조선 선비들의 서예인식과 교육

Josun classical scholars' awareness and education of calligraphy

서예는 조선선비들의 찬란하고 아름다운 보배이다. 조선선비들의 서예인식은 각자 처한 학문적․정치적․시대적 환경은 달랐지만 서예에 대한 인식은 모두 하나 같이 근본에 충실해야 한다는 一以貫之 그 자체였다. 퇴계는 도학자적 敬정신으로,미수는 삼대의 至治主義적 尙古정신으로, 홍재는 강력한 복고적 서체반정 정신으로, 추사는 심오한 문자향서권기 정신으로 그들의 선비정신을 글씨에 발현시켰다.그것은 바로 源泉이 콸콸 솟는 샘물이어야 드넓은 바다에까지 이를 수 있다는 맹자의 가르침과 일치한다.조선시대의 서예교육은 정식 교과목으로 채택하여 교육한 것이 아니라, 항상 처한 상황에 적합하게 대처하는 時中的 교육방법을 사용했다. 초등교육기관이라 할수 있는 서당에서는 가장 많은 시간을 할애하여 교육했으면서도 정식교과목으로채택하여 체계적으로 교육한 흔적이 없다. 그것은 누구나 가장 기본적으로 갖추어야할 필수과목이면서, 평생을 함께해야할 동반자로 인식했기 때문일 것이다. 결국고차원적인 예술로서의 서예교육은 고차원의 서화미학적 식견을 갖춘 선비에 의하여 私塾의 형태로 이루어질 수밖에 없었다.조선선비들의 서예인식과 교육의 핵심은 바로 溫故와 法古를 통한 선비정신의발현이라 할 수 있다. 지금 이 시대에도 서예가 다른 예술장르와 차별성을 갖고 당당하게 대중 앞에 나서서 그들의 사랑을 받고자 한다면, 고차원적 선비정신을 글씨에 발현시킬 때만이 가능하리라고 본다.

Calligraphy is Josun classical scholars' brilliant and beautiful treasure. They recognized it in different academic, political and age environments where each of them was placed, but uniformly with the consistency itself that one should be faithful to the basis. Toegye revealed his classical scholar spirit in letters with the moralistic spirit of respect, Misu with the spirit of respecting the old based on the thought that politics and enlightenment should be based on Confucianism which had lasted for Three generations, Hongjae with the spirit of restoring a powerful, reactionary calligraphic style and Chusa with the profound spirit of character fragrance and book spirit. It is just consistent with Mencius' teaching that a source as a spring which spouts forth can reach even a vast ocean. In the Josun Age they taught calligraphy not by adopting it as a formal subject but by using the teaching method of always coping properly with the situation in which one was placed. A private school called “Seo-dang" which can be said to be a primary education institution taught it by spending the most time on it but had never taught it systematically by adopting it as a formal subject. It may be because it was recognized as the obligatory subject which anyone would have to get most fundamentally and partner which one would have to go with during life. Eventually the Education of calligraphy as a high dimension of art was inevitably performed in a home school by the classical scholars with the views of a high dimension of aesthetics of pictures and calligraphic works. Josun classical scholars' key awareness and education of calligraphy can be said to be just the revelation of classical scholar spirit through learning and following the old. I see that if one wants to have calligraphy appear grandly before the people discriminated from other genres of art even in modern times and loved by them, one can do it only at the time of revealing a high dimension of classical scholar spirit in letters.