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Roster weaknesses: Every team has them, and the draft is often the best way to address them. With the 2014 NFL Draft fast approaching, NFL Media's Daniel Jeremiah will be taking an up-close look at the main areas of weakness -- and the prospects who could fix them -- for all 32 squads in the league. Be sure to catch "Path to the Draft" on NFL Network at 7 p.m. ET Monday through Friday for more in-depth analysis.The Carolina Panthers have a surprising number of holes for a team coming off a 12-4 season and a first-round bye in the playoffs. They parted ways with their top four wide receivers, moves that could cause major issues for a unit that already had problems (the Panthers finished 26th in yards per game last season).
With Cam Newton undergoing minor ankle surgery in March, and a dearth of playmakers on the perimeter, general manager Dave Gettleman needs to come up big in the 2014 NFL Draft. The Panthers are more than one player away from closing the gap on the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks, and they certainly can find some of this talent in May.
Here are four positions of need for Carolina -- and four prospects who could fill them.
1) Offensive tackle
The Panthers suffered a big blow this offseason when left tackle Jordan Gross -- who started at least 15 games in all but one of his 11 seasons in Carolina -- announced his retirement. There's been talk about right tackle Byron Bell moving to the left side, but I don't think that's a long-term solution. I could make a strong case that they could upgrade over Bell, even if he were to stay at right tackle.
Carolina will likely miss out on the top four tackles -- Auburn's Greg Robinson, Texas A&M's Jake Matthews, Michigan's Taylor Lewan and Notre Dame's Zack Martin -- in May, which means they might set their sights on Virginia's Morgan Moses and Alabama's Cyrus Kouandjio.
Moses has outstanding size (6-foot-6, 314 pounds) and length, and has played on both ends of the line; though, he's probably better suited to play right tackle. Kouandjio entered the 2013 season as one of the top tackle prospects in the country. But after an up-and-down campaign, lingering injury concerns and a poor showing at the NFL Scouting Combine, his stock has fallen. If he reverts back to his 2012 form, the Panthers could get a great value pick with the 322-pounder.
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2) Wide receiver
Steve Smith, Brandon LaFell and Ted Ginn accounted for roughly 51 percent of the Panthers' receptions last year; all three are now on new teams. General manager Dave Gettleman brought in serviceable veterans Jason Avant and Jerricho Cotchery this offseason, but neither is a No. 1 wide receiver. Factoring in the rest of the players on the depth chart, and I think you can make a strong case that there's not even a good No. 2 option at this point.
The good news for Carolina: The 2014 draft class is loaded at receiver. If the Panthers decide to address this need in Round 1, they might go after Marqise Lee. The star pass-catcher might've been a top-10 pick in last year's draft. But because of the depth in this year's group, and after a somewhat disappointing 2013 season at USC, he might still be on the board at No. 28 overall.
A wideout I like in the fifth or sixth round is San Jose State's Chandler Jones. He's a bit undersized (5-foot-9), but the receiver has outstanding hands, runs clean routes and produced a surprisingly fast 40-yard dash time (unofficial 4.33 seconds) at his pro day.
3) Cornerback
You can never have too many corners when you're in the same division as quarterbacks Drew Brees and Matt Ryan. Still, I think the abundance of quality players in this year's group allows the Panthers to wait until the second or third round to address the position.
Two players I like who could be available in Round 2 are Phillip Gaines from Rice and Bashaud Breeland from Clemson. Both defenders have excellent size and instincts; though, I think Breeland is a more polished player, while Gaines has more physical tools.
4) Offensive guard
Tackle isn't the only position the Panthers need to address along their offensive line. That said, the only guard I'd consider taking at No. 28 overall is UCLA's Xavier Su'a-Filo.
I think Carolina will wait until the middle rounds to address the position, and a guy like Jack Mewhort could fit well. The former Buckeye played tackle at Ohio State, but I think he might be better suited to slide inside at the pro level. His versatility, plus his size (6-foot-6, 309 pounds), strength (28 reps on the bench press) and awareness help to quiet concerns about his average overall athleticism. There's a good chance the Panthers could take him with their third-round pick (No. 92 overall).
So what will the Panthers do with their first-round pick (No. 28 overall)? Here's what NFL Media's analysts see happening, according to their mock draft projections (click here for full mock drafts):
Daniel Jeremiah: Davante Adams
Bucky Brooks: Cyrus Kouandjio
Charles Davis: Jarvis Landry
Matt Smith: Odell Beckham
Chase Goodbread: Brandin Cooks
Follow Daniel Jeremiah on Twitter @MoveTheSticks.


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Reviewed by Victor D. (age 8)
My favorite part of the story is when a dot falls off of Punchinello. Dots mean something bad. They won?t stick if he believes in Eli, his maker. Eli is my favorite character because he helps Punchinello. The wooden toys gave each other stars for being good at something or for doing something good. I get stars for good homework and trophies for being good at sports. This story has pictures that helps tell the story.
I think others should read this story because it has a good message: Don?t let others judge you, and to believe in yourself.

subset: commoncrawl


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2 syllables
- caning, chaining, draining, feigning, gaining, haning, laning, painting, raining, reigning, reining, staining, straining, training, waning
3 syllables
- abstaining, attaining, campaigning, complaining, constraining, containing, detaining, disdaining, explaining, maintaining, obtaining, ordaining, pertaining, refraining, regaining, remaining, restraining, retaining, retraining, sustaining
4 syllables
- ascertaining, entertaining, overtraining
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Korean art, the painting, calligraphy, pottery, sculpture, lacquerware, and other fine or decorative visual arts produced by the peoples of Korea over the centuries. (Although Korean architecture is touched on here, it is also the subject of a separate article.)
General characteristics
The art produced by peoples living in the peninsula of Korea has traditionally shared aesthetic concepts, motifs, techniques, and forms with the art of China and Japan. Yet it has developed a distinctive style of its own. The beauty of Korean art and the strength of its artists lay in simplicity, spontaneity, and a feeling of harmony with nature.
