화원(畫員)으로 불린 승려: 조선시대 불교회화의 제작자

Abstract

The Buddhist monk artisans of the Joseon Dynasty are considered unique within East Asian Buddhism. They were monks with special technical skills, including monk-architects who built Buddhist halls, monk-sculptors who created Buddhist sculptures, monk-painters who produced Buddhist paintings, and monk-carvers who carved images and texts into wood. In China, professional painters called huagong (畫工) were responsible for producing Buddhist art during the Ming Dynasty. In Japan, the renowned sculptors Unkei (運慶) and Kaikei (快慶) received dharma names as monks do, but this simply indicated that the state had granted a type of honorary position on them. The Japanese sculptors ran a type of private workshop based on blood ties or teacher-student relationships. This paper examines changes in the perception of Buddhist monk-painters during the Joseon Dynasty that can be identified through changes in their appellations and analyzes their organization, working system, and wages. There were monk artisans who produced Buddhist art further in the past, but it was only with the Joseon Dynasty’s official adoption of a Confucian state that particular monks came to be exclusively responsible for producing Buddhist sculptures and paintings and several schools of monk-sculptors and monk-painters with distinctive regional styles formed. The application of dancheong (traditional decorative coloring) of buildings and the production of Buddhist paintings were perceived as specialties of monk-painters. In particular, the overall process of producing a Buddhist painting from its design to its enlivening through an eye-opening ritual was believed to fall outside the scope of artisans from the commoner class. Some temples became famous for training apprentices and producing monk-artisans by transmitting key techniques. The formation of schools of monk-painters and the passing along of the traditions within these schools was made possible by production practices that taught knowledge, skills, and styles through apprenticeship education under the leadership of head monk-painters. These head monk-painters directed and supervised the entire process of the production of Buddhist paintings from the creation of preparatory drawings through the eye-opening of completed works. Buddhist paintings were produced through collaboration among several monk-painters in a school, and techniques were shared and disseminated among them according to their skill levels rather than being monopolized by particular members. The areas of their activities were broad since they worked based on both the temples where they were staying and human networks built around the monastic lineages (門中) to which they belonged. The roles of monk-painters expanded when they started participating in public works after the state handicraft system collapsed and when they began to fill local communities’ needs for paintings. The expansion of their roles impacted the styles of Buddhist paintings. Based on their financial capacity and the areas of their activities, monk-painters served as further agents for Buddhist projects by working as donors, fundraisers, and verifiers. Monk artisans were a distinctive feature of the Joseon Dynasty within the East Asian cultural sphere. The study of the creators of Buddhist paintings will enhance the understanding of Buddhist temples as a space for producing and consuming art.