Seoul Journal of Korean Studies

Several studies of god pictures in Korean shamanism have introduced different types of pictures and their locations. Those written from the perspective of art history analyze their stylistic characteristics and the semantics of the symbols appearing in them. The discussion in folk and religious studies has focused on classifying the depicted deities, looking into the relationship between the pictures and rituals, and examining how the pictures are produced and utilized. Such works, however, remain largely one-dimensional, and one cannot deny that research of Korean shaman paintings is still in its initial stages. God Pictures in Korean Contexts: The Ownership and Meaning of Shaman Paintings by Laurel Kendall, Jongsung Yang, and Yul Soo Yoon is a major breakthrough in this regard. It is a thirst-quenching volume revealing the multiple modalities that god pictures can take depending on context.

The most striking feature distinguishing this book from previous studies is its focus on the material side of religion, with the authors examining how god pictures are used in a Korean shaman’s practice, how they move from the realm of the sacred to the profane and are distributed as works of art, and what roles dealers and collectors play in this process. This perspective is in line with Kendall’s earlier work, Shamans, Housewives, and Other Restless Spirits (whose Korean translation was first published in March 2016), where the scholar attempts to grasp the social meaning of Korean shamanism by linking its characteristics to the commodity economy. Given the emphasis on the picture [End Page 371] contents in other studies, Kendall’s approach is valuable as the opening of a new horizon in the study of Korean god pictures.

Shaman paintings are rarely produced by shamans themselves. In the past, they were drawn by hand to a shaman’s order, but the production mode has changed with modernization. Stores in the Chongno area of Seoul sell god pictures made on a printing press, while the remaining artists use chemical paints instead of traditional natural pigments. Shaman paintings for sale at manmulsang (compound shops) are drawn by copying images found in books, including academic works on god pictures, and demonstrate modern influences—for example, a god’s posture can be inspired by that of Napoleon crossing the Alps. Above all, the act of obtaining a shaman painting has become a commercial transaction. In Walter Benjamin’s terms, the aura of a work has been largely lost in reproducible commodities which have no significant value to an art collector.

On the other hand, the authors point out that the god pictures originally hung in shaman shrines acquired a different meaning when they became an object of a collector’s desire. What once belonged to the realm of the sacred is now appraised as art. To Korean collectors, shaman paintings represent something “truly Korean.” The National Museum of Korea does not recognize them as pure art—to date no god picture has been designated a national treasure—but rather as items to be collected by the National Folk Museum. Nevertheless, it is Korean scholars, curators, and collectors that have created a discourse on shaman paintings and labeled them as “unique” and emanating “Korean-ness.”

After examining the commercial distribution of god pictures as works of art, the authors turn to the issue of materiality from the religious perspective. The question they ask changes from “What is a Korean shaman painting?” to “When is a Korean shaman painting?” which reveals an essential aspect of religious paintings. God pictures are not mere paintings. They become sacred when worshipped as gods. But they are not always sacred, since gods residing in the pictures sometimes leave the shrine; they do not mind living together with other gods most of the time but may quarrel with each other occasionally. The authors examine this dynamic process in an anthropological framework, observing each case in...