A Study on the Formative Characteristics of the <Inscription of the Monument for Lee Chungmugong’s Victory at Byeokpajin Battle> written by Sojeon Son Jaehyeong

Sojeon Son Jaehyeong(素荃 孫在馨) is a representative calligrapher in the modern and contemporary Korean calligraphy field in the 20th century, as well as an educator, politician, collector, connoisseur, art administrator, etc. The contents of the <Inscription of the Monument for Lee Chungmugong’s Victory at Byeokpajin Battle> was composed on August 29, 1956, by Nosan Lee Eunsang in Hangeul mixed with classical Chinese characters, and Son Jaehyeong inscribed it with a brush. Son Jaehyeong's creativity in Hangeul calligraphy lies in applying the formativeness and calligraphic method of seal script, clerical script, regular script of the Tang Dynasty, and the school of learning from the stela of the Qing Dynasty to Hangeul calligraphy works. Son Jaehyeong searched for a creative way to apply the classical Chinese calligraphy style to the Hangeul calligraphy style, and his contribution to the history of modern and contemporary Korean calligraphy lies in that he opened up his world of calligraphy creation by breaking away from the level of imitating the old blindly. The character structure and disposition of the <Inscription of the Monument for Lee Chungmugong’s Victory at Byeokpajin Battle> are the best examples of this. It is a work that shows creativity that goes beyond conventional forms in the history of modern and contemporary Korean calligraphy. It also contains the beauty of Son Jaehyeong's unique modern formative sense, which he achieved through research on the traditional Hangeul calligraphy and obsession with the ancient methods of classical Chinese calligraphy. This beauty emerges concretely in terms of the formative features of taking the abnormality as the rightness(以奇爲正) and making the whole harmonious through the response of front and back strokes(救應圓融). The formative characteristics of taking the abnormality as the rightness developed into the aesthetics of seal script, clerical script, and regular script expressed in the character structure and disposition, and the features of making the whole harmonious through the response of before and after strokes transformed the formativeness and strokes of the ancient Hangeul calligraphic style into work with his individuality. In conclusion, I found that Son Jaehyeong's <Inscription of the Monument for Lee Chungmugong’s Victory at Byeokpajin Battle> contains the spirit of calligraphy aimed at creative fusion based on the aesthetic view of fusing various calligraphic styles.