Celebrated master calligrapher`s works donated to local museum

Nine calligraphic works by Kim Jeong-hui, a Confucian scholar and master calligrapher in the late Joseon Dynasty, have been donated to an art museum in Gochang, South Jeolla Province.

Gochang County said Wednesday that the descendants of Kim Seong-su, an educator, journalist and founder of the Dong-A Ilbo, donated the vertical calligraphic works hung in his old residence in the county to the Gochang County Art Museum. Two other calligraphic works by Yi Sam-man, a renowned calligrapher from the Jeolla region, were also donated.

A Gochang official said that Kim Seong-su`s descendants made the donations in the hope that many local residents could appreciate the cultural properties.

Baek Won-cheol, who heads an association of local cultural researchers, said that one of Kim Jeong-hui`s poem depicting a long and winding mountain trail "matches well" with Kim Seong-su`s village as well as the path on which Kim Jeong-hui walked in exile.

Last month, the research association raised the possibility that Kim Jeong-hui went to Naju, South Jeolla Province via Gochang in September 1840, presenting his writings and local villagers` accounts as evidence.

kokim@donga.com