{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1261682"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1261682/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HK5214/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HK5214/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2015HK5214","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HK5213","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1261682/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1261682","accessionNumber":"FE.5-2013","objectType":"Painting","titles":[{"title":"Winter","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Using black ink and yellow pigment, the Korean artist Yi Sang-Beom depicts a fisherman’s boat set in a misty winter landscape of gentle hills covered with blooming forsythia. One fisherman sits by a small fire at one end of the boat while the other contemplates the village on top of the hill. The yellow of the flowers announces the imminent arrival of spring and the overall composition conveys a quiet and serene atmosphere of a winter morning.\r\n\r\nThis painting is typical of the artist’s later style and displays a more personal and distinctive character. Rejecting the traditional practice of copying an ideal or existing scene, Yi opted for a more creative approach by composing his own vision of a Korean rural landscape. This mixture of traditional painting with concept of localism was innovative at the time. \r\nThe work also presents Yi’s signature brushstrokes where landscape forms are depicted by a series of short, hook-like strokes created by rapid, repeated movements of the brush, and dots of indistinct shape. Combining dark ink with light colours (probably a practice of Japanese influence), Yi made use of gradual shading to express a misty, delicate and lyrical landscape. \r\nIn his later years, he always chose to work in horizontal format to enhance the panoramic effect, with undulating hills as background and streams of water flowing in the foreground. In accordance with the Taoist philosophy of harmony between man and nature, Yi also incorporated man in its landscape both in a direct manner with the fishermen and in an indirect manner with the scattering of houses in the winter landscape. \r\n","physicalDescription":"Framed landscape painting, depicting a fisherman in a boat, surrounded by moutains covered with yellow forsythia in full bloom.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Yi Sang-Beom","id":"AUTH333317"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":"Yi Sang-Beom (1897-1972) was born in Kongju, south Chungcheong province, in a poor family who moved to Seoul in 1907 with the support of a young widowed mother. In 1915, Yi enrolled at the Kyungseong Seohwa Misulweon (Kyungseong Academy of Calligraphy and Painting, 1911-1919) to study free of charge under the master painter An Chung-Shik (1861-1919).  \r\nFollowing the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910, the Royal Court’s Tohwaso (the Bureau of Painting) was closed in 1911. The Korean court then supported the opening of the first academy of modern painting, the Kyungseong Seohwa Misulweon (1911-1919) in order to transmit the art of traditional painting and calligraphy to the younger generation of Korean artists. In this respect, Yi is one of the first students to be formally educated in a modern Korean academy. This institution was closed in 1919 most likely for its anti-colonial position.\r\nAfter his studies, Yi co-founded the Dong Yeonsa (Society for Joint Research) in 1923, worked on government projects such as the mural of Changdeok Palace, reported for the newspaper Dong-Ah Ilbo (1927-1937) and taught art at Hongik University (1950-1961).\r\nThe colonial occupation of Korea (1910-1945) generated a volatile situation among Korean intellectuals. Having sat on exhibition board and competition jury for art associations established by Japanese authorities, Yi was severely criticised by his peers. He subsequently withdrew from all art organisations after the independence of Korea in 1945.\r\nIt was the Daehan Misul Jeollamhoe (Korean Art Exhibitions Society), a key organisation that promoted Korean painters after the Second World War, which brought Yi back to the artistic scene in 1949.  He went on to be recognised in various exhibitions such as the ‘Travelling Exhibition of Korean Paintings’ organised by the National Museum of Modern Art (1977),  the touring exhibition ‘한국미술오천년’ (5000 Years of Korean Art) organised by the National Museum of Korea for several museums in the United states like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York or the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (1979-1981) or more recently the ‘격조와 해학: 근대의 한국미술’ (Elegance and Wit: the Making of Modern Korean Painting) organised by the Samsung Museum of Modern Art (2002).\r\n"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"mulberry paper","id":"AAT183846"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"pigments","id":"x33204"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour painting","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Ink and water colour on mulberry paper","categories":[],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"EAS","id":"THES48596"},"images":["2015HK5214","2015HK5213"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"TR001","id":"THES394647"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"South Korea","id":"x30519"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1963","earliest":"1963-01-01","latest":"1963-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":"(made)"}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchase funded by Samsung","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"35.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"59.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"Purchase funded by Samsung","briefDescription":"Landscape painting depicting the end of winter season, 1963, by Yi Sang-Beom\r\n","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["FE.5-2013"],"accessionNumberNum":"5","accessionNumberPrefix":"FE","accessionYear":2013,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-01-29","recordCreationDate":"2013-03-12","availableToBook":true}}