Thursday, March 16 06:30pm
Korea Society
950 Third Ave., 8th Floor, New York, NY 10022
This illustrated slide lecture will introduce Korean Buddhist art, focusing on the late Three Kingdoms period (traditionally, 57 BC – AD 668), the Unified Silla period (668–935), and the Koryŏ period (918–1392). Buddhism reached Korea from China in the fourth century; by the Unified Silla period, most members of the royal family were Buddhists, and the royal court patronized the religion, building temples and commissioning sculptures; by the Koryŏ period, the nation had espoused Buddhism as the state religion. Thus, during the millennium from the fourth through the fourteenth century (and the end of the Koryŏ dynasty), Buddhism flourished, as did Buddhist art, so that this era was the golden age of Buddhism in Korea. This lecture will pay particular attention to the sculpture of the Three Kingdoms and Unified Silla periods, to the magnificent temple architecture of the Unified Silla period (including Pulguk-sa and Sŏkkuram in Kyŏngju), and to the refined paintings and sumptuous sutras of the Koryŏ era. The lecture will explore the nature of Chinese influence on Korean Buddhist art, just as it will touch on Korean influence on Japanese Buddhist art.
For tickets visit: www.koreasociety.org