Sim Sa Jong, a representative Korean artist, and his remains
Sim Sa Jong was one of the talented artists representing the 18th century.
Under the guidance of Jong Son, a renowned artist, Sim Sa Jong constantly improved his painting skills, studying the famous works of the seniors and learning after their merits.
Through his sustained efforts, he created a realistic painting style which depicted the objects with coordinated and elaborate stroke of the brush.
His painting “A Cottage in Summer” which was regarded as a master piece of the landscape paintings in the period of the feudal Joson dynasty vividly showed the summer scenery of a mountain village in a style of wash drawing.
In the painting there is a lookout shed for the melon field in a quiet forest in which crystal-clear water flows through the wooded valley and strange rocks stand like a screen. A scholar is sitting in the shed, being fascinated by the nature, and fostering his poetical sentiment. Inside of the fence near it is a pair of cranes, while outside of it are two men walking with bundles of firewood whispering to each other in a friendly manner.
Landscape of the remote mountain is so lively described that the murmuring of a brook and the songs of birds seems to be heard if you give careful attention to it.
The painter excellently depicted the local beauty of the mountainous area suiting to the national sentiment by means of the elaborate composition of a picture, effect of soft and elegant lines, coordinated usage of ink lines and color, and sophisticated strokes of the brush.
Though he learnt from Jong Son whose paintings were drawn in bold and strong strokes, his landscape pictures are featured by the soft and delicate strokes.
Sim Sa Jong was also good at drawing of animals, flowers, birds, as well as the landscape. Many landscape paintings describing the beautiful mountains and clear water of the country are left of.
Although Sim Sa Jong had limitation of not reflecting the life of the people as it was, he is an excellent painter of our nation who drew many pictures of the natural landscape of the motherland with clear and concise traditional painting style.
