drawings, it's folk painting, or ``minhwa'' in Korean, also known as ``sokhwa,'' ``minjunghwa'' or ``baekseonghwa.''

Such paintings are seen donning the walls of traditional Korean homes, mainly houses where the working class lived. As the working class grew to have more money and time, they painted ``minhwa.''

Folk paintings portray various subjects, like animals, beautiful flowers, trees, birds and even shelves with books, painting essentials and other daily objects in the live's of Korean commoners. The subjects were not painted in fun and simple patterns. The desire to live a long, healthy and prosperous life with many children is reflected in the paintings. The ``sibjangsaengdo'' shows certain animals that represent longevity, while the ``hwajodo,'' or the ``flower and bird painting,'' represents the love between married couples. The paintings with fruits such as grapes represent the desire for healthy children.

Kim Man-hee is a folk painting expert who has been studying the art for a long time. He was designated as Intangible Cultural Property No. 18 of Seoul in 1996. Kim is working on portraying forgotten Korean cultural aspects, and has been working with material based on historical research he conducted himself by traveling around the country when he was young.

After holding an exhibition of some 300 pieces of artwork he collected, Kim was the center of attention with his vast knowledge of the art form. He has held more than 40 exhibitions here and abroad with some 3,000 works ever since and has been striving to introduce and further acknowledge characters of Korean folk paintings. He said that he will display the ``Hell painting'' in order to warn ``bad'' people in February next year.

Kim works at his home, and added that students who study folk paintings come and visit him from time to time.
For more information about the paintings and Kim, visit www.minhwajang.com.

shim@koreatimes.co.kr

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