- Hungary
Beatrix MECSI
Eötvös Loránd University Budapest, Korean Studies Department, Faculty Member
- Eötvös Loránd University Budapest, Department of East Asian Studies, Department MemberEötvös Loránd University Budapest, Japanese Studies Department, Department Memberadd
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The founder of meditational Buddhism according to tradition is the Indian born Bodhidharma, whose legendary figure can often be seen in visual art and popular culture of East Asian countries. In my thesis I focus on the visual... more
The founder of meditational Buddhism according to tradition is the Indian born Bodhidharma, whose legendary figure can often be seen in visual art and popular culture of East Asian countries. In my thesis I focus on the visual representations of Bodhidharma, and for the first time, after summarizing the information about him revealed in primary and secondary textual and pictorial sources, I set down a comprehensive study on the formation of the Bodhidharma-iconography, and discuss Korean Bodhidharma-images in a wider context of East Asian images. This thesis introduces Korean Bodhidharma images for the first time in a Western language, and show them together with the already known Chinese and Japanese images. It raises several problems on the identification of these images and brings new evidence on the formation of the Bodhidharma- iconography. It shows how it derived from representations of Daoist immortals and Buddhist arhats. Earlier studies usually consider texts as primary to ...
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The impact of visual sources on the written tradition is exemplified here on the iconography of Bodhidharma. The pictorial tradition of the scene Bodhidharma Crossing the Sea is analyzed by the Author.
Thanks to the efforts of many art historians and conservators, over 160 paintings have now been ascribed to artists from the Koryȏ period (918-1392). Since the 1990s, numerous exhibitions and catalogues-mainly in Korean and Japanese-have... more
Thanks to the efforts of many art historians and conservators, over 160 paintings have now been ascribed to artists from the Koryȏ period (918-1392). Since the 1990s, numerous exhibitions and catalogues-mainly in Korean and Japanese-have helped to introduce them to a wider audience. In English, the pickings are still slim, but at least a number of exhibition catalogues and introductions to Korean art have helped to spread awareness of the artistic brilliance and technical refinement of Koryȏ paintings. In particular, paintings of the Water-moon Avalokites´vara or Amitabha's welcoming descent are now fairly well known. Yet so far, almost no one has paid close attention to the set of paintings of the Ten Kings of Hell from the Seikadō Bunko Art Museum in Japan. The set is unique for various reasons. Although individual paintings of Ks. itigarbha flanked by the Ten Kings of Hell exist, this is the only set of individual paintings of each of the ten kings, together with two messengers, from Koryȏ. In fact, this book is the first to firmly establish their Korean provenance. Second, if the author's assessment of the date is correct, they would be the oldest known paintings produced in Korea. And third, the paintings are not only the culmination of a long tradition of the Ten Kings of Hell representations in East Asia, but also a veritable repository of various painting styles of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). As the first monograph in English devoted exclusively to the study of Koryȏ Book Notes
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This paper introduces how the colonial intervention in Korea by Japan-another Asian nation-has changed and formed the discussion about art and art...
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Lechner has been known as an architect who incorporates Hungarian folk motifs in creating a highly original Hungarian national style. Nevertheless, his work has been surprisingly neither exposed nor familiar to Korean audiences. This... more
Lechner has been known as an architect who incorporates Hungarian folk motifs in creating a highly original Hungarian national style. Nevertheless, his work has been surprisingly neither exposed nor familiar to Korean audiences. This article attempts to reveal the unique characteristics of Lechner's architectural thought and ideas along with his buildings in Budapest. First of all, this article presents the evolution of Lechner's architectural thought by dividing his career into four marking periods. They are in chronological order to serve as a record of his architectural career. The authors then discuss his concern on the Hungarian ethnography in architecture while turing away from orthodox classicism. Subsequently, this article analyzes Lechner's three major buildings located at Budapest. By doing so, it attempts to expose his underlying design ideas and to shed light on the most elegant works of the architect. Finally, it marks out Lechner's influences on young H...
