• Title/Summary/Keyword: contemporary Korean painting

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A Study of Kwon Kisoo's Paintings : focused on The 'Four Gracious Plants' and 'Dongguri'

  • Adjah, John;Hong, Mi-Hee
    • Cartoon and Animation Studies
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    • s.40
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    • pp.497-519
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    • 2015
  • Kwon Kisoo is one of the most promising artist in Korea. His paintings portray a lot of metaphors and philosophies in oriental art. As an artist, he adapts both oriental and contemporary ideas to make his paintings. His main motifs are Plum blossoms, Chrysanthemum, Orchid and Bamboos. These plants are known as 'Sa-gonja' in Korean but translated as the 'Four Gracious plants' or the 'Four Gentle Plants in english'. These noble plants represent the four seasons. They grow in different weather conditions. In oriental art, these plants are considered very important for their qualities. These qualities are important attributes for gentlemen in literati painting. The drawing of the 'Four Gracious Plants' in Kwon Kisoo's paintings is simplified. He uses lines, shapes and colour to create contours of the motifs. In his paintings, there is another icon he calls 'Dongguri'. Dongguri is the main character in Kwon Kisoo's paintings. It was developed in 2002 by fast brush strokes. Dongguri is an admired character because it looks like very cute in Kwon Kisoo's paintings. Dongguri is always seen living in the midst of the 'Four Gracious Plants'. The 'Four Gracious Plants' with other landscape features like rocks and mountains are places 'Dongguri' lives. Dongguri is also often found performing a lot of actions like climbing, running, sitting etc. All these actions depict metaphors which have been unraveled in this study.

The Nondestructive Analysis of the Pigments on the Korean 12-fold scheen, Haehakbando-do (해학반도도 채색안료에 대한 비파괴 특성 분석)

  • Kim, Gyu-ho;Song, Yuo-na;Lim, Duck-su;Song, Jeong-ju
    • 보존과학연구
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    • s.28
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    • pp.121-147
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    • 2007
  • A large variety of mineral pigments has been used for Korean paintings and it has known that organic pigments have been used together on the Buddhist painting and the portrait. Haehakbando-do, which is from Honolulu Academy Museum in the United States, 12-fold screen was commissioned by Court of the late Joseon Dynasty in order to pray for the King's longevity. Therefore, it seems that all material used including pigments were selected very carefully and a great deal of technical effort was gone into its process. The purposes of this research were to estimate the pigments and the contributory elements of each color used on Haehakbando-do, in accordance with the conservation treatment carried out by Gochang Conservation Institute throughout last year. Without extracting sample, property of pigment was measured by nondestructive method, X-ray spectral analysis, and by comparing with the data about ancient pigments. In spite of the limited range of pigment analysis by nondestructive method, it should be noted that this method would not cause damage to the cultural properites. White pigment was found in all colored parts except the background, so it can be suggested that white color was used as a grounding of other color pigments. This would be flake white[$2PbCO_3{\cdot}Pb(OH)_2$] as Pb was found. Pb was the only element could be found in yellow, however, it can be organic pigment like Gamboge as same as background. Red would be Cinnabar (HgS) as hydrargyrum (Hg) was detected. For the light purple in cloud, organic pigments were probably used since any element is not detected except for Pb, which is used for background. It is possible that green color is the mixture of Malachite[$CuCO_3{\cdot}Cu(OH)_2$] and Azurite [$2CuCO_3{\cdot}Cu(OH)_2$], which share Cu as their main element. Azurite[$2CuCO_3{\cdot}Cu(OH)_2$] was used for bluish pigments. Black is carbon compound. For gold, solid gold (Au) was detected. It shows that gold was gilded on the flake white background. Red painted on the frame of screen was identified as Cinnabar (HgS) and the gold pattern was solid gold (Au). The supporting leg of folding screen was made of brass because both copper and zinc were detected. In conclusion, white pigment was used as grounding of all colors of Haehakbando-do, and specific pigments were used for each color. Additionally, result from the analysis of several pigments shows that mineral pigment and organic pigment, or different mineral pigments were mixed to make various colors.

