Baekbeom Kim Ku Calligraphy 韓美親善平等互助

This is a piece of calligraphy brushed by Kim Ku (金九, 1876–1949) in January 1949 for Gregory Henderson (1922–1988), then a cultural attaché at the United States Embassy in Korea. In the liberation period, when he was at odds with the US military government, Kim Ku gave several pieces of calligraphy to the young Henderson, who had taken an interest in Korean history and culture. Among them, "韓美親善平等互助" reflects both the circumstances of the time and Kim Ku's aspiration for a unified homeland, giving it great value as a historical record, while its meaning — "let Korea and the United States be friendly and help one another as equals" — also carries great symbolic value for Korea–US diplomatic relations. Henderson, who lived in Korea from 1948 to 1950 and again from 1958 to 1963, formed such deep ties with the country that he took the name Han Dae-seon (韓大善); he mixed widely with figures in Korean politics, academia and the arts, and collected precious artefacts including ceramics. This calligraphic work was donated to the Baekbeom Kim Ku Memorial Association by Henderson's wife in 2002. Specifications (width × height): 1,920 × 320 mm; material: hanji (traditional Korean paper); period of production: January 1949.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Designation

Registered Cultural Heritage · 국가등록문화유산