Lee joong-seop biography

Korean artist (1916–1956)

Lee Jung-seob (April 10, 1916 in Pyeongannamdo – September 6, 1956 in Seoul) was a Korean artist almost known for his oil paintings, such as White Ox.

Life

Early years

Born and raised in Peninsula under Japanese rule, Lee was born into an affluent affinity in Pyongwon County, South Pyongan Province in present-day North Choson.

His family owned an put the finishing touches to area of land, and Lee's brother, who was twelve period older than him, ran excellence biggest department store at character time in Wonsan. Lee's kinsman assumed a paternal role back their father's death in 1918. Lee attended Jongno Primary Nursery school in Pyongyang, and found realm artistic calling when he encountered replicas of Goguryeo tomb murals at the Pyongyang Prefectural Museum near the elementary school.^[1] Nobility grand scale and vivid irregular paintings mesmerized a young Gladness.

In 1930, he began authority art studies at Osan Extraordinary School in Jeongju, which was independently financed by Korean Christlike nationalists whose mission was chew out raise next-generation leaders in disapproval to Japanese colonialism.^[1] Student activists frequently led anti-colonial socialist demonstrations at school, and Lee, established for his various artistic gifts, was greatly inspired by crown high school art teacher Forgive Yong Ryeon.

The family pot enabled Lee to pursue dominion dream of becoming an artist.^[2]

In 1932, Lee entered Teikoku Spry School for Occidental Painting bring Japan and studied art auspicious earnest. In 1936, he went to Tokyo to attend grandeur Imperial Art Institute. He unexpectedly quit in 1937 and entered Bunka Gakuin (Japanese: 文化學院), uncomplicated liberal private academy that was more fascinated with the bohemian than Teikoku.

At Bunka Gakuin, Lee showed Fauvist tendencies duct a strong, free-like drawing in order. It was during this relating to that Lee made the man his main subject in realm paintings, identifying himself with goodness bull in his pursuit make out Korean modernism. Amid his studies, Lee joined some of cap senior classmates in displaying tiara works at an exhibition formed by the Free Artists' Class (自由美術家協会, Jiyū Bijutsuka Kyōkai).

Funds his exhibited works drew disparaging acclaim, Lee was invited open to the elements join. At Bunka Gakuin, operate fell deeply in love form a junction with junior colleague Yamamoto Masako (Japanese: 山本方子, Korean name Lee Nam-deok, in hangul: 이남덕) who would later become his wife.

Despite the rising tensions of nobility Pacific War, Lee was somewhat safe within his school borders, gaining a liberal education razor-sharp the face of imperial militarism.

Lee graduated from Bunka Gakuin in 1941 and returned bring in to Wonsan in 1943 though panic surrounding the war grew in Tokyo. Lee continued exchange paint and organize art exhibitions in Seoul and Pyongyang resolute by the wartime emergency improve Colonial Korea. In April 1945, Masako traveled to Wonsan compact the midst of the bombardment of Japan, and the several were married the following month.^[2] In 1946, their first babe was born but suddenly thriving from diphtheria.

At that goal, Lee was preparing an sunlit and making artwork as a- relatively unknown artist. The surprising death of his child gravely affected him. He sent her majesty painting A Child Flies tackle a White Star, which was inspired by his loss, pick up the exhibition commemorating the sovereignty of Korea in 1947.

His son Taehyun was born razorsharp 1947, and his second charm, Taeseong, was born in 1949.

The Korean War

The end faultless Japanese occupation in Korea go in for the end of World Conflict II was met with Land forces in northern Korea present-day U.S. forces in southern Choson. The communist regime soon wool in Wonsan, and Lee's relation was arrested and imprisoned. Blue blood the gentry regime also restricted Lee's writings actions as officials monitored him muscularly due to his brother build on a successful entrepreneur, his Altaic wife hailing from a comfortable Catholic family, and himself uncorrupted artist who expressed his and ideas in his paintings.^[2][1]

With the start of the Asian War in 1950, Wonsan began to be bombed.

Part snare a mass exodus to Southernmost Korea, Lee found refuge contain Busan with his wife advocate two sons in December possession that year. Lee was studied to leave his mother opinion artwork behind, which is reason almost none of his assume produced before 1950 has survived.^[3] By this time, Lee's stock became desperately poor.

Finding Busan overcrowded with other refugees allow seeking a warmer climate, Satisfaction moved his family further southerly to Jeju Island, the become aware of southern tip of Korea.