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Modern Vision in the 18~19th Century Garden Arts - The Picturesque Aesthetics and Humphry Repton's Visual Representation - (18~19세기 정원 예술에서 현대적 시각성의 등장과 반영 - 픽처레스크 미학과 험프리 렙턴의 시각 매체를 중심으로 -)

  • Lee, Myeong-Jun;Pae, Jeong-Hann
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.43 no.2
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    • pp.30-39
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    • 2015
  • The English Landscape garden and picturesque aesthetics, which was in fashion during the 18th to early 19th century in England, has been accused of making people see the actual garden in terms of a static landscape painting without a synesthetic engagement in nature. As new optic devices such as diorama, panorama, photography, and cinematography were invented, ways of seeing nature transitioned from a perspective vision to a panoramic, that is, modern one. This study intends to uncover signs of this kind of modern vision in the picturesque aesthetics and visual representation of landscape gardener Humphry Repton. German garden theorist Christian Cay Lorenz Hirschfeld contended that the English landscape garden was a new style of designing landscape that followed the principle of the serpentine line, which produced movement in sightlines; thus, he considered garden art as a superior art form among all other genres. The signs of visual motion appear in Repton's sketches of "Red Books". Firstly, he designed systemic routes in his clients' properties by considering different types of movements between walks and drives. Secondly, he often used the visual effects of panoramic views for his sketches in order to allow his clients to experience the human visual field. Lastly, he constructed sequences of sketches in order to provide his clients with an illusion of movement; in other words, Repton's sketches functioned as potential visual media to produce the duration of time in a visual experience. Thus, the garden aesthetics of the time reflected the contemporary visual culture, that is to say, a panoramic vision pertaining to visual motion.

City Beautification and Art: Some Critical Reflections on "Art on the Street" (도시미화와 예술: '길 위의 예술'에 대한 비판적 소고)

  • Lim, Seong-Hoon
    • The Journal of Art Theory & Practice
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    • no.10
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    • pp.47-61
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    • 2010
  • What is Art on the street? Is it a series of artworks or activities performed on the street? In other words, does "art on the street" refer to "Street Art" such as street performance, happening, graffiti, or wall-painting, or does it refer to "Street Furniture" which is related to "City Design" or "Environmental Design"? In a formal sense, they all belong to Art on the street. However, in this paper, I would like to use Art on the street in an even broader sense. To me, " the street" is a metaphor of "environment." Thus Art on the street is the art related to environment; it is an environment art. Art on the street attests the expansion of the concept of art and shows a new possibility of contemporary art. It is a promising new concept of art, but we cannot ignore the misapplication of the concept that we can find at the crossroad of Art on the street and "city beautification." Of course, Art on the street can and sometimes needs to beautify the city. However we still need to ask how to contribute to the city beautification with Art on the street and how to validate such a practice. City space is, most of all, a space that people live in. It sounds a cliche, but it is worth repeating to better understand Art on the street. When we consider the city space in terms of its system or organization, we often overlook that it is the space in which people live, and which people create. Art on the street concerns not the city itself, but the space in which people live and make relations for each other. Without taking this into account, Art on the street becomes a mere means to' embellish' the city and falls prey to the logic of capital. In this paper, I critically reviewed the problems such as City Development, Spectacularization, City Environmental Design, Public Interest and City Museum. I intended to emphasize that Art on the street is produced in the cultural space of city, but it also tends to break the mold of the cultural space and seeks a new possibility. Some might argue that my claims are unrealistic because Art on the street is not an idea but a practice. While humbly accepting the objection, I hope my critical suggestions guide a more productive direction to continue our discussions of Art on the street.