The basic trend of Korean art through the ages has been naturalistic, a characteristic already evident as early as the Three Kingdoms period (c. 57 bce–668 ce) but fully established by the Unified, or Great, Silla (Korean: Shinla) period (668–935). The traditional attitude of accepting nature as it is resulted in a highly developed appreciation for the simple and unadorned. Korean artists, for example, favoured the unadorned beauty of raw materials, such as the natural patterns of wood grains. The Korean potter was characteristically unconcerned about mechanical perfection of his surfaces, curves, or shapes. His concern was to bring out the inherent or natural characteristics of his materials and the medium. Potters, therefore, were able to work unselfconsciously and naturally, producing wares of engaging simplicity and artistic distinctiveness.
Simplicity was applied not only to economy of shape but also to the use of decorative motifs and devices. The intervention of the human hand is restricted to a minimum in Korean art. A single stem of a flower, for instance, may be drawn in a subtle shade of blue on the side of a white porcelain vase or bottle, but never merely from a desire to fill an empty space. The effect is rather to enlarge the white background.
The avoidance of extremes is another characteristic tradition in Korean art. Extreme straightness of line was disliked as much as extreme curvilinearism. The straight bold contour of a Song dynasty (960–1279) Chinese bowl becomes a graceful, modest curve in a Korean bowl of the Koryŏ period (918–1392). The sharply curving Chinese roof is modified in Korean architecture into a gently sloping roof. Sharp angles, strong lines, steep planes, and garish colours are all avoided. The overall effect of a piece of Korean art is generally gentle and mellow. It is an art of fluent lines. What is most striking is not the rhythm so much as the quiet inner harmony.
Stylistic and historical development
The formative period
Both archaeological and linguistic evidence indicates that the Korean people originally spread into the Korean peninsula from Siberia by way of Manchuria. Prehistoric sites dating from the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods are found throughout the peninsula.
Sporadic Chinese influence on Korean culture began in the late Neolithic Period, but the influence intensified with the establishment in 108 bce of colonies of the Han empire in northwestern Korea. The best known of these was Nangnang (Chinese: Lelang), near P'yŏngyang. From this Chinese centre of culture, iron smelting and advanced techniques of pottery making, such as the use of a potter's wheel and closed kiln, spread across the peninsula.
The earliest Neolithic potteries, produced in the 6th millennium bce, are flat-bottomed wares decorated with raised horizontal lines, a zigzag pattern around the rim, or horizontal rows of impressed dots or fingernail marks. In the 5th millennium bce the latter type evolved into what is known as comb-pattern pottery, which characteristically features a pointed or rounded bottom and overall geometric patterns of herringbone, meander, and concentric semicircles, produced by incised, impressed, or dragged dots and short lines. The linear, abstract tendency of these Neolithic potteries basically falls in the tradition of prehistoric Siberian art.
In the ensuing Bronze Age (c. 1000–300 bce) and Early Iron Age (c. 300–1 bce) more types of pottery of improved quality appeared. Painted pieces derived from Chinese painted pottery were found in northern Korea, while wares devoid of surface decoration were used in other areas of the peninsula. Clay, bone, or stone figurines of seated or standing shamanistic deities were produced at such northeastern sites as Musan and Kulp'o-ri, as were small clay pigs used as charms to ensure fertility and fortune. The pigs are realistically rendered, and some even have tiny holes that were used to hold real pig hairs.
It was also during this time that bronze- and iron-working centres were established in Korea. Bronze daggers, mirrors, and perforated pole finials, all ultimately of Siberian origin, were cast. The daggers are of the type widely used by the Scythian peoples of the Eurasian steppe. The mirrors were also of a non-Chinese type, with twin knobs placed a little off centre against a tightly composed, geometric design made up of finely hatched triangles. The hatched-triangle motif was widely diffused over the vast Eurasian continent all the way from Hallstatt in Austria to Minusinsk in the upper Yenisey River valley of Siberia. The design was apparently an innovation from the Huai-style mirrors of pre-Han China.
More evidence of the Siberian art tradition in prehistoric Korea can be seen in a rock-cut drawing discovered in 1970 at Pan'gudae, near the southeastern coast of South Korea. Pecked line drawings and silhouettes of animals, including whales, dolphins, tigers, wolves, and deer, are depicted on a large (8 by 2 metres), smooth vertical surface of the rock. Some of the animals have a "life line" drawn from the mouth to the anus in the so-called X-ray style of Siberian rock art. A shaman, hunters, and a fisherman are also depicted.
Three Kingdoms period (c. 57 bce–668 ce)
The first major period of Korean art during recorded history is the period of the Three Kingdoms (c. 57 bce–668 ce), when the peninsula of Korea was ruled by three monarchies. The Koguryŏ kingdom (traditionally dated 37 bce–668 ce) was the northernmost of the three, both geographically and culturally. First established in southern Manchuria, the Koguryŏ kingdom had a lifestyle based on the typically austere cultural patterns of northern Asia, evolved in a region characterized by its scarcity of arable land and severity of climate. The Paekche kingdom (traditionally dated 18 bce–660 ce) was centred in southwestern Korea, south of the present-day city of Seoul. This was a favourable geographic position for receiving foreign cultural influences. Paekche art, therefore, was open and receptive to Chinese influences. Northern Chinese cultural elements were introduced by land through the Koguryŏ kingdom, while southern Chinese influences easily crossed the navigable East Asian seas. The kingdom of Silla (traditionally dated 57 bce–668 ce) was the oldest of the monarchies. It originated in the present city of Kyŏngju and eventually came to cover most of southeastern Korea east of the Naktong River. The original territory of the Silla kingdom, the modern Kyŏngsang-puk province, is a mountain-secluded triangle, a geographic factor that is sometimes offered as an explanation for the distinctiveness and conservatism of its art.
The introduction of Buddhism into Koguryŏ from China (372 ce) brought a sudden efflorescence of the arts. The Koguryŏ kings started the building of temples and pagodas, and sculpture, in the form of Buddha images, made its appearance. By the 6th century, the Silla and Paekche kings had also become converts to the new faith, and from then until the 15th century, Buddhism formed one of the most important subjects of Korean art.
