(b 1541; d after 1625). Korean painter. Active during the middle of the Choson period, he was a great-great-grandson of King Sejong and bore the noble title Sogyang-jong. His work consists primarily of monochrome bamboo paintings. This genre was cultivated fairly early in Korea, mainly under the influence of the Chinese literati painters of the Northern Song period (see CHINA, §V, 4(ii)). From the beginning of the Choson period bamboo constituted the most important examination subject for the Bureau of Painting (Tohwaso). Yi Chong’s early paintings display the influence of painters of the Chinese Yuan period (1279–1368), such as Li Kan. Soon, however, elements of contemporary Ming (1368–1644) painting, especially in the style of the Zhe school, as exemplified by Zhu Duan, also appeared in his work. For instance, Yi Chong moved the subject in a similar way from the centre to the side of his painting and combined the bamboo motif with freely drawn sketches of boulders. In contrast to his Chinese models, he joined the bamboo leaves into bundles, which he spread out rhythmically over the entire surface of the picture. Consequently, the stems in the background with light ink tones were strongly set off from the darker ones in the foreground, making them appear as shadows and producing an effective expansion in depth (see fig.; see also KOREA, fig. 48). After Yi Chong, rhythm, expansiveness and the predilection for graphic patterns became characteristic traits of Korean bamboo painting, even though most of these elements had already occurred in the painting of the early Choson period. Examples of Yi Chong’s paintings of bamboo are held in the National Museum of Korea, Seoul, the Centre for the Study of Korean Arts, Kansong Art Museum, Seoul, the Ho-am Art Museum, Seoul, and private collections in Korea and Japan.

• Yi Chong (i) (1541-d after 1625)
  • Korea, §IV, 2(vi): Literati ink painting
  • works
    • Yu Tok-chang