Lee Ung-no's calligraphic writing and abstract drawing : Focusing on the work ‘Composition’

This paper aims to examine the background and development process of Lee Ung-no's works, which seek to modernise tradition by expanding the formative nature of calligraphy strokes through abstract works that stylise his writing from the 1960s onwards. Lee Ung-no pondered how to inherit traditional calligraphy, which was inseparable from writing, and modernize it through abstraction. Through various attempts and efforts that transcended genres and media in search of the modern significance of calligraphic artistry, he was able to practice the fusion of Eastern and Western art. Lee Ung-no's artistic world began with calligraphy and progressed through the elements of literati painting, such as ink wash painting and freehand brushwork, to semi-abstraction and abstraction. After Western art was introduced to Korea in the 1950s, Lee Ung-no contemplated the changes in the Eastern art world and continued to experiment with abstraction, moving away from his exploration of “realism.” Lee Ung-no's combination of the Eastern spirit of “freehand brushwork” and the concept of “calligraphy” within the broad framework of “abstraction” suggests that his artistic world was a journey toward the fusion of East and West, tradition and modernity. Based on Eastern calligraphy and Western compositional methods, he added a Korean aesthetic sense to traditional Eastern calligraphy culture and reinterpreted Western abstract art. In conclusion, Lee Ung-no's “Composition” series of abstract works after his move to France absorbed both Eastern and Western art traditions, expressing Korea's unique cultural characteristics that are both global and regional, thereby realizing a universal specificity that can be appreciated by everyone regardless of nationality or region. He sought to explore the originality and identity of his works within the global art scene by securing the possibility of expanding traditional Eastern calligraphy culture into a modern abstract art language, based on Eastern calligraphy culture and Western compositional methods.