There is a very unique full-body portrait of a Korean woman in the collection of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts in Budapest, which was...
Members of EUKOPAC (EUropean research network on KOrean Political ACtors), were able to provide papers about various subjects such as studies about North Korea or South Korea, the Korean diaspora and Korean Art. This workshop has been... more
Members of EUKOPAC (EUropean research network on KOrean Political ACtors), were able to provide papers about various subjects such as studies about North Korea or South Korea, the Korean diaspora and Korean Art. This workshop has been fully recorded in English.
The founder of meditational Buddhism, according to tradition, is Bodhidharma, who originated from India. He is called Putidamo or Damo in Chinese, Boridalma or Dalma in Korean and Bodai Daruma or Daruma in Japanese. His legendary... more
The founder of meditational Buddhism, according to tradition, is Bodhidharma, who originated from India. He is called Putidamo or Damo in Chinese, Boridalma or Dalma in Korean and Bodai Daruma or Daruma in Japanese. His legendary representation can often be seen in the visual art and popular culture of East Asian countries. The paper focuses on the visual representations of Bodhidharma, as they became popular in Japan and Korea. The paper is based on a previous piece of research, undertaken when the author summarized existing information about Bodhidharma, as revealed in primary and secondary textual sources. As part of this research, the author analyzed this information, together with visual sources, in order to trace the formation of the legend and iconography of Bodhidharma from the very beginning. The aim was also to describe their dynamics. Studying the text-image relationships, the author here shows, through an analysis of a famous episode of Bodhidharma's legend, the &quo...
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According to tradition the founder of Chan or meditational Buddhism, Bodhidharma, originated from India, yet his legend and first representations are more typically associated with China and his legendary figure is frequently seen in the... more
According to tradition the founder of Chan or meditational Buddhism, Bodhidharma, originated from India, yet his legend and first representations are more typically associated with China and his legendary figure is frequently seen in the visual art and popular culture of the East Asian countries. In my paper I focus on the visual representations of Bodhidharma as they became popular in Korea and Japan, attempting to show the basic differences in the popularization of the visual images of Bodhidharma in these countries, focusing mainly on the visual appearance and iconography. The power of the image is seen in the commercialization of representations of Bodhidharma, particularly in Japan, where this practice occurred much earlier than in Korea and developed different traditions compared to those in China, where the legend came from.
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The Power on Images on Texts Re-Examined: The Case of Bodhidharma’s Crossing and the Mass-Consumtion of Bodhidharma-images in Japan and Contemporary South Korea”, Oriental Archive (Archiv Orientalní), Quarterly Journal of African and Asian Studies, Oriental Institute, Prague, ISSN 0044-8699, Volu...more
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The Power on Images on Texts Re-Examined: The Case of Bodhidharma’s Crossing and the Mass-Consumtion of Bodhidharma-images in Japan and Contemporary South Korea”, Oriental Archive (Archiv Orientalní), Quarterly Journal of African and Asian Studies, Oriental Institute, Prague, ISSN 0044-8699, Volu...more
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• Mecsi, Beatrix: Bodhidharma in Contemporary South Korea: The Founder of Chan Buddhism from Sacral to Popular Culture. In: Geetha Govindasamy, Park Chang Kyoo, Tan Soo Kee (eds.) KOREAN AFFAIRS: A CONTEMPORARY VIEW. Kuala Lumpur: Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia 2010. pp. 135-147. (ISBN:978-967-5148...more
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The legend of the Wandering Jew became very popular, especially from the 17th century Western Europe. The story of punishment by eternal life until the next coming of Jesus Christ has parallels with the Buddhist legend of Pindola... more
The legend of the Wandering Jew became very popular, especially from the 17th century Western Europe. The story of punishment by eternal life until the next coming of Jesus Christ has parallels with the Buddhist legend of Pindola Bharadvaja, a disciple of Shakyamuni Buddha who was also punished by eternal life until the coming of the Future Buddha, Maitreya. The similarities were dealt with the Japanese polymath, Minakata Kumagusu (1899) and Walter Edwards (1902) in the turn of the 20th century, claiming that the story of the Wandering Jew was influenced by the Asian legends of Pindola. In this paper I show that even if we do not have convincing evidences for proving any historical connections between these legends, the myth of eternal life as a punishment is an interesting idea, which appears in many traditions, forming layers on the existing and ever-growing traditions of myths and pictorial representations.