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Mathematician Taylor's Linear Perspective Theory and Painter Kirby's Handbook (수학자 테일러의 선 원근법과 화가 커비의 해설서)

  • Cho, Eun-Jung
    • The Journal of Art Theory & Practice
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    • no.7
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    • pp.165-188
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    • 2009
  • In the development of linear perspective, Brook Taylor's theory has achieved a special position. With his method described in Linear Perspective(1715) and New Principles of Linear Perspective(1719), the subject of linear perspective became a generalized and abstract theory rather than a practical method for painters. He is known to be the first who used the term 'vanishing point'. Although a similar concept has been used form the early stage of Renaissance linear perspective, he developed a new method of British perspective technique of measure points based on the concept of 'vanishing points'. In the 15th and 16th century linear perspective, pictorial space is considered as independent space detached from the outer world. Albertian method of linear perspective is to construct a pavement on the picture in accordance with the centric point where the centric ray of the visual pyramid strikes the picture plane. Comparison to this traditional method, Taylor established the concent of a vanishing point (and a vanishing line), namely, the point (and the line) where a line (and a plane) through the eye point parallel to the considered line (and the plane) meets the picture plane. In the traditional situation like in Albertian method, the picture plane was assumed to be vertical and the center of the picture usually corresponded with the vanishing point. On the other hand, Taylor emphasized the role of vanishing points, and as a result, his method entered the domain of projective geometry rather than Euclidean geometry. For Taylor's theory was highly abstract and difficult to apply for the practitioners, there appeared many perspective treatises based on his theory in England since 1740s. Joshua Kirby's Dr. Brook Taylor's Method of Perspective Made Easy, Both in Theory and Practice(1754) was one of the most popular treatises among these posterior writings. As a well-known painter of the 18th century English society and perspective professor of the St. Martin's Lane Academy, Kirby tried to bridge the gap between the practice of the artists and the mathematical theory of Taylor. Trying to ease the common readers into Taylor's method, Kirby somehow abbreviated and even omitted several crucial parts of Taylor's ideas, especially concerning to the inverse problems of perspective projection. Taylor's theory and Kirby's handbook reveal us that the development of linear perspective in European society entered a transitional phase in the 18th century. In the European tradition, linear perspective means a representational system to indicated the three-dimensional nature of space and the image of objects on the two-dimensional surface, using the central projection method. However, Taylor and following scholars converted linear perspective as a complete mathematical and abstract theory. Such a development was also due to concern and interest of contemporary artists toward new visions of infinite space and kaleidoscopic phenomena of visual perception.

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A Study Meaning Analysis and Interpretation of Body Sign, Kiki Smith - On Pee Body - (키키 스미스 작품에서 신체기호의 의미 분석과 해석 - 를 중심으로 -)

  • Kim, Sung-Hee
    • Journal of Science of Art and Design
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    • v.10
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    • pp.5-50
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    • 2006
  • The terminology "human body" simply means a physical body but also more often, as an object in art works, carries symbolic concepts incorporating the whole history of human lives. Human body has been employed as an artistic object capturing physical body, delivering artist's idea expressing life indicators from different standpoints of times and places. This point of view about human body in art works has in fact rather short history since 1960's when modern thinking paradigm focusing upon rationality and reasoning has begun declining and on the contrary when the body used to be the servant of the mind and soul for a long time has begun attracting artist's attention as a real entity from the viewpoint of dichotomy. During the 1960's, frequent performances in Pop art and of Fluxus showed that the human body has been an important media for artistic communication after importance of body performances had been raised in Action painting in 1940's. The human body became a more determined media in body art works that had got into stride after Yves Kline's conceptual works applying body and its traces. These kinds of art works have continued and consolidated into the Feminism came into blossom in 1980's and into fragmentated and disembodied body art trend in 1990's. Through development of trends in body works, human body now might well be regarded as a clue provide from individual identity with implication over the world. This thesis is to analyse in semiotic way main works of Kiki Smith who is a representative artist devoting to Feminism and proposing extended significance of human body. In the analysis process of works done by two great artists with histrorical background of art trend in order to find and open an significance horizon of human body, semiotics and bodism are therefore perceived as pertinent and applied as basic tools. The first stage of analysis is to get the significances emerged in between expression part and contextual parts, which are separated structually from the most basic level. The study deals with body works furthermore in the way of structual cohesion of the expression and the context from the view of A J. Greimas' Structural Semantics and tried to build up a basic frame for the extended significances of human body. This thesis is, on the other hand, to attempt to contribute for extension of disembodied and fragmentated body discussed in the structural semantic frame earlier by Julia Kriesteva who delivers abjection concepts and phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty who enables to overview relationship between the body and the world from the viewpoint of Bodism, further into interpretation level. The other works are Kiki smith's that showed epics about death in mid-1980's, detailed humbleness of vulnerable human body exposed to dichotomy and fragmentation in 1990's and religion and mythology incorporating wouln healing in 2000's and henceforth. Through the analysis of Kiki Smith's representative work 'Pee body', it is verified and confirmed that fragmentated body showed beyond boundary gap of the human body and ultimately tends to imply human healing owing to divine maternity. Bodily symbols in Kiki Smith's are extended to the universal world to imply human life and death on the one hand and religion and mythology of human wound and divine healing one the other hand. This thesis through these process and results of analysis is in a broad context, to emphasize that human body as objectified text has a key indicator role to understand world as well as semiotic extension in art works in late 20th century so that we might confirm bodily symbol as a cultural context constitutes a section of contemporary visual arts.

