About the Artwork
In the panels of this folding screen, Kim Eung-won paired orchid and rock imagery with calligraphy, creating visual and poetic resonance between word and image.
In each ink painting, delicate orchids grow from craggy rocks. Layered brushstrokes and different densities of ink create a sense of depth, volume, and texture. Kim used similar marks for his calligraphic characters, sometimes extending orchid leaves into the space of the text, as if to call attention to the relationship between the two.
The lines of text Kim selected come from Chinese poems celebrating the qualities of orchids. In East Asian traditions, orchids symbolize Confucian virtues such as integrity, resilience, and modesty. This symbolism is especially prominent for literati artists, who practiced painting, calligraphy, and poetry as a means of intellectual cultivation and self-expression, rather than working on commission.
Kim Eung-won, also known as Soho, was one of the premier literati artists in Korea at the turn of the twentieth century. As a professor at the Academy of Painting and Calligraphy in Seoul (established 1911) and a founding member of the Association for Painting and Calligraphy in 1918, he played an important role in preserving and advancing Korean artistic traditions.
Orchids and Rocks
1900 - 1910
Kim Eung-won
1855-1921
Korean
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Ten-panel folding screen; ink on paper
Overall: 70 1/2 × 179 1/2 inches (179.1 cm × 4 m 55.9 cm)
Paintings
Asian Art
Museum Purchase, Asian Art Deaccession Fund
2022.21
Public Domain
Markings
Signed, upper right of tenth (left-most) panel, to left of inscription: Soho Kim Eung-won
Inscribed with lines of Chinese poetry, on panels 1-10 (right-left), as follows [transliterated and translated from Chinese to Korean by Minkyung Kang; translated from Korean to English by Haely Chang]: 1. 深谷暖雲飛 | 重巗花發時 | 非因採樵者 | 那得外人知 As warm clouds float over the deep valley | when the flower blooms amidst the layered rocks | If a lumberjack does not lift [the orchid] | How would people of outside world would know of [its existence] 2. 龢露紉爲湘水佩 | 凌風如到蕊珠宮 As [the orchid] collected dewdrops, Qu Yuan, immersed in the Xiang River, tied it at his waist. | The [orchid] defying the winds seems to reach to the Palace of Budding Pearls (Ruizhugong), where the Daoist Immortals reside 3. 淸風搖翠環 | 凉露滴蒼玉 Like an emerald tinted jade ring swaying in a clear breeze | Or cool dew settled on blue marble 4. 移自山深處 | 栽培几案幽[邊] | 貞安香有韻 | 逸性只無侔[伴] Bringing [the orchid] from deep within the mountain | and planting [it] at a quiet and secluded place [besides] the desk | With its clear and unassuming fragrance along with its quaint beauty | there is nothing that can be taken compared] from its splendor 5. 猗猗紫蘭花 | 素秉巗穴趣 How beautiful it is, the purple-colored buds of the orchids | [It] retains the ambience of the caves from its birth 6. 綠玉叢中紫玉條 | 幽花疎淡更香饒 The purple tinted emerald stems amongst dense green jades | Although the meager flowers are small and unadorned, their fragrance is abundant 7. 墨痕香沁影欹斜 | 帋上參差盡着花 As the shadow is cast aslant on traces of ink seeped with fragrance | Haphazardly, the flowers are in full bloom on the page 8. 傍石疎花秀 | 臨風細葉長 The flower that blooms sparingly amidst the rocks is exceptional | How wondrous are its tender pedals swaying in the breeze. 9. 此是幽貞一種華 | 不求聞達只煙霞 The orchid is a flower both noble and upright | It enjoys the quiet landscapes of nature, not yearning to be recognized 10. 離騷千載托名尊 | 九畹香濃醉墨痕 For Encountering Sorrow [Li Sao], the title alone was sufficient to command a millennium of respect | Bathed in the fragrance of orchids in a nine wan field, the ink becomes intoxicated with this scent
Artist's seals stamped in red ink next to calligraphy and orchid-and-rock imagery on each panel. In addition, two artist's seals stamped below signature line in tenth (left-most) panel.
Provenance
before 1968, Jong Hwan Jeong (Busan, South Korea);1968-1992, gift to daughter, Mihe Jo (New York, New York, and Los Angeles, California, USA);
1992-2022, purchased by (Kang Collection Korean Art, New York, New York, USA);
2022-present, purchased by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Kim Eung-won, Orchids and Rocks, 1900 - 1910, ten-panel folding screen; ink on paper. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Asian Art Deaccession Fund, 2022.21.
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