Korean art – introduction

As Korea is a Confucian country, it is influenced by Chinese culture. And like every country outside Western civilization, there’s the distinction between traditional art and modern art, imported by Westerners.

Traditional Korean art is characterized by harmony between the functional and the aesthetic. It should not be forgotten that the definition of art in Europe, at least the classical one, has oriented European thinking towards the separation of these two spaces. For example, the term “fine art” is a Western invention. This means that the various works of art (poetry, sculpture, theater, but also music and dance) are above all aesthetic objects, not necessarily useful ones.

In traditional Korean art, functionality is as important as aesthetics. This can be seen in architecture, painting, calligraphy, ceramics and fabrics, but also in hangeul (한글 ), the Korean alphabet.