History
Chinese characters were introduced to in Korea as early as the 2nd or 3rd century CE, probably with the spread of Buddhism. Admiration for Tang Dynasty culture, including Chinese calligraphy, grew during the Unified Silla period, and in the 8th century Kim Saeng became recognized as the earliest Korean calligraphic master, producing work that was compared with that of Wang Xizhi. The poet Choe Chiwon was also known for his calligraphy, a sample of which is engraved in a rock in Haeundae, Busan.
The angular styles of the early Tang masters, Yu Shinan, Ouyang Xun, and Chu Suiliang, persisted until the 14th century, when the more rounded style of Zhao Mengfu came into vogue. Korean calligraphy became increasingly formalistic in the years that followed. Kim Jeong-Hee revolutionized Korean calligraphy in the early 19th century, introducing what is known as the jusa style after his pen name, inspired by the ancient Chinese lishu script.
As the scholarly classes used Chinese characters, Korean calligraphy used hanja until the 1910–1945 Japanese occupation of Korea. Nationalist sentiment led to the popularization of the native hangul alphabet, and calligraphic works using hangul have since seen a revival.
Read more about this topic: Korean Calligraphy
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We may pretend that we’re basically moral people who make mistakes, but the whole of history proves otherwise.”
—Terry Hands (b. 1941)
“Anyone who is practically acquainted with scientific work is aware that those who refuse to go beyond fact rarely get as far as fact; and anyone who has studied the history of science knows that almost every great step therein has been made by the “anticipation of Nature.””
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“Revolutions are the periods of history when individuals count most.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)