AN EXHIBITION of the ancient cosmetic culture of Korea at the Korean Cultural Centre in Paris is part of the celebrations of the 120th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Korea and France. The show is co-organised by the Korean Cultural Centre and the Coréana Cosmetics Museum in Seoul, which is affiliated to the Coréana cosmetics company, one of the largest cosmetic companies in Korea. Dr. Sang-Ok Yu, the founder of Coréana company, has collected over a period of 35 years more than 5,300 items related to Korea’s cosmetic and beauty culture. This is the first show ever presented on this topic in Europe and features about 200 items ranging from the Three Kingdoms period (57 BC-AD 668) to the early 20th century, including cosmetic containers, make-up tools, hair accessories and jewels.
The art of beauty and adornment has existed in many cultures since ancient times and no less so in Korea. A bracelet made of shells excavated from a Paleolithic site in southern Korea near Pusan is considered to be the earliest evidence for personal ornament in Korea. Other early evidence for adornment and make-up appear in the wall paintings of the Koguryo tombs located in today’s Jilin province of China and in the vicinity of Pyongyang in North Korea, and in the personal ornaments from tombs of the Three Kingdoms period.
What were Korean conceptions of beauty and appearance and how did Korean people produce make-up in ancient times? Answers to these questions can be found in this show. A number of historical and literary sources inform us about Korea’s traditional beauty culture, which emphasises the use of natural ingredients (flowers, beans, fruit seeds) and reveal that it was not an insignificant matter. In particular, the Chinese envoy from the Northern Song court, Xu Jing (1091-1153), mentions in the Illustrated Record of the Chinese Embassy to the Koryo Court, Xuanhe fengshi Gaoli tujing (1123) that Korean women of the upper classes disliked using too much make-up. They used powder without rouge and drew eyebrows like a willow leaf. The Gyuhapchongseo (1809) is an instructional guide to everyday life for Choson women records various techniques for manufacturing cosmetic products, such as rouge for cheeks and lips, fragrances to perfume the body, oils to maintain long, black and glossy hair, and descriptions of shapes for eyebrows.
Cosmetics were not only the preserve of the upper classes. Common people also strove to embellish their appearance and resorted to various less expensive cosmetics. During the Choson period, while aristocratic women used a mixture of flower ashes, indigo plants and gold powder to produce the dye for the eyebrow, ordinary people would use a piece of charcoal to highlight their eyebrows. Since the rouge make-up, made of saffron flowers and cinnabar, was an expensive cosmetic and difficult to obtain, commoners would use dried red pepper as a substitute.
In keeping with Choson’s Confucian ethos and taste, which favoured a dignified demeanour and simple appearance, Korean women and men alike strove to have a pale skin and wear minimal yet decorative adornments. A simple yet elegant appearance was synonymous of a noble and humble mind. The materials and decorative patterns of personal ornaments varied according to the social status of the wearer, the function or the season. Accessories made of gold, silver and decorated with semi-precious stones were used by the upper classes while ordinary people used copper, nickel or horn.
After Korean ports opened to foreign trade following the Peace Treaty of Kanghwa in 1876, new make-up styles and cosmetics were imported to Korea. While the early imported cosmetics mainly came from Japan and China, from the 1920s onwards, European cosmetic brands, in particular French ones, were introduced. The import of foreign cosmetics contributed to the increasing popularity of cosmetics and prompted the creation of Pak’s powder, the first powder ever manufactured in Korea in 1916 by Seung-Jik Pak which will be on view in the Paris show. Other items of interest include a hair implement in tortoiseshell used by men that served to push back their temple hair under their headdresses, and exquisite 3-cm high oil bottles and powder containers. A section of the exhibition will present the natural ingredients that were used in making traditional cosmetics. Visitors will also be able to produce their own sample of cosmetic oils using various essences on display.
Ariane Perrin
The exhibition runs from 11 to 23 September, Centre Culturel Coréen, 2 avenue d’Iéna, 75116 Paris, tel 01 47 20 83 86, www.coree-culture.org; Coréana Cosmetics Museum, www.spacec.co.kr. A trilingual catalogue (Korean, French, English) accompanies the exhibition.
