[KS] Two Sokkuram queries

eun at sfsu.edu eun at sfsu.edu
Sat Nov 19 02:48:18 EST 2005


The most expansive publication with many beautiful illustrations is Hwang Su-
young's book entitled, "Sokkuram Cave Temple" (NB 1063 H 93 1989).

Eun Jung Smith
Art History Department
San Francisco State University

Quoting Youngsook Pak <yp at soas.ac.uk>:

> Dear Koreanists,
> 
>  
> 
> I am quite sure that Sokkuram was originally painted and gilded, as all
> images in cave temples were, both in the west and east. When you visit
> Chinese cave temples, Yungang, Longmen, Binglingsi, Mogaoku in Dunhuang,
> Kizil, Bezeklik, etc., you will see there are no exceptions. The recent
> excavations of hundreds of stone images from Qingzhou in Shandong  province
> confirm this. Classical Greek marble sculptures, eg, Pergamon in Berlin and
> Parthenon marbles in the British Museum, were once all painted, although they
> have now become pure white.
> 
>  
> 
> Youngsook Pak
> 
> Department of Art and Archaeology
> 
> School of Oriental and African Studies
> 
> University of London
> 
>  
> 
>   _____  
> 
> From: Koreanstudies-bounces at koreaweb.ws
> [mailto:Koreanstudies-bounces at koreaweb.ws] On Behalf Of Young-Jun Lee
> Sent: 16 November 2005 02:16
> To: Korean Studies Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [KS] Two Sokkuram queries
> 
>  
> 
> I visited Sokkuram twice in the 1990s and entered inside the grotto but I
> could not detect any trace of painting.
> 
> I would recommend you to view the video produced by KBS-TV:
> 
>  <javascript:open_window(> Sŏkkuram pulsang edo saek ŭl ch'irhaetta
> [videorecording] / ch'aegim p'ŭrodyusŏ, Nam Sŏng-u ; yŏnch'ul, O Su-sŏng
> ; chejak, KBS. 
> 
>  
> 
> In the video, they insists that many statues were originally painted.
> 
>  
> 
> Best,
> 
> Young-Jun Lee
> 
> Visiting Lecturer, Korean Literature
> 
> University of California, Berkeley
> 
> Ph.D. Candidate,
> 
> EALC, Harvard University
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> 
> From: Robert Oppenheim <mailto:rmo at mail.utexas.edu>  
> 
> To: Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws 
> 
> Sent: 2005ë
„ 11ì›” 9일 수요일 오전 11:23
> 
> Subject: [KS] Two Sokkuram queries
> 
>  
> 
> Dear all,
> 
> I wonder if anyone could help me with two questions.  Forgive me if these 
> are obvious; I'm not an art historian:
> 
> 1) The central Buddha at Sokkuram retains traces of red paint on its 
> lips.  Has anyone ever seen a discussion of how the rest of the stone 
> surfaces of the temple were painted, traces remaining into the 20th 
> century, etc.?  {Full disclosure: I've never been inside past the window to 
> see up close}.
> 
> 2) Can anyone suggest a reference, more generally, to discussions of 
> conventions of depicting human figures in Korean Buddhist temple painting?
> 
> Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
> 
> Rob Oppenheim
> 
> Robert Oppenheim
> Assistant Professor
> Department of Asian Studies
> University of Texas, Austin
> 1 University Station G9300
> Austin, TX 78712
> 
> 





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