Detail

`Folk paintings are part of folk art in which the aesthetic consciousness and sentiment and emotion of a people are visually expressed. The Ministry of Communications has selected nine out of the many Korean folk paintings in order to issue them as postage stamps. This is to help understand, from the aesthetic side, the popular emotion that has long been dominant in the Korean hearts. By this, The Ministry of Communications also hope to bring people both at home and abroad in contact with our cultural and artistic uniqueness. The selections will be issued in series and the following two are the third series. 1. Two Rabbits Pounding Grain in a Mortar This scene brings to senses what is in the subconscious of the Korean people-the fairy tale of rabbits living on the moon about which our grandmothers used to tell us in our childhood. This peaceful and pastoral mood depicted in the painting must have been what our ancestors enjoyed, and also seems to be strongly appealing to our contemporaries living in a world of industrial civilization. 2. Dragon in Cloud The dragon was as closely related to the mind of our ancestors as the tiger. Dragon images are found everywhere they left their traces behind, from palaces and other royal things to the daily necessities used by the common people. Our ancestors probably believed that the dragon shuttling between earth and heaven was the animal authorized to carry out the divine message. It was thus the dragon that made rain in cloud and caused the streams of mountains to flow. It was because of its being an imaginary animal that the dragon was so frequently used to symbolize the infinite authority and dignity of kings.`