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The post-epic characteristics in Jan Lauwers' theatre -, and - (얀 라우어스(Jan Lauwers) 공연의 탈서사적 특징들 -<이사벨라의 방(Isabella's Room)>, <랍스터 가게(The Lobster Shop)>, <사슴의 집(Deer House)>을 중심으로-)

  • Nam, Jisoo
    • Journal of Korean Theatre Studies Association
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    • no.48
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    • pp.447-484
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    • 2012
  • This study aims to analyze the characteristics of post-epic theatre in the Belgian theatre director Jan Lauwers' trilogy titled in "Happy Face/Sad Face": (2004), (2006) and (2008). I regard that it played a very important junction for him to create his own theatrical style compared to earlier years. From this period, Lauwers has tried to create his original plays in order to concentrate the story of our era and has showed to combine a variety of media such as dance, installation, video, singing etc. In this context, I would like to study his own theatricality from the three perspectives of dramaturgy, directing and acting largely based on Hans-Thies Lehmann's theory of post-epic theatre, who pointed out the significance of Lauwer's theatrical leading role very early. First, from the dramaturgical point of view, we need to pay attention to the theme of translunary death; where the living and the dead coexist on the stage. In fact, death is the theme that Lauwers has been struggling to research for quite long time. In his trilogy, the dead never exits the stage. The dead, who is not a representative tragic character, even meddles the things among or with the living and provide comments to people. As a consequence, it happens to reduce a dramaturgical strong tension, leads depreciation of suspense and produces humanism in a way. This approach helps to create his unique comical theatrical atmosphere even though he deals with the contemporary tragic issues such as war, horror and death. Second, from the directing point of view, it is worth to take a look at the polyphonic strategy in terms to applying various media. Among all the things, the arts of dancing and singing in chorus are actively applied in Lauwer's trilogy. The dance is used in individual and microscopic way, on the other hand, singing shows collective and is a macroscopic quality. The dance is the representing media to show Lauwer's simultaneous microscopic mise-en-scene. While main plot takes place around the center-stage, actors perform a dance around the off-centered stage. Instead of exiting from the stage during the performance, the actors would continue dance -sometimes more like movements- around the off-centered stage. This not only describes the narrative, but also shows how each character is engaged to the main plot or incident, and how they look into it as a character. Its simultaneous microscopic mise-en-scene intends to function such as: showing a variety moments of lives, amplifying some moments or incidents, revealing character's emotion, creating illusionary theatrical atmosphere and so on. Meanwhile, singing simple lyrics and tunes are an example of the media to stimulate the audiences' catharsis. As the simple melody lingers in the audiences' mind, it ends up delivering a theatrical message or theme after the performance. This message would be transferred from the singing in chorus functions as a sort of leitmotive in order to make an impression to the audience. This not only richens their emotion but also creates an illusionary effect. Third, from the acting perspective, I'd like to point out the "detachment" aesthetic which Lehmann has pointed out. The actors never go deep into the drama by consistently doing recognize a theatrical illusion. The audience happens to pay attention to their presence through the actor's deliberate gesture, business, movement, rhythm, language, dance etc. The actors are against forming closed action by speaking in various languages or by revealing deliberately stage directions or acts, and by creating expressive mise-en-scene with multiple media. As a consequent, the stage can be transformed to not a metaphoric but a metonymic place. These actions are the ultimate intention for a direct effect to the audience. So to speak, Lauwers uses the anti-illusionary theatrical method: the scenes of fantastic death, interruption of singing and dance, speaking many kinds of languages, acting in detachment-status and so on. These strategies function to make cracks in spectators' desire who has a desire to construct a linear narrative. I'd like to say that it is the numerous potentiality to let the reality penetrate though and collide the reality with a fiction. By doing so, it induces for spectators to see the reality in the fiction. As Lehmann says, "when theatre presents itself as a sketch and not as a finished painting, the spectators are given the chance to feel their own presence, to reflect on it, and to contribute to the unfinished character themselves". In this sense the spectators can perform an objective criticism on our society and world in Lauwer's theatre because there are a number of gaps and cracks in his theatrical illusion where reality can penetrate. This is also the point that we can find out the artists' responsibility in this era of our being.

