Chunhwa (Korean: 춘화;Hanja: 春畵) is a term referring to theKorean erotic art tradition, mainly during theJoseon era.
According toMaeyanghanrok, written by Park Yang Han during the reign of King Yongjo, the tradition was first imported fromChina in the form of an ivory sculpture. But considering the time period, it is also speculated that the tradition can be traced back to the lateGoryeo period during an interchange with theYuan dynasty. The tradition flourished when many novels from theMing andQing dynasties were imported, which caused a boom of interest in sexual subjects.However, compared to the traditions ofShunga of Japan andChungongtu of China, it did not become as mainstream due to the country's strongConfucian values. Most of the examples found were done by anonymous artists, and the depictions were not as explicit as other East Asian counterparts. The tradition was also influenced by the style of Pungsokhwa, the tradition of genre paintings in Korea depicting the everyday life of people.[1] The tradition partly inspired the works of 20th century Korean painters.
A known examples of a series of Chunhwa was the "Un u do chop" attributed to the painterGim Hongdo and "Gongonilhoedochop" attributed to the painterSin Yun-bok.[2] However, some are thought to be fake attributions to famous painters to raise the price of paintings.[3]
