Aktuelles & Veranstaltungen
15/07/2025 | Burglind Jungmann: Dream of the ‘Peach Blossom Land’
Prof. em. Dr. Burglind Jungmann (UCLA)
Revisiting Prince Anpyeong’s Dream of the ‘Peach Blossom Land’ in Early Joseon Korea
15/07/2025 | 18:15 | CATS R.400.02.12 | 
[Poster]
The famous handscroll Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land by the court painter An Gyeon is the earliest surviving signed and dated Korean landscape painting. Commissioned in 1447 by An Gyeon’s patron Prince Anpyeong (1418–1453) it was, as the title suggests, inspired by the famous prose poem ‘Journey to the Peach Blossom Spring’ of the Chinese poet Tao Qian (sobriquet: Yuanming, 365?–427). Tao famously described the utopia of a secluded land where people lived in peace and harmony. However, An’s painting neither follows the narration of the poem, nor established Chinese iconographies. Moreover, Prince Anpyeong states in his colophon that he visited the secluded land in a dream and found it uninhabited and in ruins. The ideas of utopia and retreat presented in Tao Qian’s poem gain a more concrete meaning in context of the prince’s vulnerable circumstances and the unstable political situation of his times. Only a few years after the painting was completed Prince Anpyeong’s father King Sejong (r. 1418–1450) died and the fight for his succession ended in a bloodbath. Prince Anpyeong was assassinated by his own brother Prince Suyang, who in 1455 usurped the throne to become King Sejo (r. 1455–1468). Do Prince Anpyeong’s dream and An Gyeon’s painting connect to contemporaneous circumstances at court, or are they just poetic and stylistic reminiscences of century-old Chinese traditions? This paper will retrace the interpretations of the painting by art historians of different generations, that reflect the development of the field alongside changes in methodology.
Ishibashi Foundation Visiting Professor: Kristopher Kersey
We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Kristopher Kersey will join us as the 33rd Ishibashi Foundation Visiting Professor for the summer semester. Prof. Kersey’s research explores the rich intersections of Japanese art, design, and aesthetics. His first book, ‘Facing Images: Medieval Japanese Art and the Problem of Modernity’ (Penn State University Press, 2024), introduces a groundbreaking approach to art history—one that transcends simplistic binaries such as West/rest or modern/pre-modern. His scholarship has been recognized with numerous prestigious fellowships and grants, including a Senior Research Fellowship at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg ‘InHerit: Heritage in Transformation,’ an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA), a Getty Scholar Fellowship at the Getty Research Institute, an Anne van Biema Fellowship at the National Museum of Asian Art, and a postdoctoral fellowship from the European Research Council.
Students can look forward to engaging courses on ‘Graphic Arts of Japan’ and ‘Time and Narrative in Japanese Art,’ along with a planned excursion to Stuttgart. Be sure to mark June 23, 2025, in your calendars for his evening lecture titled ‘Nebulous Image: “Clouds” in the Art of Japan.’ [Events]
