Sin Yun-bok’s Genre Paintings

Also called: Hyewon pungsokdo

Sin Yun-bok painted the pleasures and romances of urban aristocrats and women in delicate lines and bright colours — Dano pungjeong, Lovers under the Moon and Portrait of a Beauty.

Sin Yun-bok (pen name Hyewon) came from a family of court painters. In the Hyewon Album of Genre Paintings (National Treasure) — women bathing in a stream on the Dano festival while boy monks peek, lovers under the moon — he showed the leisure and romance of Hanyang aristocrats, gisaeng and women.

Fine, supple lines, bright colours and carefully drawn settings mark his style; the Portrait of a Beauty is also famous. Unlike Kim Hong-do’s plain commoners, he depicted refined urban customs and the feelings between men and women, revealing changes in late Joseon society. The album and the portrait are in the Kansong Art Museum.