Tigers are a recurring motif of the traditional Korean Folk Art (민화, Minhwa). There are actually several different subgenres dedicated only to tigers, These includes Tiger and Magpie Paintings (호작도, ho-jak-do, hanja: 虎鵲圖, litteraly: tiger-magpie-picture), Tiger Hunt Paintings (호렵도, ho-lyeop-do, hanja: 胡獵圖, lit. tiger-hunt-picture), Tiger and Leopard Paintings (호표도, ho-pyo-do, hanja: 虎豹圖, litteraly:tiger-leopard-picture) Tiger Skin Paintings (호피도, ho-pi-do, hanja: 虎皮圖, litteraly: tiger-skin-picture), Tiger Hoard Paintings (군호도, gun-ho-do, hanja: 群虎圖, litteraly: tiger-group-picture), Mountain God Paintings (산신도, san-shin-do, hanja: 山神圖, litteraly: mountain-god-picture), etc...
The Tiger and Magpie paintings belong to the genre of Folk Art, as such, little is known about the authors of most of these paintings. The paintings were usually hung on the wall during the New Year ceremonies for about a month before being replaced by other pictures or calligraphies. Most of the paintings depict the same scene with a tiger crouching below a pine tree on which two magpies are chirping. Drawing on Chinese symbols, the Korean considered the magpie a bearer of good news. The tiger symbolized strength and power while the pinetree symbolized the upcoming year. It was therefore believed that if the painting was hung on New Year's, good news would be announced during the upcoming year.
Most of the paintings have a clearly humourous tone, which can be seen in the strange expression of the tiger's face. I also really like the somewhat "psychedelic" look of some tigers:
This painting of a tiger with its cubs and four magpies is known as the Jinju Tiger
Some of them have dorky looks on their face. Really like these paintings though
ReplyDeleteInteresting and cool, as allways!
ReplyDeleteWow, i love these!
ReplyDeletewow, some of them look very real
ReplyDeleteVery nice post, some are really scary.
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Koreans doing tattoos with elements of folk like the Japanese? Or confined to the paintings?
ReplyDeleteDamn tose tigers are high.
ReplyDeleteI've always loved that style. You should paint me some.
ReplyDeleteawesome
ReplyDeletenice cats
ReplyDeleteIt looks more like a monster, than an animal, as in the tiger. interesting
ReplyDeleteThey look like crazy and psycho tigers, really nice
ReplyDeleteThose are some weird-looking tigers.
ReplyDeletethose are great!
ReplyDeletei love the way they draw them!
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