이매창의 회화 연구

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to examine the achievements and records of Joseon’s female artist, Lee Mae-Chang(1529~1592) whose name is even unknown and unfamiliar, to analyze her remained paintings, and then to consider the symbolic meanings and value of the times of the paintings. Lee Mae-Chang is not only the eldest daughter of Shin Saimdang who is highly noted for poetry, calligraphy, and painting as a byword for good wife and wise mother, but also the eldest sister of Yulgok Lee Yi who is a representative Neo-Confucian scholar in the Joseon Dynasty. After fully inheriting the lesson and artistic abilities from her mother Saimdang, Lee Mae-Chang also had profound learning and artistic abilities. Especially, she was noted for excellent paintings. Thus, the people in later generations called her ‘Little Saimdang’ as she fully took after her mother Saimdang. The achievement records of Lee Mae-Chang are handed down very fragmentarily such as an episode related to her younger brother Yulgok, a record of the epitaph of her husband Jo Dae-Nam, and the epilogue of her collection of calligraphic works left in Deoksu Lee Family. Regarding her painting works, there are only seven paintings handed down including four paintings of birds that could be classified into paintings of flowers & birds representing the four seasons, and three paintings of plum flowers. Nevertheless, Mae-Chang’s wisdom was delivered to Joseon society as woman’s voice through Yulgok while her seven painting works worked as an important bridgehead in the transition period from the early period to the middle period of the Joseon Dynasty. Among Lee Mae-Chang’s seven paintings, the work we need to pay the closest attention to is 「Wolmaedo」. This 「Wolmaedo」 aimed to show the strong vitality of plum flowers that would firmly shoot out new buds even in barren and devastated hardship, which could represent the look of noble man. Also, her paintings of plum flowers show the very similar composition to Seolgok Eo Mong-Ryong’s 「Wolmaedo」 called ‘the best in the Royal Court’. Eo Mong-Ryong’s 「Wolmaedo」 is called ‘the model of paintings of plum flowers in the 16th century’, and especially, it is evaluated as the work with remarkable originality of expression. On top of the similarity in the aspect of composition, there are many similarities between Eo Mong-Ryong’s 「Wolmaedo」 and Mae-Chang’s 「Wolmaedo」 such as using Bibaekbeop(brush technique to show the white empty space in the middle of brush stroke) for the trunk of plum tree or symbolically drawing a round moon on the end of a thin and upright plum tree branch. Mae-Chang’s 「Wolmaedo」 does not seem to be inferior to Eo Mong-Ryong’s 「Wolmaedo」. Even though Lee Mae-Chang did not have a chance to get properly evaluated as a woman of boudoir in the Joseon Dynasty, she painted each plum flower on every branch by hoping to be a noble man through endless self-discipline. It should be an opportunity to understand a female artist Lee Mae-Chang of the Joseon Dynasty.