During the Three Kingdoms period there were three political and cultural centres: P'yŏngyang, the capital of Koguryŏ, in the northwest; the Kongju-Puyŏ region, the Paekche heartland, in the southwest; and Kyŏngju, the capital of Silla, in the southeast. Silla and Paekche, along with the minor state of Kaya (Japanese: Mimana) in the south-central region, maintained close cultural contacts with Japan, and it was at this time that the significant Korean influence on Japanese art began. The Paekche kingdom first introduced Buddhism and Chinese writing to Japan. South Korean immigrants to Japan founded important centres of learning and the arts. The Sue pottery of the Tumulus, or Kofun, period (also known as the Great Burial Period) was the Japanese version of the Silla gray stoneware pottery of Korea. Even the famed wall paintings of the Hōryū Temple in Nara, Japan, have been attributed to a northern Korean painter, Tamjing, from the Koguryŏ kingdom.
Except for several small Buddhist images in bronze and clay, and foundations of temples and pagodas very little remains of Koguryŏ's religious art. A considerable amount, however, has been preserved from the two southern kingdoms. Paekche was the first to use granite in the construction of pagodas and sculpture. After the Three Kingdoms period, granite, which is abundant in Korea, was widely used in construction and sculpture. The granite pagodas of Korea stand in sharp contrast to the brick pagodas of China and the wooden pagodas of Japan.
The surviving secular art of the period consists chiefly of burial gifts taken from tombs. Not much is available from Koguryŏ, because the tombs were too easily accessible and have long since been looted. However, much pottery, along with items used for personal adornment, was uncovered in the second half of the 20th century from the less accessible Paekche and Silla tombs. The 1971 excavation of the tomb of King Munyŏng (died 523) and his queen in Kongju yielded many treasures, including gold crowns, silver and bronze items, and other decorative arts. That tomb is now on the list of World Heritage sites. The most valuable pieces of Old Silla art came from huge mounded tombs in the Kyŏngju area. The rich Silla gold mines, exhaustively worked, yielded the abundance of gold ornaments reflected in the ancient Japanese epithet Manokagayaku Shiragi ("Eye-Brightening Silla").
Korea's earliest known paintings date to the Three Kingdoms period. Vivid polychrome paintings depicting shamanistic deities, Buddhist and Daoist themes, heavenly bodies and constellations, and scenes of daily life among Koguryŏ aristocrats have survived in more than 80 Koguryŏ tombs located along the north bank of the Yalu (Korean: Amnok) River near Ji'an, China, in the area around P'yŏngyang to the south, and in the Anak area in Hwanghae province. Although the Koguryŏ custom of painting the plastered walls of tomb burial chambers spread to Paekche and Silla (as well as to Kyushu, Japan), only a few murals from these kingdoms survive.
Paintings from the Three Kingdoms are mainly those from decorated tombs. The earliest dated Koguryŏ tomb, the Tomb of Tongsu, or Tomb No. 3, in Anak, south of P'yŏngyang, was built in 357. All other known tombs except for Tokhŭng-ni Tomb, bearing an inscription datable to 408 ce, are undated but can be roughly classified as early (4th century), middle (5th–6th century), or late (6th–7th century). The early tomb murals were portraits of the dead master and his wife, painted either on the nichelike side walls of an entrance chamber or on the back wall of the main burial chamber. The paintings were executed on the plastered stone wall with mineral pigment. The colours used were black, deep yellow, brownish red, green, and purple. The general tone of the paintings is subdued. In the middle stage, though portraits were still painted, they depicted the dead master in connection with some important event in his life, rather than seated solemnly and godlike as in the earlier period. In the Tomb of the Dancing Figures in the Tonggou region around Ji'an, the master is shown on the northern wall of the main chamber feasting with visiting Buddhist monks. A troupe of dancers is painted on the eastern wall and a hunting scene on the western one. The delicate wiry outlines of the first phase of Korean mural painting are replaced by bold, animated lines, which are quite distinct from the prevailing Chinese styles. In the hunting scene, mounted warriors shoot at fleeing tigers and deer. Lumps of striated clay are used to depict mountain ranges. Forceful brushstrokes are used to heighten the effect of motion of the galloping horses and fleeing game. This sense of dynamism is characteristic of Koguryŏ painting reflecting the brave spirits of its people.
In the third and final stage of Koguryŏ mural art, the technique of mural painting was improved and imagery refined under the influence of Chinese painting. Lines flow and colours are intensified. Genre paintings of preceding stages disappeared, and the Four Deities of the cardinal compass points now occupied the four walls, a concept derived from Daoist religious art of the Six Dynasties period. Dating probably from the first half of the 7th century, the paintings of the Three Tombs at Uhyŏn-ni, near P'yŏngyang, and of the Tomb of the Four Deities in Ji'an are the best examples from the final phase of Koguryŏ fresco painting.
Tomb painting spread to Paekche, where two examples of tomb wall painting can be found, the tombs of Songsan-ni in Kongju and of Nŭngsan-ni in Puyŏ. In addition, a pillow from the tomb of King Munyŏng (501–523), in Kongju, features fish and dragons and lotus flowers painted in flowing exquisite lines in ink against a red background. In the greater Silla area, one decorated tomb at Koryŏng in the former Kaya territory and two tombs discovered in the 1980s at Yŏngju have survived, but the paintings in all three are badly damaged. The best example of painting from the Old Silla period is found on a saddle mudguard made of multi-ply birch bark discovered in the Tomb of the Heavenly Horse in Kyŏngju in 1973; the mudguard depicts a galloping white horse surrounded by a band of honeysuckle design.
In the Koguryŏ kingdom, Buddhist sculpture probably began in the 5th century. No 5th-century pieces survive, however, except for some fragments of terra-cotta figures. The earliest dated Koguryŏ Buddhist image is a gilt-bronze standing Buddha. It has an inscribed date that may correspond to the year 539. The elongated face, the flared drapery, and the mandorla, or almond-shaped aureole, decorated with a flame pattern, all point to the influence of Chinese sculpture of the Bei (Northern) Wei period (386–534/535). A close adherence to the stylized linear tradition of northern Chinese sculpture was, in fact, the main characteristic of Koguryŏ sculpture.
