Rocks and orchids

In this work, An Jung-sik paints the traditional subject of rocks and orchids favored among the scholar-painters of the nineteenth century. Unlike other painters of this theme, however, An uses broad, wet strokes of various textures to render the surface of rocks and the ground, and long, relaxed brush lines for the orchid leaves.

An accompanied a Korean envoy to China as a draftsman in 1881. Later, after returning to Korea, he was selected as a senior painter for a portrait of members of the royal family. An was asked to teach at the Academy of Calligraphy and Painting—the first nongovernmental fine arts institution—when it was established in 1911. He had been an influential figure in continuing the Korean tradition of calligraphy and painting and became most famous for his landscape paintings. In 1919, he was elected the first president of the Association of Calligraphers and Painters.