謙齋 鄭敾, 그 名聲의 근거 검토

Abstract

This study briefly outlined the history of rising valuation for Chŏng Sŏn(1676~1759)'s landscape painting, and then traced the points that were presented as evidence of the upsurge in the assessment of Chŏng Sŏn during the modern and contemporary times. The conclusion of this study is as follows. Firstly, 'Chin-kyŏng 眞景,' or true view scenery, described by the early twentieth century Korean scholars as a theme of Chŏng's painting was a desirable subject in the sense of both nationalist under colonial rule and modernists. This study showed that Chin-kyŏng in the eighteenth century had meant purely real scenery, but the meaning was changed into modern sketch of Korean landscapes in the early twentieth century. Secondly, "an idea that Chosŏn has taken over the authenticity of Chinese civilization since the Ming was conquered by the Qing" was asserted as the background idea of Chŏng's painting which depicted Korean scenery. But this study revealed that the patrons for Chŏng Sŏn did not have the idea but had tried to receive the developed culture of the Qing and several books from China became the reference for Chŏng's pictorial expression. Thirdly, the best evaluation that Chŏng Sŏn was called as 'hwa-sŏng 畵聖,' or the Saint of Painting, which became a colloquial term in praise of Chŏng Sŏn today. As this study explained in detail, this evaluation was the result of complete mistranslation of the original text. The semantic transition and mistranslation in the process of escalating valuation for one painter reflect clearly the desires of each eras in Korea, but this process itself also eventually provided or created a constant interest in Chŏng Sŏn.