In Paekche the Koguryŏ-type Buddha became more naturalistic and thus more Korean in style. The Buddha's face is rounder and more expressive, with the distinctive "Paekche smile." The style was apparently influenced by the softly modeled sculpture of southern China, particularly of the Nan (Southern) Liang dynasty (502–557), when many Chinese artisans are believed to have gone to Paekche. The seated Maitreya, or image of the future Buddha dwelling in the Tushita heaven, is of unknown provenance, although the round face, the well-proportioned feminine body, and the animated, naturalistic drapery suggest Paekche workmanship of about 600. The pinewood bodhisattva in the Kōryū Temple, Kyōto, Japan, has the same facial expression and posture, and it is believed to be the Maitreya sent from Korea in 623, as is recorded in Nihon shoki, the official history of Japan compiled in the 8th century. Toward the end of the Paekche dynasty, rock-cut sculpture, in the form of relief figures on exposed outdoor rocks, appeared. Dating from the mid-7th century, the first such example is at Sŏsan in South Ch'ungch'ŏng province. It is believed to be an Amitabha triad, or the Buddha of the Western Paradise flanked by the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara holding a sacred jewel.
Silla followed the naturalistic Paekche style but in a more static and conservative fashion. The seated gilt-bronze Silla Maitreya in the National Museum of Korea is of the same size as the Paekche Maitreya and is cast in the same pose of a half cross-legged figure in meditation. The drapery, however, is very conventionalized, and the image lacks the animation of the Paekche statue. In the 7th century the creation of stone sculpture increased in the Silla kingdom. Kyŏngju became the centre of production. Much of this stone statuary reflected influences from early Tang sculpture of the 7th century, particularly in the characteristic interest in the body mass.
Decorative arts
Metalwork was one of the most developed mediums of the decorative arts in the Three Kingdoms period. Kings and high-ranking officials wore gold or gilt-bronze crowns and diadems and also adorned themselves with earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and finger rings made of gold, silver, bronze, jade, and glass. The best surviving pieces of jewelry and regalia come from intact Silla tombs. Only five gold crowns, coming from five Kyŏngju tombs, had been discovered by the early 1990s (several more have been found since then). One of the most elaborate, discovered in 1921 in the Tomb of the Golden Crown, consists of an outer circlet with five upright elements and a separate inner cap with a hornlike frontal ornament. It is made of cut sheet gold, and three of the frontal uprights are trees done in a highly stylized manner, flanked by two antler-shaped uprights. Numerous spangles and crescent-shaped pieces of jade (kogok) are attached to the vertical elements by means of twisted wire. The worship of trees and antlers was almost universal among ancient peoples of central and northern Asia, where the Koreans of the Three Kingdoms originated. A diadem similarly adorned with miniature stags and trees was discovered in a Sarmatian tomb on the northern shore of the Black Sea. (The Sarmatians also had migrated out of northern and central Asia.)
The most representative type of Three Kingdoms pottery is the hard, grayish, unglazed stoneware of Silla. The predominant type of vessel forms are mounted cups and jars with erect cylindrical necks. At the foot of the cups are four or more rectangular apertures. There are also many human and animal figurines that are attached to the shoulder of these grayware jars, as well as the independent ones of slightly larger sizes. In Paekche, tiles of gray clay were produced around Puyŏ in the 7th century, many with reliefs of boldly stylized landscapes. They serve as evidence of the early stages of landscape paintings in Korea.
Unified, or Great, Silla period (668–935)
In 660 and 668, respectively, the Paekche and Koguryŏ kingdoms fell to the allied armies of the Silla king and the Tang Chinese emperor, creating a new political and cultural era referred to as the Unified Silla period. This was the golden age of ancient Korean art. Buddhism enjoyed a renewed prosperity, and great temples sprang up one after another in the Kyŏngsang province region. Monks and scholars traveled to Tang China to partake of its brilliant cosmopolitan culture. The capital city of Kyŏngju (like the contemporary Japanese capital of Heian-kyo, later Kyōto) was modeled after the Tang capital of Chang'an, with broad, straight avenues laid out on a rectangular grid pattern. From this time on, southern Korea, particularly the southeast, became the centre of Korean artistic development. Northern Korea, where once an energetic Koguryŏ art had flourished, diminished in importance.
The Unified Silla period produced more granite Buddhist images and pagodas than any other period. Architectural ornamentation, such as roof tiles decorated with floral and animal designs, was of high quality. The bronzesmiths of Unified Silla did excellent work, as exemplified in numerous huge temple bells, sharira boxes (containing sacred ashes of the Shakyamuni Buddha), and Buddhist statues. Toward the end of the reign, bronze seems to have been in short supply, and statues were cast in iron. One Buddhist painting has survived from the Unified Silla period. It depicts a Buddhist sermon held in a temple. Figures and architecture are represented in fine gold lines on blue-brown paper.
The sculpture of the Unified Silla period was the high point of Korean naturalism and is marked by an abundance of statues in granite. During the first phase of the period, Korean sculpture was under the fresh influence of Chinese sculpture of the early Tang period. Unified Silla works showed a certain vigour, though they were often stiff and had an imposing body mass. The tortoise base for the monument of King Muyŏl (died 661) in Kyŏngju and a Shakyamuni triad at Kunwi are good examples of the first phase.
At the outset of the 8th century, however, Unified Silla sculpture began to take on a softened naturalistic look. The standing Amitabha and Maitreya (dated 721) from the site of Kamsan Temple may be considered typical examples of the first half of the 8th century and as stylistic stepping stones leading to the fully mature sculptures of the Sŏkkuram cave temple of the mid-8th century. The main Buddha of the cave temple has a massive body and a full, round face. Yet this is no mere hulking physical mass of monumental stone. The tranquil facial expression, the solid massive curves of the upper torso, and the somewhat formalized, simple drapery are skillfully synthesized and radiate the spiritual power and grace of the Buddha. The surrounding reliefs on oblong slabs are of the same quality. In the case of the bodhisattvas, shapely feminine bodies are superbly reproduced on the rough granite surface; the curves, however, are covered by thin robes, executed in a stylized manner to de-emphasize the physical form and enhance the spiritual qualities. These figures may have been inspired by similar Tang figures, such as those executed in 703 for the Baojing Temple in Xi'an, China. The Sŏkkuram figures, however, lack the secular and erotic character of the Tang sculptures.
