Su'un (峀蕓) Yu Tok-chang (柳德章) was one of the three greatest bamboo painters in Chos?n Dynasty. He had devoted himself to bamboo painting through all his life until he died in his 80's. Accepting the tradition of the Chos?n bamboo painting style, established by Tan-en (灘隱) Yi ch?ng (李霆) in the middle of Chos?n Dynasty, Yu T?k-chang was the last painter who succeeded to the tradition of Yi ch?ng's bamboo style during the first half of the 18th century.
Yu T?k-chang's ancestral home was Jinju (晋州) and his family was famous for both the pen and the sword. Especially, his 6th forefather served as a minister in Myung-jong's throne and was also good at bamboo painting. Yu's granduncle was also a great warrior, but he was sentenced to death by wrong accusation in 1680. This tragedy shocked Yu's family deeply.
Yu T?k-chang was born in 1675. He got married to Jeonju Yi clan (全州李氏) Myung-rin's daughter, who was one year younger than he. Yu T?k-chang had 2 sons and 3 daughters. After failing in the state exam in his early age, Yu started to paint bamboos.
Yu mainly made friends in the same party called as Southerners (南人). Some of them wrote some poems and colophons on Yu's bamboo paintings. Gan-ong (艮翁) Yi Heon-kyoung(李獻慶) made a lot of writings about Yu's bamboo and Sung-ho (星湖) Yi Ik (李瀷)'s nephew Yi Yong-hyu (李用休) left important recordings most of all. Besides these Southerners, Sin Kwang-soo (申光洙) and Nam Tae-weong (南泰膺) also wrote some colophons about the paintings.
Yu's bamboo paintings style can be discussed. by the two kinds of origins. At first, many scholars mentioned that Yu's bamboo was linked to Yi ch?ng's bamboo. Secondly, Yu's family tradition on bamboo painting made his bamboo's joint straight so that Yu's bamboo looked taller and slimmer.
Yu's bamboo painting works can be classified according to two periods: a forming period and a completing period. In a forming period. before his 50's. the bamboo leaves were a little thin and the position of bamboo was not stable. However, in a completing period. those shortcomings were corrected and the size of his painting became larger as time went by.
The features of Yu's bamboo are as follows. The leaves are lively and the stems of a bamboo are straight without over-curves. The density of leaves and stems are not so high that the space on the painting is wide enough. The positions of bamboos drawn in thick and thin ink are various. These make Yu' s bamboo rhythmical. Furthermore, Yu's paintings have the moon and water along with bamboos.
Yu's bamboo were often compared with Yi ch?ng's bamboo. Many scholars concluded that Yu's bamboo was the best after Yi ch?ng's. Especially, Yi Yong-hyu said that Yu's bamboo had a rhythm (韻) and Yi's bamboo had a power (勢). The difference between two bamboo painters was the difference between the generation making a standard style and the generation succeeding to the former style. Also, Yu enjoyed his long life painting bamboo in his own way. This individual aspect probably made his bamboo smoother.
After Yu's bamboo painting. the Chos?n ink bamboo style was changed to a new bamboo style affected by Southern school literati painting (南宗畵).