In Korea the still life is a pictorial movement that flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries AD. Books appear next to various objects associated with writing, harmoniously combined with natural elements drawn from the animal and vegetal world.
Books are presented in three forms: on “shelves”, in “piles”, or scattered, this last type influenced by China. The older the painting the more the books are represented in order. Books and objects in disorder, associated with humans or animals, appear in more recent works. The paintings’ composition is in reverse perspective, while patterns are mainly geometric. This treatment makes painted objects become symbolic representations of learning and knowledge, images meant to watch over the person living in the room where they were exhibited, room of the children of the family or studies where they were mounted on screens. Gradually however, during the Choson period, those representations became purely decorative paintings.
Particularly appreciated by the king Jeongjo (18th century), still life painting then crossed the social classes to become a highly-prized genre among the common people. It is still present today in a contemporary pictorial trend that sometimes combines absurdity and realism.