Stylistic and technical degeneration, however, had already begun in the second half of the 8th century, as is indicated by the two seated bronze Buddhas in the Pulguk Temple which probably date from the early 9th century. They retain the round, fleshy face of the Sŏkkuram Buddha, but their torsos are overly elongated and the drapery somewhat stylized, so that the spiritual quality is diminished. This mannered style of handling the image increased until the end of the century.
In the 9th century the Unified Silla kingdom itself began to decline. Sculptors were constrained to reduce the size of their pieces, both carved and cast. As a result statues were often out of proportion. A large square block representing the head might be placed on top of a small shrunken body with narrow, sloping shoulders. From about the mid-9th century, bronze came to be used only for small statuettes; large images were cast in iron, a practice that was continued in the Koryŏ period.
Decorative arts
A considerable number of ceramic urns have been discovered, mainly in the vicinity of Kyŏngju. They are covered with stamped floral patterns, and some have a yellowish green lead glaze. The stamping and glazing were techniques introduced by potters in the 7th century. Earthenware roof and square floor tiles also were produced. These were decorated with delicately molded lotus and other rich floral designs and were made for Buddhist temples and palace buildings.
Bronze work was outstanding in this period, especially the large bronze Buddhist bells. Four Unified Silla bells with inscribed dates survive, two of which are in Japan. A Korean bell of this period differs from a Chinese or Japanese example by the hollow cylindrical tube erected on the crown, alongside the traditional arched dragon handle, and in the surface decoration: the upper and the lower rims of the body are each surrounded by an ornamental horizontal band. Silla skill in casting is best seen in the colossal bronze bell of King Sŏngdŏk that was made in 771 for the Pongdŏk Temple and is now in the Kyŏngju National Museum. Its surface contains a relief of two flying angels, a superb example of Unified Silla sculpture. An inscription of some 830 characters praises the achievements of King Sŏngdŏk and expresses wishes for peace. The resounding tone of the bell is unique and carries for miles. Legend has it that this peculiar sound comes from the cry of a child thrown into the melting bronze in the process of casting.
Buddhist bronze miniature shrines for sharira were sometimes placed inside stone pagodas. The best example, from the western pagoda of the Kamŭn Temple site, is a square platform on which a miniature glass bottle containing the sharira is placed under a rich canopy supported by four corner poles. The shrine was encased in a square outer box with a pyramidal cover, each panel of the box adorned with a bronze relief figure of one of the Four Guardians.
Koryŏ period (918–1392)
In 935 the Unified Silla monarchy was supplanted by the newly risen Koryŏ dynasty (918–1392). Buddhism once again prospered under royal patronage. Koryŏ's close cultural ties with China during the Song period (960–1279) resulted in direct influences from the advanced Chinese urban culture, and highly refined lifestyles prevailed among the aristocrats, the more important court officials, and the high-ranking Buddhist priests. The peace of the realm, however, was often disrupted by invaders from Manchuria, first Khitan, then Juchen (Jin), and finally Mongols (Yuan dynasty). In 1232 the Koryŏ court fled to Kanghwa Island at the mouth of the Han River, a short distance west of Seoul, leaving the country to Mongol devastation and control. The art of Koryŏ never again equaled its pre-Mongol achievements.
Few original examples of Koryŏ architecture have survived. Koryŏ stone sculpture and stone pagoda construction took different forms from that of the Unified Silla period. For example, multisided, multistory pagodas and funerary pagodas for noted high priests were constructed in quantity. Good bronze temple bells were cast, although they were smaller in size than those produced in the Unified Silla kingdom. Monks painstakingly copied Buddhist sutras in gold and silver ink on thick dark blue paper. Printing and wood-block engraving were innovations that reached a high state of development. A Koryŏ book is comparable in printing technique to the finest Chinese editions of the Song period. The famous wood-block edition of the entire Tripitaka, a long Buddhist canonical text, was created on Kanghwa Island in the mid-13th century as a commission of the government in exile. More than 80,000 engraved woodblocks—today stored at Haein Temple—were used to print this edition. Another major artistic achievement of the Koryŏ period was the production of porcelain with a celadon glaze. Sets of celadon ware were customarily buried with the dead, and it is from these tombs that most of the Koryŏ celadon on exhibit in the 21st century came.
Only about 10 examples of original Koryŏ painting are extant, and most of these are in Japan. They are mainly minor works on Buddhist themes except for several badly worn fragments of a hunting scene attributed to King Kongmin (1351–74) and two landscapes by other artists. There is little to be said about these isolated works except that they are in varying degrees in the style of Chinese painting of the Song period (960–1279). Among the few examples of Koryŏ temple wall paintings are the Buddhistic images in the Chosa-dang (Founder's Hall) at Pusŏk Temple (1377) and the paintings of flowers in the main hall of the Sudŏk Temple (1308). Among the important examples of Koryŏ tomb painting is an image of a flying deva (from the 12th or 13th century; one of a group of heavenly beings who are the guardians of Buddhism) discovered in 1971 on the wall of a tomb at Kŏch'ang in southeastern South Korea.
Compared with that of the Unified Silla period, Koryŏ sculpture shows a decline in both quantity and quality. However, before the decline a momentary surge of naturalism, a traditionally northern Korean quality, revitalized the period. Large images with imposing bodies were successfully cast in iron, a medium not used since the late Unified Silla period. These cast-iron images were plastered and painted. Direct copies from 8th-century Unified Silla models were often attempted. The colossal seated iron Buddha in Seoul's National Museum of Korea is the best example of this revival style. This image of the Buddha was clearly influenced by the large Shakyamuni of the Unified Silla cave temple of Sŏkkuram. Only the long narrow eyes, the sharpened nose, and a certain angularity in the treatment of the drapery give the Buddha a unique Koryŏ coldness that heralds the rather abstract quality found in later iron images.
In stone sculpture, also, the revival style is noticeable. The trend, however, was short-lived, and by the 12th century Koryŏ sculptors seem to have lost the art of working large, fully rounded figures in stone or metal. The decline in technique was manifested in the abstract tendency of certain figures of the middle of the Koryŏ period, such as the seated iron Buddha in Ch'ungju.
