Community Spatial Structure in Late Joseon Genre Painting:A Visual Analysis from the Perspective of Community Theory

초록

This study examines genre paintings produced in the late Joseon period, with particular focus on the works of Kim Hong-do and Shin Yun-bok from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. Drawing on an interdisciplinary framework that integrates image analysis and community theory, the paper explores how these paintings construct conceptions of community spatial structure and articulate their associated socio-cultural meanings. Within the broader narrative logic and normative conventions of East Asian historical painting, Joseon genre paintings frequently adopt fragmentary visual formats such as album leaves and small-scale compositions. These formats emphasize interpersonal relations and everyday behavioral scenes, giving rise to a distinctive mode of relational narration. This study introduces a six-fold analytical model of community spatial structure, categorizing pictorial space into domestic, intermediary, public, economic, ritual, and symbolic spaces. By incorporating perspectives from human geography, iconology, and structuration theory, the paper reveals the cultural mechanisms through which genre paintings function as visual apparatuses for social spatial cognition. Through close analysis of human activities, spatial organization, and cultural symbols depicted in representative works, this study argues that genre paintings do not merely reflect existing social structures but actively participate in the construction of community order and the cultural reproduction of living environments. Furthermore, the paper highlights the contemporary relevance of these traditional visual resources, particularly their implications for community-building practices, cultural identity reconstruction, and urban spatial governance. The triadic logic of image–space–relation evident in Joseon genre paintings provides a novel theoretical pathway for understanding both traditional community conceptions and their extension within modern visual culture.

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