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Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art
A dazzling exploration of the pictorial traditions inspired by Korea’s legendary Diamond Mountains
The Diamond Mountains, known in Korea as Mount Geumgang, are perhaps the most famous and emotionally resonant site on the Korean Peninsula, a breathtaking range of rocky peaks, waterfalls, lagoons, and manmade pavilions. For centuries the range has inspired cultural pride and a vast outpouring of creative expression. Yet since the partition of Korea in the 1940s, situating them in the North, the Diamond Mountains have remained largely inaccessible to visitors, shrouding the site in legend, loss, and longing.
This book examines the visual representation of this remarkable landscape from the 18th century to the present day. It explores how Jeong Seon (1676–1759) revolutionized Korean painting with his Diamond Mountains landscapes, replacing conventional generic imagery with specific detail and indelibly influencing generations of artists in his wake. It also discusses the potency of these mountains as an emblem of Korean cultural identity, as reflected in literature and in exquisitely detailed album leaves, handscrolls, hanging scrolls, and screens. This magnificent volume is the first in English to survey this rich artistic tradition and bring these distant mountains into view.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition The Metropolitan Museum of Art
(02/06/18–05/20/18)
The Diamond Mountains, known in Korea as Mount Geumgang, are perhaps the most famous and emotionally resonant site on the Korean Peninsula, a breathtaking range of rocky peaks, waterfalls, lagoons, and manmade pavilions. For centuries the range has inspired cultural pride and a vast outpouring of creative expression. Yet since the partition of Korea in the 1940s, situating them in the North, the Diamond Mountains have remained largely inaccessible to visitors, shrouding the site in legend, loss, and longing.
This book examines the visual representation of this remarkable landscape from the 18th century to the present day. It explores how Jeong Seon (1676–1759) revolutionized Korean painting with his Diamond Mountains landscapes, replacing conventional generic imagery with specific detail and indelibly influencing generations of artists in his wake. It also discusses the potency of these mountains as an emblem of Korean cultural identity, as reflected in literature and in exquisitely detailed album leaves, handscrolls, hanging scrolls, and screens. This magnificent volume is the first in English to survey this rich artistic tradition and bring these distant mountains into view.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition The Metropolitan Museum of Art
(02/06/18–05/20/18)
- GenresArt
164 pages, Hardcover
Published March 6, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 10, 2019
When I lived in Korea, it was pretty difficult to get access to interesting art. Monochromatic celadon pots pervaded, and the arid atmosphere transferred itself to school art lessons - children educated abroad started to hate art as a subject in Korea due to the lack of self-expression. Also, jingoism and nationalism coloured the narratives I and my friends were told about the traditional art we could see, such that we were told Japan and the West had no influence on it at all, and that Korea had influenced China. This was such evident rot (I can paint lol... non-artists can't tell me silly things about how artistic influence works...) that it was offputting. I didn't see any really moving or inspiring artwork from Korea until I first visited Taiwan and found a load of it, painting after painting, exhibited in a gorgeous museum building originally constructed by... oh, guess. ;) It was very sad and I thought about it on the plane back to Incheon, the fact that these exhibits didn't seem to have a domestic audience.
Flash forward to the modern day, and here we have this amazing book. How things have changed. Fully exploring the cultural significance of art about mountains (though I would dispute one author's assertion that mountains lack religious significance in SK: yes they do, in shamanism) and especially the Diamond Mountain range in North Korea, the book shows how representation of these pinnacles has happened through specific domestic styles as well as the influence of foreign culture, with an emphasis on physical perspective coming from Western art and Korean responses to various global styles. The book shows how imagery of the mountains developed and links it to a multiplicity of cultural information. Ex-residents of Korea will be familiar with slogans put about by the former President Park Chung-Hee as he sought to build up his nation from war's ravages (and Lee / Rhee's 'governance' - ahem) and the fact that most of them were basically repackaged Yamato propaganda because he was a Japanese Army veteran. One of these is the 'Korea has four seasons' spiel. This almost meaningless slogan suddenly takes on significance and life when considered in the light of the venerable traditions surrounding the Diamond Mountain range, which has different names with the seasons. Looking at the paintings, reading the poetry and thinking of the weather and scenery I know, I suddenly felt very calm and relaxed, and saw how certain things seem to fit together like a jigsaw.
A fascinating inclusion in this book is modern art representing the peaks (the most daring and visceral of which is by a Korean woman - and reflects female sexuality, and is in bright colours) and the written and physical contribution of female foreigners to the artistic tradition surrounding the Diamond Mountains. This means a ton to me. Art should be vibrant and vital as well as steeped in tradition, and it's also good to see how people like me who came to Korea before me might have left something positive behind.
Flash forward to the modern day, and here we have this amazing book. How things have changed. Fully exploring the cultural significance of art about mountains (though I would dispute one author's assertion that mountains lack religious significance in SK: yes they do, in shamanism) and especially the Diamond Mountain range in North Korea, the book shows how representation of these pinnacles has happened through specific domestic styles as well as the influence of foreign culture, with an emphasis on physical perspective coming from Western art and Korean responses to various global styles. The book shows how imagery of the mountains developed and links it to a multiplicity of cultural information. Ex-residents of Korea will be familiar with slogans put about by the former President Park Chung-Hee as he sought to build up his nation from war's ravages (and Lee / Rhee's 'governance' - ahem) and the fact that most of them were basically repackaged Yamato propaganda because he was a Japanese Army veteran. One of these is the 'Korea has four seasons' spiel. This almost meaningless slogan suddenly takes on significance and life when considered in the light of the venerable traditions surrounding the Diamond Mountain range, which has different names with the seasons. Looking at the paintings, reading the poetry and thinking of the weather and scenery I know, I suddenly felt very calm and relaxed, and saw how certain things seem to fit together like a jigsaw.
A fascinating inclusion in this book is modern art representing the peaks (the most daring and visceral of which is by a Korean woman - and reflects female sexuality, and is in bright colours) and the written and physical contribution of female foreigners to the artistic tradition surrounding the Diamond Mountains. This means a ton to me. Art should be vibrant and vital as well as steeped in tradition, and it's also good to see how people like me who came to Korea before me might have left something positive behind.
July 21, 2022
The Diamond Mountains are no longer accessible to visitors since the partition of Korea. So this book explores the landscape through known Korean paintings from the 18th century to the present day. This book helps us see the beauty and emotions the Korean people have for the area. The amazing Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York published the book in 2018 and is full of beautiful colour plates.
April 29, 2020
This is the catalogue published in conjunction with the exhibition “Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art” presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art 7 Feb - 20 May 2018. The catalogue is lovingly and exquisitely done and contains images of Korean art which had previously not been out of the country. This catalogue begins to fill in the gaps of a very much under appreciated and under represented artistic tradition. Well done MET.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews