This study notes, through observation of the bird, flower and animal paintings of Choe Buk, the fact that Choe associated with literati in the Ansan area, principally the Yeoju Lee family, and “yeohang” (late-Joseon middle-class) literati, sharing the same painting motifs.
Choe Buk was born into a jungin (Joseon middle class) family, but was one of a new kind ofprofessional artist that appeared in the mid-18th century. Because he was skilled in poetry, calligraphy and painting and possessed the same levels of refinement and appearance as a literary artists Choe was active primarily in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi-do region, but the town of Ansan, in particular, emerged as cultural center of the activity as literati belonging to the Namin (Southerner) faction gathered there.
Some of Choe’s works indicate that he interacted and enjoyed close mutual influence with figures such as Sim Sa-jeong and Gang Se-hwang, who were active in Ansan. Two poetry paintings by Choe take as their theme “Sanhyangjae,” a pen name of Gang Se-hwang and also presumed to be the name of the building in which Gang dwelt during his time in the Ansan region; the paintings have also been stamped with with the word “Banwol,” a local Ansan place name. These facts, in particular, inform us that Choe engaged in active exchange with Gang and Sim in Ansan.
The relationship of influence between these three men painters is demonstrated even more clearly by their paintings featuring birds, flowers and animals. Jegahwacheop (諸家畵帖) is an album containing paintings by Choe Buk and Sim Sa-jeong, along with critical commentaries (畵評) by Gang Se-hwang. It is an important work that includes a variety of paintings of flowers in the picture book style of Choe and Sim, confirming that the three figures ― two literary artists and one professional artist ― worked together.
They attempted to express their inner worlds through their paintings, investing greater free-style significance in their paintings of birds, flowers and animals. We can recognize this internal world in Choe Buk’s excellent painting of a quail pecking at grains of millet, which signifies the frugal life of a scholar. This study also examines similarities between his painting of hawks and pheasants, long a favorite motif, and the works of Sim Sa-jeong. In paintings flowers, vegetables including aubergines, daikon radishes and cucumbers, rarely seen in picture books, were observed. This informs us that Choe had learned from Chinese picture books, popular in Joseon at the time, used them to brush up his skills, and then completed his works by constantly observing actual objects.
It has thus been possible to learn that Choe Buk expressed his inner world through the subjects he depicted, and that he also invested greater free-hand significance in his bird, flower and animal paintings under the influence of Chinese picture books, while taking on rare subjects such as daikon radishes, aubergines and crabs. These are characteristics also apparent in the bird, flower and animal paintings of Sim Sa-jeong and Gang Se-hwang, literati of the “Southerner” school who exerted deep influence on each other.