Animal prints have been in style for years, adding a chic and bold edge to modern women’s clothing. As much as today’s women enjoy wearing prints, Koreans of yore appreciated them as art.

The leopard skin-patterned painting made in the 18th century amazes viewers with its sophisticated composition of black leopard prints that look more chic and slick than any other animal patterns featured on today’s fashion items.

“Many people are surprised to find out the animal print was a feature in old paintings. Actually, animal print paintings were thought to prevent misfortune in one’s home,” said Kim Na-jung, curator of the exhibition of Korean traditional color painting at Gana Art Gallery.

The painting is one of 100 color paintings from the Joseon period on exhibition at the gallery in Pyeongchang-dong, Seoul, which reexamines color paintings that have been largely overlooked in comparison to the popular ink-and-wash paintings from the same period.

It was thought that ink-and-wash paintings make up the majority of old paintings of Korea, but in fact, color paintings outnumber the black-and-white paintings, according to experts.

“Color paintings were popular from the Goguryeo Kingdom to the Goryeo Kingdom, together spanning 2,000 years. It was the Confucian philosophy in Joseon that discouraged the practice of color paintings,” wrote Yoon Beom-mo, professor of Gachon University, in the exhibition catalogue.

Color paintings were undervalued for 500 years during the Joseon period, accounting for just one-quarter of the history that spans the three kingdoms of old Korea, Yoon noted.

Failing to be included in mainstream art, color paintings were closer to the lives of ordinary people as they were used for gifts or home decor.

“They were made for decoration of chambers of nobles and for wedding gifts. The paintings featured pine trees, peaches, elixir plants that represent longevity, or leopard-skin prints that were symbols preventing bad luck and other features such as peonies for wealth and more,” said Kim.

On exhibition is a painting depicting a scene in which a governor marches to the front gate of a town where he is assigned to serve, another is a scene of King Gojong’s birthday party, and one in which rows of foreign guests arriving in China pay tribute to a Chinese emperor.

Most of the paintings in the current exhibition date from the 19th century, but there is also a painting from the early 18th century that catches the eye. “The Yaochi Banquet,” an eight-panel folding screen which is one of the highlights of the exhibition and the oldest color painting that dates back to the early 18th century, depicts an imaginary scene of a birthday party of Taoist hermits’ mothers.

Color paintings were given a new name “minhwa,” which means paintings of the common people, by Japanese collector Yanagi Muneyoshi, who collected Korean artworks during the Japanese colonial rule.

In later years of the Joseon period, styles of color paintings were standardized, for example, featuring stationary items found in noble’s study chambers such as brushes, papers and books.

The style has been inherited by many art lovers, who draw the objects based on the standardized forms.

Gana Art Gallery is showing Korean color paintings in two parts. The first part is open until July 14 and the second part from July 18 to Aug. 20.

For more information, call (02) 720-1020.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)