(b Kimhae, South Kyongsang Province, 1542; d 1621). Korean calligrapher and scholar–official. He passed the civil service examination in 1564 and later served as a court official in charge of writing official documents. He was well known for his Neo-Confucian scholarship and for his poetry. Although he was esteemed as a calligrapher, his achievements are said to have been overshadowed during his lifetime by those of his more famous contemporary, Han Ho. Kim was commissioned to write many important stelae, including the Memorial Stele for the Victory of General Yi Sun-sin in Yosu, South Cholla Province. He has often been compared to such famous calligraphers as Kim Saeng of the Unified Silla period or Yi Yong of the early Choson period. He worked mainly in the style of Zhao Mengfu, which had been the dominant trend since its introduction to Korea from China during the late Koryo period (918–1392) but which was eschewed by his contemporaries, who sought instead to emulate Wang Xizhi (see KOREA, §V, 4 and 5, for a fuller discussion of the contending influences of these two Chinese masters). Kim Hyon-song’s insistence on the Zhao Mengfu style suggests his conservatism and orthodoxy. The Poem for Yun Ch’om-ch’u (1604; see Im Ch’ang-sun, pl. 80) is written in running-cursive script and displays the freedom and elegance of his mature style. This work suggests that although he followed the style of Zhao Mengfu he was confident enough to depart from it: some of the characters in this poem show a greater degree of modulation and a greater variety in the thickness of the strokes.

• Kim Hyon-song
  • Korea, §V, 4: Calligraphy: Choson, 1392–1910