Although the sculpture produced by the major workshops suffered a decline, good sculptors could still be found in the countryside. One of the best known is the master who carved a set of wooden play masks for the village of Hahoe near Andong in southeastern South Korea. These masks are marked by an exotic realism. The deep-set eyes are arranged asymmetrically so as to become mobile under the play of changing light and shade. The nose, very un-Korean, is extraordinarily long and aquiline. The separately made chin, like the nose, is massive. Models for these exotic masks must have come from China, as early as the Tang dynasty, when elements of Persian and Central Asian art found their way into China. These Korean masks might well have served as the intermediary links through which the Japanese mask for the Noh drama developed from original Chinese models.
Decorative arts
Although the unglazed grayish stoneware of the Unified Silla tradition was continued into the Koryŏ period, by the end of the 10th century, the technique of high-fired, green-glazed porcelain of the Yue type was introduced from Zhejiang province in southern China. After an initial period of imitation, Koryŏ potters, from about the mid-11th century or slightly earlier, started to produce their own distinctive kind of porcelain with a celadon glaze. Two main ceramic centres, at Kangjin and Puan, operated in southwestern Korea from the very beginning to the end of the Koryŏ period.
The first period of Koryŏ celadon, from about 1050 to 1150, was the period of plain celadon ware. The "secret" colour of Koryŏ celadon, a greenish blue with a mysteriously deep tone, was regarded by the Song Chinese as one of the "ten best things in the world." The potters of the first period appear to have been mainly concerned with the deep, lustrous colour and the formal beauty of the vessel, although they also used incised, engraved, or molded animal and floral patterns to decorate their vessels. Their specialties were animal- and fruit-shaped ewers and incense burners. White procelain of the Chinese yingqing type also was produced during this period, though only in limited quantities.
The next 100 years, from 1150 to 1250, is the period of inlaid celadon ware. The technique of inlay on celadon is generally believed to have been invented about the mid-12th century. The idea of inlay may have come from a number of sources, but it is undoubtedly related to techniques of metal inlay that in turn were derived from inlaid lacquer. Whatever the origin, inlaid celadon was a Korean invention and unique to the Korean pottery of the 12th to the 15th century. In this technique, the freshly thrown vessel is left to dry to a leatherlike hardness. Designs are then incised or gouged out and filled with white or black slip. Sometimes, instead of the design, the background is scraped off and filled with black or white slip. The vessel is then biscuit-fired and, finally, fired with glaze in a reduction kiln. During the initial stage, potters were still aware of the importance of glaze colour, despite the remarkable effect of inlaid designs. As time passed, however, they gradually inclined toward the decorative effect of designs, and the space occupied by the design came to dominate their work. The famous vase in the Kansong Art Museum, Seoul, is an outstanding example of this mature period of inlaid celadon.
From about 1250 to the end of the Koryŏ period in 1392 inlaid celadon ware declined. The inlay technique continued, but the designs were loose and coarse and lacked the craftsmanship of the earlier pieces. The glaze colour is predominantly yellowish because an oxidizing fire was used. Floral patterns painted in an iron type of underglaze became fashionable.
The Koreans probably learned the technique of lacquer making from the Chinese at Nangnang during the early years of the Three Kingdoms period. It thenceforth became so popular that inlaid lacquer is almost completely a Korean specialty. The technique, although called "inlaid," is more accurately a polish-expose technique. Cut pieces of abalone or tortoiseshell, supplemented by silver or bronze wire, are pasted on the hemp or hemp-coated pinewood core with a thick coat of lacquer. Many layers of lacquer and special glue are then applied to the design until the shell layer is completely concealed. It is then polished with whetstone and charcoal until the surface of the design is revealed.
Bronze temple bells continued to be cast, but they gradually were reduced in size, and the craftsmanship showed a remarkable decline from the Unified Silla period. A Koryŏ bell is distinguished by the outer edge of the crown, which characteristically is marked by a band of lotus petals that projects out obliquely. Images of outlined Buddhas and bodhisattvas around the trunk replaced the earlier flying devas.
Important among the Koryŏ bronzes is a series of beautifully finished incense burners still treasured by many temples. These censers look like enlarged mounted cups with deep bowl-like bodies, the mouth rims of which flare out horizontally to form a broad brim. The body is mounted on top of a conical stand with graceful concave side lines. The surface of the vessel is always covered with fluent, linear floral patterns or animated dragons inlaid with silver, which stand out strikingly against the shining black patinated background. Also treasured is the bronze kundika, a ritual ewer with flowing linear designs of a willow tree and a waterfowl inlaid in silver (in the National Museum of Korea, Seoul). The same techniques and decorative motifs also were used for making the artistically outstanding bronze mirrors typical of the Koryŏ period.
Chosŏn period (1392–1910)
In 1388 General Yi Sŏng-gye dethroned the pro-Mongol King Wu. Four years later, in 1392, General Yi proclaimed himself founder of the new Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910) and moved the capital from Kaesŏng (Songdo) to Seoul. His policy was to maintain close political and cultural ties with Ming China (1368–1644). Buddhism, by then thoroughly corrupt, was displaced as the state religion by a puritanic Neo-Confucianism, then also on the ascendant in Ming China. Confucianism became the dominant influence on Korean thought, morals, and aesthetic standards. Soon after the establishment of the new dynasty, a massive construction project was launched in the capital, then called Hanyang, to build palaces and royal ancestral shrines. Paintings depicting scenic spots of the new capital were royally commissioned. Chosŏn artists, particularly in the decorative arts, showed a more spontaneous, indigenous aesthetic sense than the sophisticated aristocratic elegance typical of Koryŏ artists.
