``Series of Biographies of Painters 1, 2``

This book features the title in ``hangul`` or Korean alphabets on the cover that well matches subtitles deployed in all directions. The picture, ``Manpok-dong`` by Chong Sun known as a master painter of Choson Kingdom, printed on the cover attracts the eyes of readers along with another work presumed to be the ``Self-Portrait`` by Kim Hong-Do, another great painter of the same period.

Folding the cover, famous paintings of Choson period printed smartly in the original colors made my eyes cool. The editing the book made me feel the particular sincerity and affection of the writer and the editor, irrespective of its contents.

The book depicts the biographies of the representing eight painters in the history of Choson period`s painting. As writer Prof. Yoo Hong-Jun reveals in his preface, the book is biographies featuring the artistic achievements made in the progress of life. The writer, who has set as his goal writing ``painting history as the practice of academic science`` or ``painting history as human science,`` is evaluated as making his achievements tangible.

The writer is familiar to all of us with his book, ``My Tour to Cultural Assets 1, 2 and 3`` which easily sold more than 1 million copies and ``My Tour to North Korean Cultural Assets.`` He is also devoting himself to finding writers of today as a literary critic. He majored esthetics. Like his long height, he strides are wide in traveling the East and West and the present and the past in his critique of painting history and arts.

Written by Yoo Hong-Jun/about 380 pages, each/16,000 won/ History Criticism Co.

Lee Won-Bok, chief of art department, National Museum of Korea