메인메뉴 바로가기본문으로 바로가기
네이버 공유 카카오 공유 트위터 공유 페이스북 공유

Transmitting the Forms of Divinity: Early Buddhist Art from Korea and Japan

The "Transmitting the Forms of Divinity: Early Buddhist Art from Korea and Japan" exhibition, on display at the Japan Society Gallery in New York, is a great teaching exhibition. It displays the close religious and artistic ties between Korea and Japan, as opposed to their political and historical tensions. Displayed at the exhibition are Korean and Japanese Buddhist works of art from the sixth to the ninth century, when Buddhism started to spread across Northeast Asia. The exhibition gives all those who attend a unique perspective on Buddhist art. It examines the impact that Buddhism, having taken root in Korea, had on the Buddhist art that was developing in Japan.

Impact of Korea on Japanese Buddhist artEntrance to the Japan Society Gallery in New York, showing the opening of the exhibition 'Early Buddhist Art from Korea and Japan
"Transmitting the Forms of Divinity" was co-organized by the Japan Society and The Korea Society, New York; Gyeongju National Museum, Korea; the Nara National Museum, Japan; the Korea Foundation; and the Japan Foundation. From April 9 to June 22, the exhibition will feature 92 works of art from Korea and Japan, including six national treasures from both countries, three treasures from Korea, and 23 important cultural properties from Japan. The Korean works were lent by various museums, including the Gyeongju National Museum, the Ho-Am Art Museum, the National Museum of Korea in Seoul, the Buyeo National Museum, and the Daegu National Museum. Japanese lending bodies included the Nara National Museum, the Tokyo National Museum, and various historic monastic centers of Buddhism, including the temples Horyuji, Saidaiji, and Todaiji.

The Japan Society, which took a lead role in planning this exhibition, took pride in the fact that most of the s on display have never been viewed in America. It is also the first time an American museum has received official support for an exhibition from both the Korean and Japanese governments.

“This exhibition offers new evidence of how Buddhist art and practices took hold in Northeast Asia, and explores how its Korean influenced the formation of continental civilization in Japan,” said Alexandra Munroe, Director of the Japan Society Gallery, who conceived the exhibition project in 1998. It has long been thought that Buddhism was introduced to Japan by a Korean emissary. However, there has been a lack of cultural and historical analyses in Japan with respect to Korea’s role and influence in introducing Buddhism and establishing Buddhist culture.

The purpose of the exhibition is well expressed in the thorough exhibition design and the concise but elaborate exhibition descriptions. In its April 18 art commentary, The New York Times stated that "Transmitting the Forms of Divinity" was a great teaching exhibition, in which the viewer could learn primarily by looking. Ambassador Donald P. Gregg, Chairman and President of The Korea Society, remarked: “For centuries, Japanese and Koreans have considered themselves distant neighbors at best and bitter foes at worst. However, this exhibition shows clearly that Buddhist thought, culture and art flowed through Korea to Japan for centuries, and this exhibition celebrates that undeniable fact.” In addition, during an interview with the press, Professor Inoue Misusada of Tokyo University commented: “The activities of several Korean scholars and monks from the end of the sixth century to the early seventh century is similar to the role played by European and American missionaries in developing Western civilization in Japan in the Meiji era.” The exhibition, the first to highlight Korea’s crucial role in the development of Buddhist culture in Japan, is particularly remarkable given the turbulent relations between these two nations over the past century.

Main Features of the Exhibition
This exhibition, after several years of preparation, presents masterpieces of the earliest Buddhist art in Korea and Japan in four sections. In addition, the exhibition shows how Japanese Buddhist art descended from the Korean style and follows the independent developments of both styles in the ninth century.

▶Introduction: Buddhist Sculpture during Korea’s Three Kingdoms period (sixth and seventh centuries)
Establishing the basis for Buddhist imagery in Korea, this section includes important early works in gilt Bronze representing Buddha and Bodhisattvas. A standing image of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (National Treasure No. 183) from the Daegu National Museum was discovered in 1976 in a former Silla territory. There is a lotus bud held in its right hand, a standard iconographic symbol for this deity. A seated Buddha figure in soapstone (Treasure No. 329) from the Buyeo National Museum is a superb example of the Baekje style of the late sixth century.

▶The Transmission and Transformation of Buddhist Sculpture (seventh to ninth centuries)

A seventh century gilt bronze Bodhisattva seated in a pensive pose, from the Silla Kingdom (on the left), and an eighth century Japanese sculpture from the NAra period (on the right)Iconographic and stylistic comparisons illuminate the close relationship between Korean and Japanese works of the seventh and eighth centuries. A Silla Kingdom gilt bronze Bodhisattva seated in a pensive pose, dates back to the early seventh century. On loan from the National Museum of Korea, it is displayed with its counterpart: an eighth century Japanese sculpture from the Okadera (Important Cultural Property).

Conversely, ninth century examples show independent artistic movements in each nation. For example, a sculpture in iron was a unique Korean development, as seen in the National Museum of Korea’s large seated Buddha Vairocana image, while a sculpture of the seated Buddha Akshobhya from Saidaiji (Important Cultural Property) in dry lacquer, developed in Japan, looks quite different.

▶Decorative Tiles from Buddhist Temples
Architectural elements such as roof tiles exhibit direct links between Korean and Japanese building technologies and styles. The development of the lotus motif in circular eaves-end tiles shows the parallel evolution of this form in Korea and Japan, and the influence of Korean architectural forms on Japanese building design. The architectural plans of two royal monastic centers, Hwangnyongsa and Horyuji, are on display to illustrate these similarities in architectural form and style.

▶Sutras and Ritual s
One scroll from a set of sutras (Buddhist texts containing the words of Buddha) commissioned by the Japanese empress Komyo (701-760), one of the great early patrons of Buddhist art, shows the high textual standards and gorgeous calligraphy already in place by the Nara period (710-794). Along with texts and sculptures, ritual implements were necessary for the proper practice and transmission of Buddhism in Korea and Japan. Examples of ritual implements included in the exhibition are precious reliquaries from the two nations: a Japanese example of the oldest extant reliquary in Japan, dated to the 7th century (National Treasure); and a rare 9th-century Korean reliquary on loan from the Gyeongju National Museum.


Exhibition Catalogue
Cover of the Exhibition CatalogueThe Japan Society published a 384-page catalogue, with essays contributed by 11 scholars from Korea, Japan and the United States. Korean scholars include Kim Lena, professor at Hongik University; Gwak Dongseok, Director of the Gongju Museum; Park Youngbok, Director of the Gyongju National Museum; Choi Elchun, Director of the Chuncheon Museum; Kang Woobang, professor at Ewha Womans University; and Kim Sungku, Director of Daegu Museum. Essays included in this catalogue were originally presented during a two-day symposium held to discuss detailed topics and directions of "Transmitting the Forms of Divinity" in 2001. These essays focus on early Korean and Japanese diplomatic and cultural history, Buddhist sculpture, mural painting, and architecture. The fully illustrated publication marks the first comprehensive study in the West devoted to the examination of the origins and development of early Buddhist culture in Korea and Japan. It is being distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., of the United States.

SEARCH

통합검색

통합검색버튼
통합검색닫기

전체메뉴

전체메뉴 닫기