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 to understand, from the aesthetic side, the popular emotion that has long been dominant in the Korean hearts. By this, the Ministry of Communications also hopes 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 fourth series. 1. Pine Tree In this painting the objects are depicted in a distinct and humorous way. The painter must have intended to express only his ideas of a pine tree, a pavilion and a mountain, rather than give them graphic depiction. This conceptual depiction of things is one of the features that give Korean folk painting its distinctiveness. Folk painting became popular as daily-life art in the middle of the Yi Dynasty, and it was then that this conceptualization became the style of Korean folk painting. 2. Flowers and Birds This painting constitutes one part of the bridal-room folding screen of old days. ``Flowers and Birds`` paintings, of which such a folding screen is constituted, contain seasonal flowers and a happy couple of birds. And their colors are gorgeous enough to give a bridal-room a romantic and dreamy atmosphere. Most of today`s embroidered folding screens are the contemporary version of the bridal-room folding screen of the bygone days.`