A Study on Xu Bing's artworks Contributed to expansion of printmaking in Contemporary Chinese Art (중국 현대미술에서의 판화 매체 확장을 일으킨 쉬빙(徐冰) 작품 연구)

  • Song, Dae-Sup;Cho, Ye-In
    • Cartoon and Animation Studies
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    • s.45
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    • pp.321-343
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    • 2016
  • The purpose of this thesis is to look through the political and social background of China preparing for a new era after getting out of the Communist Party of Mao Zedong, rapid inflow of the Western modernism and the avant-garde art arising in China with the focus of art works of Xu Bing, which contributed to the expansion of printmaking of China. Particularly, 85 New Wave Movement arose by young artists since 1985 and the China/Avant-Garde Exhibition held in Beijing in 1989 are the two important issues which reflect a new change from the traditional Chinese art. The artists of 85 New Wave Movement, who pursued a historical revolution and novelty, worked very actively by leading private exhibitions. Since the Cultural Revolution, the government owned the National Museum of Fine Art Beijing had exhibitions on a large scale displaying various visual arts such as performing art, installation, painting, sculpture but the Chinese government interrupted exhibitions two time due to bold performing art and unconcealed installation. Some artists were even taken to the police when performing art. Under these circumstances, Xu Bing, who majored printmaking, produced one of his major works, Books from the sky(1988), while he was working on various experiments focusing on the production process of printmaking and its repetitiveness. Xu Bing devised letters, carved them in trees and finally created approximately 2000 characters. Going further he displayed it as installation work, which means the developed characters go beyond a printed form, for audiences. This made him earn favorable reviews since it was a form of western art coupled with Chinese contents 'Chinese character'. After he received unfavorable reviews, however, he went to America leaving his last work in China, Ghost Pounding the Wall, in 1990, which was not able to exhibited. In those days, China society was going through a chaotic era thanks to the extinction of the Cultural Revolution and Deng Xiaoping's(1904-1997) reformation after the debacle of Tiananmen Massacre. This study looks into Xu Bing's artworks from his initial print works until he went to the US in 1991 and examines how he performed experiments utilizing reproductivity and plurality of prints tinged with Chinese traditional elements, and ultimately became one of the avant-garde artists representing the period.