In 1592 the Japanese general Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea. For many years the entire peninsula was a battlefield, and a tremendous amount of art was destroyed. The Japanese even carried off many Korean potters, who later managed to settle in the northern part of the island of Kyushu and become the founders of the Japanese porcelain industry. The Japanese invasion was soon followed by the Manchu, a Manchurian people, who later conquered China and established the Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12). The two invasions left the Chosŏn government in a critically weakened condition, but they also inspired the rise of a strong nationalist sentiment among the Korean people. Concern focused on solving domestic social problems and on reviving and restoring confidence in Korean culture and identity. Scholars made efforts to develop practical knowledge and wisdom to improve life in Korea rather than studying "empty" Confucian theories. Painters for the first time showed profound interest in the landscape and daily life of Korea, and Chosŏn art of the 17th to 18th century demonstrated a marked Korean character and flavour. This florescence of Chosŏn art ended after only two centuries, however, because of the lack of public and private patronage, the lack of inspiration, and the apathy and poverty that occurred as the dynasty itself entered the last phase of its history.
Nevertheless, this period left abundant artistic remains. There are many palace and temple buildings, although few date to before the Japanese invasion. Instead of bronze and iron, Buddhist images were usually made of clay and plaster on wooden armature and then gilded. Among the secular arts, painting and ceramics were the most important. The Chosŏn government maintained an Office of Painting, or imperial academy of painting (Tohua-sŏ), and the government also operated an official kiln that alone was authorized to produce blue-and-white porcelain. Local private kilns also mass-produced large amounts of ceramics. The Chosŏn dynasty was finally terminated when Japan annexed Korea in 1910.
Chosŏn painting up to the end of the 16th century was dominated by court painters attached to the Office of Painting. Their style followed that of Chinese professional court painters, the so-called Northern school of Chinese painting, and was thus variably influenced by the Guo Xi school of the Bei (Northern) Song, the Ma-Xia school of the Nan (Southern) Song, and the Zhe school of Ming China. Famous painters of the period are An Kyŏn, Ch'oe Kyŏng, and Yi Sang-chwa. An Kyŏn's best work, Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land (1447), executed in the heroic style of the Bei Song, is a horizontal scroll depicting fantastic mountains and streams dotted with peach blossoms.
Yi Am, Sin Saim-dang, and Yi Chŏng are the better scholar-painters of the first period. Unlike the professional court painters, who made Chinese landscapes their specialty, these amateur scholar-painters devoted themselves to painting the so-called Four Gentlemen—the pine tree, bamboo, plum tree, and orchid—as well as such traditionally popular subjects as birds, insects, flowers, and animals.
In the early 17th century the Southern school of China, exemplified by Mi Fu, Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming, and others, strongly influenced Korean painters, particularly the nonprofessional scholar-painter. Professional academic painters followed the academic court style of Qing China, which was itself a sort of formalized Southern style. The "expressionistic" and individualistic Qing style of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, however, did not find followers in Chosŏn Korea.
Concurrent with the vogue of Chinese Southern painting styles was a movement to achieve in approach and effect a truly Korean expression. The works of Cho Sok, particularly his ink paintings of birds, are noted for their balance between realism and design effect. Chŏng Sŏn, a great Chosŏn master, devoted himself to painting the real Korean landscape. His favourite theme was the rugged peaks of Mount Kŭmgang (also called Diamond Mountain, now in North Korea). To depict rocky cliffs and soaring forests, he devised his characteristic "wrinkles" of forceful vertical lines. This trend, called the "true-view landscape" and established by Chŏng Sŏn and others, was followed by Kim Hong-do, Sin Yun-bok, and Kim Tŭk-sin, who all painted scenes of daily life in Korea with a realism that often bordered on caricature. Of this group the greatest master was Kim Hong-do, better known under the name of Tanwŏn. He also painted many Korean landscapes and was one of the first Korean painters to popularize genre themes from the life of the lower classes. (Even before Kim Hong-do, some scholar-painters—or literati—such as Yun Tu-sŏ and Cho Yŏng-sŏk, painted scenes from the daily lives of commoners.) The 18th century also saw the first serious wave of Western influence on Korean painting, brought about when Korean emissaries to Beijing, the Qing capital, were exposed to Western-style painting and returned home with some examples of that style. Court painters who had accompanied the officials also were interested in the foreign style and began to reflect Western-style shading and perspective systems in their paintings.
In the 19th century, Cho Chŏng-kyu, Chang Sŭng-ŏp, Cho Sŏk-chin, and Ch'ae Yong-sin were among the more active professional painters. Their paintings were mannered and exhibited an academic style lacking individuality. They painted many excellent portraits of Korean dignitaries in a style that blended the indigenous with European-style shading.
The activities of a short-lived group of painters who followed the wenrenhua, or Chinese literati style of painting, should be seen against the general decline of the academic style of the 19th century. All of them were men of learning and genuine taste who grasped the spirit of such great Chinese masters of the Yuan period as Ni Zan and Huang Gongwang. The most distinguished members of this group were Kim Chŏng-hŭi, the great statesman and calligrapher, who painted little, and Chŏn Ki, who died young.
During the Chosŏn period there was also a new emphasis on minhwa (folk painting), a type of painting whose patrons were mostly commoners. Such works were created by anonymous artisans who followed the norms and forms of large-scale, brightly coloured decorative and ritual court paintings but reduced them to a smaller scale. Some of these folk paintings, however, contain subject matter—such as tigers, magpies, and mountain spirits—not found in court paintings. They were regarded as a sort of charm that would protect the owner and his family from evils and bring good fortune to the household. Other themes included 10 symbols of longevity (the crane, the deer, fungus, rocks, water, clouds, the Sun, the Moon, the pine tree, and the tortoise), paired birds (marital love), insects and flowers (harmony between yin and yang), and bookshelves (learning and wisdom). Most of them are depicted in a completely flat, symbolic, or even abstract, style, and the colours are delightful. The bookshelf theme, called ch'aekk-ŏri, originated in court painting and reflected the influence of Western style in its use of shading to create spatial depth in the bookshelves. The result is truly unique both in content and in technique.
By the beginning of the Chosŏn period, the production of traditional religious sculpture had virtually died out because Confucianism had become the new state creed. Nevertheless, Buddhism was patronized by several queens at court, and many small-scale, quiet bronze images were produced. In the late Chosŏn period, many large-scale Buddhist images, some measuring nearly 7 metres (23 feet) in height, were built in clay over a wooden armature. Their gilded bodies are simple, stolid masses covered with loose, yet leatherlike, thick robes. Drapery folds are depicted in a formalized, schematic series of plaits.
