Late US scholar ventures deep into Korean traditional painting 'chaekgeori'

Seen above is a ten-panel trompe l'oeil-type chaekgeori screen created by Yi Ung-nok, probably between 1864 and 1866. The painter used ink and mineral pigments on silk or hemp. Courtesy of National Museum of Korea

By Kwak Yeon-soo

Chaekgeori, are Korean folk paintings that refer to “books and things.” They first appeared in King Jeongjo's time, who ruled the country from 1776 to 1800, and were popular during the latter period of Joseon Kingdom.

The paintings usually depict scholarly objects such as books, calligraphy brushes and carved jade seals and ornaments such as peacock feathers and ceramic vases.

Kay E. Black (1928-2020), who published “CH'AEKKORI PAINTING: A Korean Jigsaw Puzzle” in June, fell in love with chaekgeori when she visited the Emille Museum in Seoul in 1973. The difference in spelling of “ch'aekkori” in the book title versus “chaekgeori” ― the common spelling in modern Korea ― reflects past and present systems of Romanization of the Korean language.

Fascinated with Korea's brightly colored folding screens and abstract patterns, she started academic work on the subject that was entirely unknown to her beginning in her mid-40s once her children had grown up.

Kay E. Black / Courtesy of Sahoipyoungnon Academy

Black had a keen eye for assessing color, proportion, line and formal arrangement of space, which allowed her to examine as many as some 150 examples of chaekgeori in diverse collections.

Throughout the course of her research that spanned several decades, the author broke an old preconception that chaekgeori reflected folk taste by revealing the fact that court painters worked on the paintings for the elite and royalty.

Black and Edward Wagner (1924-2001), a professor of Korean studies at Harvard University, also disclosed a complex family lineage of professional painters and the transmission of painting themes and styles within those families.

The book cover of “CH'AEKKORI PAINTING: A Korean Jigsaw Puzzle” / Courtesy of Sahoipyoungnon Academy

Black's book “CH'AEKKORI PAINTING: A Korean Jigsaw Puzzle,” written in English, provides a significant overview of Korean traditional painting. This book enables readers to understand how the bookshelf-style art form was not only enjoyed by common people but favored by the ruling elite. The author also thoroughly examines the artistic genealogy of chaekgeori from a non-Korean perspective.

Below is an excerpt of The Korea Times interview with Deborah Black, daughter of Kay E. Black, on the author's decades-old pursuit of chaekkori and her contribution to the study of Korean art. The author passed away on July 5, ten days after publishing her book. It has been edited for clarity and readability.

Q. I heard Kay first visited Korea in early 1970s and was captivated by Korean art. Do you know how she first became interested in Korean art in general and chaekgeori in particular?

A. My mother first became interested in Korean art in 1973 when she went to Korea on a trip organized by the Denver Art Museum. I remember she came back from that trip greatly enthused about Korean art and culture. She loved the colors, patterns and objects depicted and the fact that the paintings were on folding screens. She was particularly fascinated with the scholarly objects in the paintings, noting that there were common items in many paintings, but that there were also occasionally unusual objects in a painting, which intrigued her further.

Q. Kay obtained her master's degree in Asian Art History in her late-40s, and since then pursued decades-long study of Korean art. Can you further elaborate on her passion for Asian art as a scholar?

A. She studied some aspects of Chinese art, Japanese art and Indian art to a lesser degree, but it was her fascination with chaekgeori that really changed her life. Her decades-long study of Korean art included traveling to various places in the world that she had sought out through exhibition catalogues, museum collections and private collections and made many Korean friends who proudly showed her their chaekgeori screens.

Q. Kay found out that chaekgeori was popular among Korea's elite class during the Joseon Kingdom, and top-tier court painters exceled in this art form. Can you describe how much effort Kay put into her studies to discover this finding?

A. Her understanding of the visual information in the paintings led to the next level of understanding of chaekgeori in general, through her collaboration with Harvard University Professor Ed Wagner's genealogical knowledge, followed by Columbia University Professor Gari Ledyard's assistance. These collaborations resulted in a new understanding about chaekgeori as an art form, and a goal of reaching broader audiences.

Q. She also discovered the complex family lineage of painters in achieving refined artistry over generations. Have you ever heard about the process of interpreting the clues?

A. Kay first began listing the many seals shown on ink sticks, and in the books painted in the screens, many of which were the names or pennames of the painters or others involved in the creation of the paintings. This was made more difficult as the artists often changed their pennames over time, which required tireless stylistic comparisons of paintings coupled with research on Korean families to identify them. For several of the artists, Edward Wagner provided information from his extensive knowledge of Korean genealogies, which supported her initial theories. Sometimes it took years for the information to come to light.

Q. Why did Kay decide to publish her book in Korea? I heard she finished writing the book a decade ago. What was her reaction to the finished book “CH'AEKKORI PAINTING: A Korean Jigsaw Puzzle?”

A. Kay wanted to have the book published in Korea because she felt Korea was the homeland of this art form and that the book was for the Korean audience as well as world audiences. She had always wanted to broaden the world's knowledge of Korean art because she was so fascinated with it and loved it. She also wanted to give back to Koreans, what they have given to her ― her life's work, their art and culture.