Salvation Reimagined: Sweet Dew Paintings in Wartime Colonial Korea

IF 0.2 4区 社会学 0 ASIAN STUDIES
Seunghye Lee
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract:Sweet dew paintings, which emerged in the sixteenth century, served as altarpieces for the low ritual altars where ceremonies for the disembodied were conducted in the three-altar configuration of the Korean Buddhist liturgy. Through their complex iconography, these paintings conveyed the message that all souls suffering from the misfortune and wrongdoings of previous lives could be saved through the salvific power of the divine and thus attain a better rebirth in their next life. Although this uniquely Korean genre of Buddhist paintings flourished throughout the Chosŏn period, it appears to have received heightened interest from the late 1930s to early 1940s with the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). However, this phenomenon has yet to be contextualized within the rich history of the genre and the convoluted history of modern Korean Buddhism. This paper explores the restructuring of this genre through a close examination of works produced in late colonial Korea by Poŭng Munsŏng 普應文性 (1867–1954) and Namsan Pyŏngmun 南山秉文 (d. 1950), and Kŭmyong Ilsŏp 金蓉日燮 (1901–1975)—three monk painters who reformulated the well-established iconography of sweet dew paintings at a time when the need to deliver the deceased and provide solace to the living was most urgent. This study examines the dual role that these paintings performed amidst the wartime mobilization of Koreans by the Japanese colonial authorities: While Munsŏng and Pyŏngmun’s collaborative work aimed to deliver the souls of fallen Japanese soldiers, Ilsŏp’s compositions from the 1940s intended to help Koreans counter the trauma of colonial mobilization. This article both reveals the multi-faceted function of modern Korean Buddhist paintings and contributes to our understanding of the war experiences of colonial subjects through the medium of religious visual culture.
重新想象的救赎:战时朝鲜殖民时期的甘露画
摘要:甘露画出现于16世纪,在朝鲜佛教的三坛仪式中,甘露画是为无体者举行仪式的低坛祭坛。通过这些复杂的图像,这些画作传达了这样的信息:所有前世遭受不幸和错误的灵魂都可以通过神的救赎力量得到拯救,从而在他们的下辈子获得更好的重生。虽然这种独特的韩国佛教绘画流派在Chosŏn时期蓬勃发展,但随着第二次中日战争(1937-1945)的爆发,它似乎在20世纪30年代末至40年代初受到了极大的关注。然而,这一现象尚未在丰富的流派历史和复杂的现代韩国佛教历史中得到语境化。本文通过仔细研究Poŭng Munsŏng(1867-1954)和Namsan (Pyŏngmun)(1950年)和Kŭmyong Ilsŏp(1901-1975年)三位僧侣画家的作品,探讨了这一流派的重组。三位僧侣画家在最迫切需要传递死者和为生者提供安慰的时候,重新制定了甘露画的成熟图像。本研究考察了这些画作在日本殖民当局战时动员韩国人期间所扮演的双重角色:Munsŏng和Pyŏngmun的合作作品旨在传递阵亡日本士兵的灵魂,Ilsŏp的作品则旨在帮助韩国人对抗殖民动员的创伤。本文既揭示了现代韩国佛教绘画的多方面功能,又有助于我们通过宗教视觉文化的媒介来理解殖民主体的战争经历。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Acta Koreana
Acta Koreana ASIAN STUDIES-
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