The travels of Marco Polo Series

This painting is from Goam’s The Travels of Marco Polo Series, which he undertook when asked to produce artworks for a book of that name. The whole series is made of 79 paintings. However, for some reason, the author was unable to publish the book and thus, the artworks that Ungno made remained unknown until they were donated to and shown to the public at the Lee Ungno Museum in Daejeon. Most of the artworks depict mysterious landscapes showing characteristics different to his other works, since this Series has a specific theme and purpose. This landscape, painted by Ungno as if travelling the unknown world himself shows a new beauty created by the different perspectives of East and West. The triangular forms, which look like islands or mountains, get smaller as they recede to create a sense of distance, while the artist takes a bird’s-eye view as in East Asian painting. The small architectural red figures seen among the triangular forms are drawn to mimic an unfamiliar East Asian architecture as beheld by the eyes of a European traveller.