Art of China and Korea at LACMA

[Anonymous]

It is the year of the dragon. And so the exhibit at LACMA had various depictions of a dragon and how this mythical animal is seen in different cultures. This inspired me to think of an elementary or middle school lesson that would allow the students through art to learn more about different cultures, but more importantly about perspectives. I would show various artistic rendering of dragons and have the student describe each one. They would write down their answers on a graphic organizer. As a class we would go over the differences and similarities, but before we would list them on a big paper in front of the classroom. We would have a class discussions about the differences and what it says about each culture. We would end class, with the kids drawing their own dragons and they would invest them with supernatural powers that would relate to their worlds.

Here are my observations of the dragons that were at the exhibit. They had an engraving by Hendrik Goltzius that depicts a dragon from a scene in mythology devouring men who tried to take water from a spring the Dragon was guarding. In European culture dragons are depicted, as malevolent creatures with wings and supernatural powers, like the ability to breathe fire. In addition dragons are generally depicted as living in rivers or having an underground cave. They are commonly described as having a hard hide. Another depiction of the dragon is that of a badge of the Imperial prince during the late Ming dynasty. The dragon is embroidered on silk with a metallic thread. This dragon is usually associated with emperors, who claimed to be the sons of heaven. In fact, the five-clawed dragon was a symbol of the Chinese emperors, with the mythical bird fenghuang the symbol of the Chinese empress. Unlike, European dragons, Chinese dragons can fly in the sky and swim in the ocean. Although European dragons are often depicted with wings, they are rarely described as flying. In addition Chinese dragons can take on human form and are usually seen as benevolent. Dragons are very popular in China and I'm sure we have all seen the costumes manipulated by several people, which are a common sight at Chinese festivals and parades. There is also a Korean dragon from late Joseon dynasty, which is a beautiful drawing in ink and color on paper. The style of the Korean dragon was heavily influenced by the Chinese dragon. Dragons in Korean mythology are mostly viewed as benevolent beings related to water and agriculture, often considered bringers of rain and clouds. Hence, many Korean dragons are said to have live in rivers, lakes, oceans, or even deep ponds within mountains. Korean dragons tend to have longer beards like the one featured in the exhibit than either Japanese or Chinese dragons. Ancient texts mention that Korean dragons are capable of speaking and understanding such complex human emotions such as devotion, kindness, and gratitude. As with China, the number nine is significant and auspicious in Korea, and dragons were said to have 81 (9×9) scales on their backs, representing yang essence. Next to the Korean dragon is the Japanese dragon, which is on a hanging scroll from the Kano school in the early Edo period. In the scroll the dragon appears to be flying out from the clouds and has such a wonderfully curious expression on his face that it soon became my new favorite dragon. In Japanese culture and mythology dragons tend to be like other Asian dragons and are usually water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet. Most of the stories surrounding Japanese dragons are imported from other Asian sources. If you want to see pictures of these dragons, please go to my Flicker account. There is a link below.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51580157@N02/

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

LACMA recently opened an exhibition that features works from their Chinese art collection that span more than four thousand years and features works ranging from ancient to contemporary. The new installation has about forty works, ranging from the Neolithic period to modern times. Also on view in the same area and floor is Korean art, which features examples of objects from the Three Kingdoms, Goryeo, and Joseon periods, with an emphasis on Buddhist and scholar painting, ceramics, lacquer, and sculpture. Also of note and which struck me as amazing are the twelve giant sculpture heads of zodiac animals, which are arranged in a ring. You can’t miss them. There was even an interesting blog in the LA Times about the inspiration of the Zodiac heads and the author discusses their background in relation to the start of Imperialism to the imprisonment of Ai Weiwei. Here is a link below.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/08/art-review-ai-weiwei-circle-of-animalszodiac-heads-at-lacma.html

For the sake of the reader I will split my observation of the museum collection into two parts. There are few pieces of art that caught my attention and I wanted to make a note of in this post. One was a panel of the monk Sa-myeong in ink and color on hemp from the Joseon period. Sa-myeong was famous for leading an army of warrior monks against an invading Japanese army during the Imjin War of 1592. Portraits like this were enshrined in temples to make them legitimacy of the order stronger and these monks usually became objects of worship, which why I think this portrait is so curious. He has prayer beads on one hand (which signifies his status as a monk and his connection to the spiritual world), but on the other hand he has a fly whisk (which signifies practicality and his connection to the real world). He has a hint of a smile, like the Mona Lisa, that is also very charming. In contrast the portrait with Nambang Yeomje, the lord of the southern quadrant, which also a panel from the Joseon dynasty in ink and color on hemp is much more formal. Lord Nambang is much more serious, being that he is ruler. He is dressed in all his finery with a fan in between his hands and no hint of a smile. He looks like he is ready for a business meeting, or rather to receive guests. Other pieces of art that caught my eye was the funerary art from the Han to Southern and Northern dynasties. The visual creations could be either inspired from fantasy or from daily life. They were excavated from tombs and were often made of clay and glazed or painted. They were designed as palaces or houses reflecting the real world and often guarded by mythical animal figurines. During the burials they used incense burners for ritual purposes. The first object is a guardian figurine. It is of course a dragon, which we will discuss at length in my next post. The dragon is meant to guard the tomb of departed ones. The other objects are a sculpture of a stove (an object of daily life, that had some connection to person why they were still alive) and an incense burner with cloud scrolls that was used during the burial ceremony. I love funerary art, mostly because it shows the preoccupation and worry that all of us as humans have have with death. We know death is inevitable, but we still want to have a connection to the world we left behind. I encourage everyone in the class to check out this exhibit at LACMA. Below is a link to my Flicker account, so you can see the pictures of the works I mentioned above.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51580157@N02/

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing your experience at LACMA and for posting your photos. I've been wanting to go to see the Zodiac heads, but I didn't know about the dragon images. Here is a link to LACMA's page on the Ai Weiwei exhibit:
http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/ai-weiwei
They are on display through February 12, 2012.

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