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The legend of the Wandering Jew became very popular, especially from the 17th century Western Europe. The story of punishment by eternal life until the next coming of Jesus Christ has parallels with the Buddhist legend of Pindola... more
The legend of the Wandering Jew became very popular, especially from the 17th century Western Europe. The story of punishment by eternal life until the next coming of Jesus Christ has parallels with the Buddhist legend of Pindola Bharadvaja, a disciple of Shakyamuni Buddha who was also punished by eternal life until the coming of the Future Buddha, Maitreya. The similarities were dealt with the Japanese polymath, Minakata Kumagusu (1899) and Walter Edwards (1902) in the turn of the 20th century, claiming that the story of the Wandering Jew was influenced by the Asian legends of Pindola. In this paper I show that even if we do not have convincing evidences for proving any historical connections between these legends, the myth of eternal life as a punishment is an interesting idea, which appears in many traditions, forming layers on the existing and ever-growing traditions of myths and pictorial representations.
Research Interests:
In East Asian art we often encounter the representation of arhats (Skt. those who are worthy), a type of Buddhist saintly figure, in groups of sixteen, eighteen or 500. When we look at visual representations of arhats in China, Korea and... more
In East Asian art we often encounter the representation of arhats (Skt. those who are worthy), a type of Buddhist saintly figure, in groups of sixteen, eighteen or 500. When we look at visual representations of arhats in China, Korea and Japan, we can see some special features that make us consider how the concept, grouping, form and style of their representation has formed and changed in China, Korea and Japan. Some popular themes in East Asia show a very strong connection with arhat representations, such as representations of Bodhidharma, the first Chan patriarch, and the representation of the 'lonely saint' (Toksŏng) in Korea's Buddhist monasteries, which often refers to the arhat Piṇḍola Bharadvāja, one of the disciples of Śākyamuni Buddha.
ABSTRACT This paper reports an experimental, two level networked group and community based university course work. In this course, the students - MA second year (n=15) - formed groups of 3-4 people, where the instructor asked them to... more
ABSTRACT This paper reports an experimental, two level networked group and community based university course work. In this course, the students - MA second year (n=15) - formed groups of 3-4 people, where the instructor asked them to collaboratively read and translate a selected book about Japanese Art History and give presentations to each others. In order to track the proper collaboration, the instructors asked to use only web based collaboration and cooperation services, like collaborative word-processor, presentation builder and blog service. After finishing their translation, the students had to share their works - translations and presentations - with the other groups in a closed, blog based environment, and they had to reflect to each others. We present the structure of the student network with groups, the interactions of the students, some slides of the created presentations, some statistics, results of a questionnaire about satisfaction and our experiences
This paper reports an experimental, two level networked group and community based university course work. In this course, the students - MA second year (n=15) - formed groups of 3-4 people, where the instructor asked them to... more
This paper reports an experimental, two level networked group and community based university course work. In this course, the students - MA second year (n=15) - formed groups of 3-4 people, where the instructor asked them to collaboratively read and translate a selected book about Japanese Art History and give presentations to each others. In order to track the proper collaboration, the instructors asked to use only web based collaboration and cooperation services, like collaborative word-processor, presentation builder and blog service. After finishing their translation, the students had to share their works - translations and presentations - with the other groups in a closed, blog based environment, and they had to reflect to each others. We present the structure of the student network with groups, the interactions of the students, some slides of the created presentations, some statistics, results of a questionnaire about satisfaction and our experiences
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"From Centre to Periphery: Collecting Chinese Objects in Comparative Perspective", Symposium at the Slovene Ethnographic Museum, Ljubljana, 19–22 September 2019 - Programme and Abstracts