Secular sculpture included the series of stone statues of civil and military officers and animals that were erected in front of the tombs of members of the royal family and other dignitaries. In size they range from one to more than two metres in height. Early Chosŏn stone figures suggested the roundness of the human body, but from about 1600 they were stiff, square columns with oversized heads featuring bulging eyes, a large mouth, and high cheekbones. Some figures of the late 18th and early 19th century show an increased sense of realism.
Decorative arts
Although a wide variety of decorative arts flourished in the Chosŏn period, the making of pottery and porcelain was especially important. One of the most popular types of ceramic ware produced was called punch'ŏng, the Korean term for a type of pottery known in Japan as mishima. The Korean term is a contracted form of punjang hoech'ŏng sagĭ, or slip-decorated celadon. The slip-decoration includes inlaid, incised, and stamped patterns filled with white clay, and also the overall application of a white coating under the celadon glaze. Incision and painting in underglaze iron also are applied at times over the white coating. The technique evolved (or degenerated) from Koryŏ inlaid celadon, which had become coarse and rough in its final stages. The early Chosŏn potters invented a new device to produce the inlay effect more quickly and easily. A wooden or clay stamp with tiny embossed dots was used to produce designs of closely spaced depressed dots over the entire surface of a vessel in a matter of minutes. White clay was then rubbed into the dots and the excess clay wiped off. Some Chosŏn pieces were made using the traditional inlay technique, and they can be instantly distinguished from late Koryŏ wares by their crude and unsophisticated designs (floral as well as animal) and the stained grayish green colour of their glaze.
The predominant punch'ŏng shapes are small or medium-size wine bottles and tea and rice bowls. Many were produced under orders from government offices, but their mass production suggests that there may have been increasing demand from the general public. Punch'ŏng pottery was loved by Japanese masters of the tea ceremony. The Hideyoshi invasion put an end to the lingering Koryŏ inlaid celadon once and for all. The punch'ŏng stamping technique, however, is still used on the island of Okinawa, south of Japan.
White porcelain, which may have been inspired by the Yuan and Ming blue-and-white porcelain ware of China, has remained as the most practical ware for ordinary Koreans. White porcelain wares of the pre-16th-century Chosŏn dynasty are covered with a milky-white devitrified glaze. They were produced at hundreds of central and local kilns, but the best pieces came from the Kwangju kilns south of Seoul during the 15th century. Besides being the most commonly used, white porcelain alone was permitted as ritual ware for Confucian rites and ancestor worship.
Blue-and-white porcelain, inspired by early Ming models, appeared in Chosŏn Korea by the mid-15th century, and Chosŏn potters soon developed a distinct Korean or Chosŏn style of blue-and-white wares. Vessel forms are sturdy and simple; and the decoration, which is naive and refreshing, is kept to a minimum to emphasize the white background—a design tendency also observed on Chosŏn white porcelain with underglaze iron or copper decoration. Chosŏn blue-and-white wares were produced by government-operated kilns in the Kwangju area near Seoul, mainly for palace and high government officials. In later years, vessels of low quality became accessible to commoners.
Modern period
At the beginning of the Japanese occupation, traditional Korean painting was led by Cho Sŏk-chin and An Chung-shik. Cho was the last court painter of the Chosŏn dynasty, and An the last gentleman painter. But their styles were similar in their pursuit of the enervated Southern style of the Qing period, with its emphasis on fingertip technique. In 1911 the former Korean imperial family set up an academy of painting to foster the traditional style, and, though it dissolved in 1919, a number of important painters had been trained by that time. By the 1930s the pattern of Korean painting had begun to change under the impact of both Japanese and European influences. In 1922 the Japanese had inaugurated an annual exhibition for Korean artists, designed to promote a new academic style. The only modern facilities for studying painting, whether Asian or Western, were Japanese. Despite the resistance of traditionalists, the Japanese impact proved irresistible. Prominent painters during this period were Kim Ŭn-ho, Yi Sang-bŏm, Ko Hŭi-dong, Pyŏn Kwan-shik, and No Su-hyŏn. After World War II traditional painting began to assume a modern mode of expression, as may be seen in the works of a group of radical painters such as Kim Ki-ch'ang, Pak Nae-hyŏn, and Pak No-su. All of these artists were highly trained in the traditional mediums of ink and watercolour painting. Their paintings reflect a bold sense of composition and colour and also have the quality of genuine abstract art.
The introduction of the Western style via China in the 18th century had gone almost unnoticed. In 1899 the commissioning of a Dutch artist to paint the portraits of the king and the crown prince affronted the traditional court painters. When Ko Hŭi-dong had returned from a period of study of oil painting in Japan, he was so ridiculed in public whenever he went out to sketch in oil that he finally gave up and returned to traditional painting. Nevertheless, several students followed his lead by going to Tokyo to study oil painting, and soon the new art became the dominant field of activity. Throughout the Japanese occupation, the main trend of Korean oil painting was the modest, representational school that had its roots in Impressionism. Among the outstanding painters in this style were Yi Chong-u, To Sang-bong, Kim In-sŭng, and Pak Tŭk-sun.
In addition to the new medium of oil, Western art introduced realistic depiction with three-dimensional illusion, and a concept of art as a career to be pursued single-mindedly, not as a gentlemen's avocation. But because most of the changes occurred during the period of Japanese occupation from 1910 to 1945, the modern art introduced in Korea was refracted through Japan.
Ultimately modern painting developed in two directions: Western-style painting as practiced by Japanese-trained artists, such as Ko Hŭi-dong, Lee In-sŭng, and Kim Hwan-ki; and Eastern-style painting, as practiced by artists such as Lee Sang-bom and Kim Eun-ho, who used either traditional ink or coloured ink.
In the mid-1950s a group of young artists formed a movement called Informel, which expressed an affinity for the spontaneity and subjective expression of contemporary Western abstract art. The Monochrome Art of the 1970s was an attempt to create a truly Korean art, taking the flat surface of the canvas as the ultimate ground for expressing passive, calm, and meditative harmony. During the 1980s the painters of the Minjung Misul ("People's Art") began to explore social themes and were linked to the political protests of that decade.Youngna Kim
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