"We know Danwon Kim Hong-do as 'the greatest genre painter,' but Kim Hong-do is not only the greatest painter of the Joseon Dynasty but also the greatest painter since Dangun. He excelled in nearly every field, including portraits of beauties, Taoist immortals, landscapes, and bird-and-flower paintings, and even in his own time he was praised as 'a painter without precedent.'"
Yu Hong-june, director of the National Museum of Korea, made these remarks on Tuesday at the museum's Theater Yong during a special lecture titled "The Life and Art of Danwon Kim Hong-do," held in connection with the thematic exhibition at the Calligraphy and Painting Gallery. Although Kim Hong-do is known as a "national painter" famous for genre paintings such as "Ssireum" (Wrestling) and "Seodang" (Village School), what the public knows is "only a very small portion" of his diverse talents and broad artistic world, suggesting he is an artist who deserves to be better known.
The fact that Kim Hong-do's works are still being newly discovered also illustrates how much remains unknown about Danwon. In fact, descendants of Idang Kim Eun-ho, famous as the last royal portrait painter of the Joseon Dynasty, recently disclosed 10 landscape paintings depicting the Mount Geumgang area, claiming they were Kim Hong-do's works. Yu did not directly comment on this matter.
In 1788, by royal command of King Jeongjo, Kim Hong-do toured Mount Geumgang and the Gwandong Palgyeong region together with Kim Eung-hwan and produced "Geumgangsando-gwon," a 20-meter-wide painting. Records indicate that he "returned with hundreds of paintings," and several preliminary sketch albums of a drawing-like nature have been transmitted, with the "Haedong Myeongsan Album" held by the National Museum of Korea considered the finest among them. Yu explained, "There are various versions of Kim Hong-do's Mount Geumgang albums at the time, including 40-leaf and 70-leaf editions, and our museum, which is currently exhibiting them, holds 32 leaves as nakjil (paintings detached from the album). Some have argued that 'Haedong Myeongsan Album' is not in Kim Hong-do's style, but this work was created to be presented to King Jeongjo, so he restrained his own individuality and rendered it with the most realistic and detailed brushwork possible." He added, "Kim Hong-do's masterpiece completed based on these preliminary sketches has yet to surface, and even after Kim Hong-do, many copies of such Mount Geumgang landscapes or works based on them circulated in the market." At the 2023 academic conference of the Art History Association of Korea, "Jinggak Ajipdo," presumed to be Kim Hong-do's work, drew attention and was published as a paper last year.
Yu introduced Kim Hong-do as a leading artist produced by the era of Kings Yeongjo and Jeongjo, which can be seen as Joseon's cultural revival and renaissance. "In the preceding Yeongjo era, literati painters such as Gyeomjae Jeong Seon, with his true-view landscapes, along with Gwanaje Jo Yeong-seok, Hyeonjae Sim Sa-jeong, and Neunghogwan Yi In-sang, pioneered a new world of painting. By the Jeongjo era, professional painters of the Royal Bureau of Painting, led by Danwon Kim Hong-do and including Hyewon Shin Yun-bok, Yi In-mun, and Kim Deuk-shin, brought painting into full bloom," he said. He added, "In the development of culture, when pioneering intellectuals create something new, it is the 'technocrats' who develop it further, so the exceptional skills of court painters, including Danwon, played a major role."
The thematic exhibition that prompted this special lecture, "Danwon Kim Hong-do, Painting His Era," at the Calligraphy and Painting Gallery on the second floor of the National Museum of Korea's permanent exhibition hall, features Kim Hong-do's representative works, including the "Danwon Genre Album," which has been designated as a treasure. In addition, "Masterpieces of the Season," which features privately owned masterpieces on loan, is currently displaying "Chongseokjeongdo," painted when he was 51, "Girose Ryeongye-do" (also known as "Manwoldae Gyehoedo"), painted at age 60, and "Nomaedo."
During the lecture, Yu noted that "Danwondo," a work from Kim Hong-do's 40s, exists only in photographs and the whereabouts of the actual piece remain unknown. "If you know the owner, please contact the museum. I would like to bring it to audiences through a special exhibition," he said, emphasizing his characteristic openness to communication. According to Yu, the National Museum of Korea has signed memorandums of understanding (MOU) with the Samsung Foundation of Culture's Hoam Museum of Art and the Kansong Art Museum, and plans to hold a large-scale Kim Hong-do exhibition in 2028. It is expected to be the largest Kim Hong-do exhibition ever staged.
