It was during early Joseon in the 15th and 16th century that the Joseon dynasty established and developed the ideology, theme, basic style and institutional basis for the art of Joseon. It was also in this period that the tendency of collecting and appreciating antiques and art works that started during the mid Goryeo Period began to develop dramatically. Literati artists in this period established aesthetic principles while the government established and expanded the Dohwawon (Academy of Paintings), training and producing distinguished court painters in a systematic manner. The artists established new themes and styles in different genres including Banggo(Immitative) Landscapes which sought after beauty from old masterpieces and Silgyeong(Actual View) Landscapes which valued the true-view landscapes, contributing to the establishment of the Joseon’s art tradition.
It is not easy to understand and restructure the real situation of the art world in this period because few art works from this period are remaining today. Most of the few works known to have come from the period are either anonymous or putative, causing controversies regarding whether they are genuine. It is necessary therefore to find the works of this period which had been flown out the country through many different channels and research the old documents related with them, comparing and analysing the works from the East Asian point of view. It is in this context that the records in the collected writings of the literati elites who played a key role in the production and consumption of the paintings of their time are particularly important for the restoration and in-depth understanding of the art history of mid Joseon. These records are valuable primary sources of information required for the study of the art in this period as these contain the ideas, theories, criticisms, aesthetic trends, creativity, distribution of works, titles and themes, subject matters, and the artists’ life, philosophy and friendship.
The literary collections of early Joseon known so far are 222 titles in total, and there are 2,312 art-related passages contained in them. As part of the effort to give a comprehensive look at the art of mid Joseon, I will focus on the records on paintings contained in Sagajip(The Collected Writings of Saga) by Seo Geo-jeong(1420-1488). Seo Geo-jeong is a great writer representing the literary world of the mid 15th century. Also renowned connoisseur of his time and enthusiastic collector of paintings and calligraphic works, the literati artist left a lot of poems and commentaries on art of his time, helping understand the art history of early Joseon.