Kim Myeongkuk

SOUTH KOREA, Gyeonggi, Ansan; Joseon dynasty

Kim Myeongkuk, also known as Cheonyeo or Chwiong, was an artist who assumed an official post as a painter in the Korean Royal Painting Academy. In 1647, when Changgyeonggung Palace was renovated, Kim was designated to lead 6 lay painters and 66 monastic painters to illustrate the murals within.
He was said to have expressed his carefree and humorous personality in his paintings. Although he succeeded the style of the Angyeon school, the majority of his works belong to that of the Gwang school. These paintings exhibited a sense of perseverance and skills and contained elements of thick ink, contrasting black and white color, sharp angles, and simple strokes. Kim’s expressive and spiritual works, with their carefree and skilled compositions, were well-acclaimed.
Surviving works by Kim include Budai, kept at the Gansong Art Museum in Seoul, and Bodhidharma and Returning on a Donkey in the Snow, kept at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul. In addition, he produced several works of landscape paintings.