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Thanks to the efforts of many art historians and conservators, over 160 paintings have now been ascribed to artists from the Koryȏ period (918-1392). Since the 1990s, numerous exhibitions and catalogues-mainly in Korean and Japanese-have... more
Thanks to the efforts of many art historians and conservators, over 160 paintings have now been ascribed to artists from the Koryȏ period (918-1392). Since the 1990s, numerous exhibitions and catalogues-mainly in Korean and Japanese-have helped to introduce them to a wider audience. In English, the pickings are still slim, but at least a number of exhibition catalogues and introductions to Korean art have helped to spread awareness of the artistic brilliance and technical refinement of Koryȏ paintings. In particular, paintings of the Water-moon Avalokites´vara or Amitabha's welcoming descent are now fairly well known. Yet so far, almost no one has paid close attention to the set of paintings of the Ten Kings of Hell from the Seikadō Bunko Art Museum in Japan. The set is unique for various reasons. Although individual paintings of Ks. itigarbha flanked by the Ten Kings of Hell exist, this is the only set of individual paintings of each of the ten kings, together with two messengers, from Koryȏ. In fact, this book is the first to firmly establish their Korean provenance. Second, if the author's assessment of the date is correct, they would be the oldest known paintings produced in Korea. And third, the paintings are not only the culmination of a long tradition of the Ten Kings of Hell representations in East Asia, but also a veritable repository of various painting styles of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). As the first monograph in English devoted exclusively to the study of Koryȏ Book Notes
International Conference Museumisation in Central Europe: Opportunities and Challenges 7-9 June 2023 ELTE and Museum of Ethnography... more
International Conference
Museumisation in Central Europe: Opportunities and Challenges
7-9 June 2023
ELTE and Museum of Ethnography
https://www.facebook.com/neprajzimuzeum/posts/pfbid0ZaVw9yRDQ7RAmjxU1aMnLCdXZ39SHNvP5QzpUL63M4yS4buVWX2fdg317rGXuZAWl
Overviewing various modes of public presentation in the past, this international conference seeks to consider in what ways multi-cultural collaborations, innovative exhibitions and collecting strategies can influence academic and public opinions on the future of museums in Central Europe. With the focus on artworks and objects that originally came from Asia and Africa, as well as those deemed to be viewed as non-European, it brings together museum professionals and educational experts to revisit the institutional history of museums and to map out new
directions in the public presentation of such artefacts against the complex historical and current political background of Central Europe. It is widely acknowledged, as much as the academic discourse of art history, museum displays have made a significant impact on our perception and definition of "Art", "Culture" and "Heritage" for the past decades. Recent curatorial strategies demonstrate that museums can and should radically alter traditional modes of viewing through innovative approaches to installation. Yet this debate so far remains largely concerned with institutions located in the cultural capitals of West Europe and North America.
Museumisation in Central Europe: Opportunities and Challenges
7-9 June 2023
ELTE and Museum of Ethnography
https://www.facebook.com/neprajzimuzeum/posts/pfbid0ZaVw9yRDQ7RAmjxU1aMnLCdXZ39SHNvP5QzpUL63M4yS4buVWX2fdg317rGXuZAWl
Overviewing various modes of public presentation in the past, this international conference seeks to consider in what ways multi-cultural collaborations, innovative exhibitions and collecting strategies can influence academic and public opinions on the future of museums in Central Europe. With the focus on artworks and objects that originally came from Asia and Africa, as well as those deemed to be viewed as non-European, it brings together museum professionals and educational experts to revisit the institutional history of museums and to map out new
directions in the public presentation of such artefacts against the complex historical and current political background of Central Europe. It is widely acknowledged, as much as the academic discourse of art history, museum displays have made a significant impact on our perception and definition of "Art", "Culture" and "Heritage" for the past decades. Recent curatorial strategies demonstrate that museums can and should radically alter traditional modes of viewing through innovative approaches to installation. Yet this debate so far remains largely concerned with institutions located in the cultural capitals of West Europe and North America.