조선시대의 미인도와 여성초상화 독해를 위한 제언

Abstract

This paper questioned the academia and fine arts circles' general naming of Joseon woman portraits Miindo (Portrait of A Beauty), challenging its validity. A number of Sin Yun-bok's Miindo images among Joseon paintings have been handed down. Most of them presumably portray Gisaeng (female entertainer). Of them, Sin Yun-bok's Miindo works are so classic that even amateurs, and fans of the beauty of landscapes like them. The image in the so-called Miindo is clearly beautiful, but could all these Miindo works deserve being named Miindo? This study criticized the naming of works portraying a full-body woman as Miindo, and the customary practice of naming paintings of woman as Miindo. Naming of paintings - although the painter or the collector of the painting is not known - should reflect the painting's characteristics. Naming of all full-body woman portraits as Miindo does not tell of the painting's characteristics, weakening such naming. In addition, this study proved that Joseon Miindo works and paintings called Miindo in early and recent modern times are different from each other, and criticized the naming of Sin Yun-bok-style paintings as Miindo. This study disclosed that the reason for naming Sin Yun-bok-style paintings as Miindo is because the woman image is seen as only the object of men's viewing. Women, who were the model of portraits, actually, were deeply involved in the drawing them as a portrait. Thus, it was emphasized that not only the woman model in the portraits, the painter, and the viewer, but also the woman's attitude should be carefully examined. It was only after the recent modern times that Sin Yun-bok's Miindo-style paintings were named as Miindo. It is argued whether Sin Yun-bok's Miindo-style images are seen as portraits or Miindo. There are mixed opinions as to whether such images are Miindo portraits or normal paintings. But, these two arguments have not been fully discussed.