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Calligraphy by a South Korean independency hero, created portion awaiting execution for assassinating a Japanese statesman, is breaking caller auction records successful Seoul, arsenic the country's ultra-rich question to bring historical artwork home.
Revered successful the South for his efforts to support the state against Japanese encroachment, Ahn Jung-geun is champion known for his dramatic, high-stakes assassination of Japan's archetypal premier minister, Ito Hirobumi, successful 1909 astatine a railway presumption successful Harbin.
He was hanged for the sidesplitting by Japanese authorities successful 1910, conscionable months earlier Tokyo formally annexed the Korean peninsula, ushering successful a brutal play of concern that lasted until the extremity of the Second World War.
Now, much than a period aft his death, the calligraphy Ahn created successful his situation compartment during his last days -- typically astatine the petition of Japanese officials -- is drafting caller attraction successful Seoul's glitzy creation scene.
In South Korea, Ahn's beingness has agelong inspired artists crossed generations, giving emergence to a highly celebrated musical, aggregate novels, and films -- including 1 starring "Crash Landing connected You" histrion Hyun Bin.
Ahn was held successful his situation compartment successful China for astir 40 days starring up to his execution and helium kept himself engaged penning an autobiography and making hundreds of calligraphy pieces, including 1 requested by his ain situation guard.
"The tribunal and situation officials, saying they wanted to support my calligraphy arsenic a memento, brought maine hundreds of sheets of silk and insubstantial and asked maine to make for them," Ahn wrote successful his autobiography.
"I ended up spending respective hours each time doing calligraphy, adjacent though I wasn't peculiarly skilled successful it."
Even though Ahn had assassinated their apical authoritative Ito, the Japanese who took his calligraphy preserved them with care, and immoderate of their descendants person donated them to the South Korean government, which subsequently designated them arsenic nationalist treasures.
Now, much of the calligraphies are surfacing successful the backstage creation market, with the latest being auctioned past period successful Seoul for 940 cardinal won (US$674,098) -- much than 3 times its opening bid.
The piece, which says "green bamboo" -- a accepted awesome of integrity -- had been owned by a Japanese idiosyncratic who did not privation to beryllium identified, and they had done an impeccable occupation preserving it, said Kim Jun-seon, creation valuation specializer astatine Seoul Auction.
"It wasn't adjacent mounted and was inactive rolled up, but erstwhile we opened the case, the scent of ink inactive lingered successful the air," she told AFP.
- 'Terrorist' -
Japan said Ahn was a transgression and violent and refused to manus implicit his remains. They person ne'er been located.
Moves to honour Ahn by Seoul and Beijing person antecedently strained ties with Tokyo, adjacent concisely sparking a diplomatic enactment successful 2013.
The information that his Japanese captors preserved his calligraphy "reflects the taste and governmental contradictions of aboriginal twentieth-century East Asia," said Eugene Y. Park, a past prof astatine University of Nevada, Reno.
At his trial, Ahn identified himself arsenic a worker for Korea, defined his assassination of Ito arsenic a subject operation, and envisioned a agreed East Asia -- comprising Korea, China, and Japan -- somewhat akin to today's European Union.
"Some Japanese whitethorn person seen him arsenic a misguided but principled idealist," Park told AFP.
His calligraphy, which focused connected values specified arsenic bid and ethics, "resonated culturally, adjacent if helium opposed them politically," helium said.
"At a clip erstwhile Japan's ain imperial individuality was unsettled, preserving his works revealed deeper tensions betwixt respect for motivation courageousness and the pursuit of assemblage domination."
- Go successful bid -
In 2023, the Global Sae-A Group, a South Korean conglomerate, purchased 1 of Ahn's calligraphies for a record-breaking 1.95 cardinal won.
The portion "Green Bamboo" was sold astatine auction past period to the household of South Korea's LS Group.
"We expressed our volition to bring the portion backmost to Korea and stock it with the public," Joung Tae-hee astatine Seoul Auction said, adding that the Japanese proprietor agreed to merchantability aft proceeding their proposal.
Lee Sang-hyun, of the LS Group family, told AFP that his parent "hopes galore citizens volition beryllium capable to spot this portion and that it volition besides beryllium studied," and they are considering donating it to a nationalist institution.
Ahn became a christianity arsenic a teen and ends his autobiography with the words of Nicolas Joseph Marie Wilhelm, a French clergyman and missionary stationed successful Korea, who travelled to his prison to spot the activistic and springiness him confession.
The clergyman -- who had besides baptised Ahn and was a long-time person -- was disciplined for his trip, and was aboriginal forced to instrumentality to France.
"The gracious lord volition ne'er wantonness you," Wilhelm told Ahn. "He volition surely instrumentality you in, truthful remainder your bosom and spell successful peace."
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