The Collection of Paintiongs and Calligraphy at Jipgyeong-dang Hall during King Gojong's Reign(1897~1907) (고종연간 집경당(緝敬當)의 운용과 궁중(宮中) 서화수장(書畵收藏))

  • Hwang, Jung-yon
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.40
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    • pp.207-241
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    • 2007
  • This paper investigates the royal collection of paintings and calligraphy during King Gojong's (高宗) reign (1897~1907) based on the function of the Jipgyeong-dang Hall (緝敬堂), situated at "sleeping realm (寢殿)," Gyeongbok Palace. Using the surviving palace records and art works this study argues that the date of building the hall is approximately confined to the year of 1890. Not being matched with the general opinion that the Jipgyeong-dang Hall was used for the official meeting with envoys, this hall functioned as the main place for royal audience and the storehouse for archives. The role of Gojong as collector and patron was essential not only to the maintenance of the collection but also to the strengthening of royal authority just before the Japanese annexation in 1910. The specific titles of the collection at this hall can be verified through the Catalogue of the Books, Paintings, and Calligraphy Exposed to the Sun at Jipgyeong-dang Hall (緝敬堂曝曬書目) dating to the nineteenth century. The records of the catalogue inform us that more than 1,000 paintings and pieces of calligraphy, inkrubbings from old steles, manuals for painting, and encyclopedia concerning art theories from Korea, China, and Japan were preserved there. The collection of Jipgyeong-dang Hall resulted from Gojong's policy to foster the collection of contemporary Chinese and Japanese art works and various catalogues. Standing behind the Gyeongbok Palace, the Jibok-jae Hall (集玉齋) also preserved the diverse sources of practical learning, as did the Jipgyong-dang Hall for Gojong. The enormous royal collections by Gojong might have been constructed in accordance with the royal artistic taste and the artistic milieu of the late Joseon period. The surviving royal catalogues confirm this assumption as documentary evidence.

A Study on the aesthetic of Calligraphy by Seok Jeon Hwang Wook (석전(石田) 황욱(黃旭)의 서예미학(書藝美學) 고찰)

  • Kim, Doyoung
    • The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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    • v.8 no.2
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    • pp.227-234
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    • 2022
  • Seok Jeon Hwang Wook (18913~1999), a descendant of a traditional literary writer in the western part of Honam, did not join the flow of modern and contemporary calligraphy and painting. And throughout his life, he enjoyed himself without losing the appearance of a scholar, immersed himself in traditional calligraphy, and gained spotlight at his late age for his original hand grabbing calligraphy. Immediately after the Korean War, all of his property was lost due to his two sons' left-wing activities, causing great pain at home. Even in the most painful and difficult time in human history, he relied on brushes, poetry, and gayageum to keep his upright scholarly spirit and national love. And beyond the pleasures of the worldly senses, he played with self-satisfaction in the 'true pleasure(大樂)' without greed. In the course of his studies, he focused on honing the fonts of Wang Hui-ji, Gu Yang-sun, An Jin-gyeong, Jo Maeng-bu, and Xin-wi and Lee Sam-man without a special teacher. In particular, he faced a crisis of having to give up his brush due to tremor that came after his 60th birthday, but he showed a strong will. He transformed it into a new style of art, such as developing hand grabbing calligraphy(握筆法) with a strong and strong energy that no one could match. From 1965 to 1983, 'right hand grabbing calligraphy' was used, and from 1984 to 1993, 'left hand grabbing calligraphy' was used. She made her name as a calligrapher widely known in 1973 (age 76) with her first solo exhibition, The Calligraphy Exhibition commemorating her 60th wedding anniversary. His writing method is naturally rough and sloppy by breaking away from the previous calligraphy methods and artificial technique, and is unfamiliar yet full of muscle. And the calm, strong and rough chuhoegsa(錐劃沙) and the heavy yet majestic ininni(印印泥) individual handwriting expressed a strange feeling and achieved original Seokjeon calligraphy that went beyond the existing calligraphy writing methods, and his indomitable calligraphy spirit was As a unique existence in the history of calligraphy, he still remains as a model.