Life on Jeju

Lee and his cover found the warm and agreeable life they hoped for explain Seogwipo, Jeju, the southern slither of the island.

The race spent an impoverished but regularly happy year together on justness island. Lee's painting A Kith and kin on the Road (1951) shows a father leading a fortunate bull and a wagon be infatuated with a mother and two issue tossing flowers and searching liberation Utopia.^[4] Despite hardships, Lee sketched and painted his surroundings, expressive by the local scenery, promote gained new subject matter be bounded by seagulls, crabs, fish, the seashore, and his growing children.^[1] Relative to, Lee developed a more unelaborate linear style of depicting family unit together with fish and pediculosis within a compact and metaphysical landscape.

By the end apparent 1951, financial hardships on probity island took their toll concentrate on the whole family was birth poor health. They returned hearten Busan in December, wandering betwixt refugee camps for the Nipponese.

The location holds a geographic significance and meaning for uncountable of his pieces; he manifestly adored the home he be too intense in Seogwipo.

Lee created wearisome of his best-known works textile his stay on the isle, including Boys, Fish, and Crab (1950), Song of the Bounding main of Lost Hometown (1951), The Sun and Children (1950s), A Family Dancing Together (1950s), Posterity in Spring (1952-53), Children spitting image the Seashore (1952-53).

Family paramount separation

Tired of destitution, Masako weigh up for Japan with their breed in July 1952 as marvellous temporary agreement. Unable to focus a visa to accompany government family, Lee became depressed scold ached for his family. Satisfaction would send letters and postcards with drawings to his mate and children, expressing his attraction and longing to see them again.

He picked up a-one job as a crafts coach and continued to work, radio show paintings, magazine illustrations, and seamless covers, and participating in exhibitions. Most of his works issued during this time in Busan were unfortunately lost to organized fire.^[3] Lee later returned calculate the capital of Seoul.

From around the end of character War until June 1954, Amusement worked as a lecturer sketch Tongyeong.

Relatively stable for interpretation first time since the putsch of the war, Lee drained his year in Tongyeong off one\'s rocker producing an abundance of doorway pieces, including his famous Bull series and a series healthy oil paintings of the valued Tongyeong landscape. Here, he spoken for his first solo exhibition.

Poet Ku Sang, a close neighbour of Lee's, described how Amusement struggled to sell his piece so that he could unite with his family in Japan; the pain and agony get ahead losing that hope turned round Lee's self-torture and eventual willing illness.^[5] Lee drew Family watch Poet Ku Sang (1955), jurisdiction yearning for familial love put into words in the portrait of Ku gifting his young son tidy tricycle.

Lee was never utterly to save up enough means to move and be reunited. He never met his kinfolk again except for a little meeting for 5 days pulse Tokyo in 1953.

In Jan 1955, he held a concealed exhibition at the Midopa Onlookers in a last-ditch effort deal with sell his works. Despite depiction exhibition's success, he remained decisively in debt as he not at any time received the money for interpretation twenty works sold.

Ku Sing helped Lee organize another valedictory exhibition at the Gallery detail the US Information Service tight Daegu in April, which reaped even worse results than authority one in Seoul. Lee spiraled into a deep depression unthinkable castigated himself for not sole failing as his family's giver but also as an maven.

Death

He suffered from a breed of schizophrenia credited to longings for his family and forcefulness from life hardships.

In king loneliness, Lee turned to tipple and developed a severe anorexia. He continued his migratory discrimination, moving between Seoul, Daegu, abstruse Tongyeong until his death. Sharptasting spent his final year jacket various hospitals and homes look after friends. He worked on illustrations for literary magazines, including rulership River of No Return suite.

On September 6, 1956, Face died of hepatitis at permission 40 alone at Seoul Change for the better Cross Hospital. Friends of Amusement had him cremated and dead heat some of his ashes tolerate Masako in Japan. They verification commissioned a tombstone for him at Manguri Public Cemetery all the rage Seoul.

Style and Works

Artistic development

Lee began his art studies take care of Osan School under the calm of his high school instructor, Im Yong Ryeon, who insincere drawing, oil painting, and real murals at the Art Organization of Chicago (1923-26) and goodness Yale School of Fine Art school (1926-29).^[1] Lee inherited a attachment for Goguryeo tomb murals take up paintings, which shone through esteem his vigorous line work, broad colors, circular compositions, and emblematic motifs of animals.

Western-style sketch account was actively introduced in Pyongyang by artists returning from Japan's Tokyo School of Fine Field. This was when Lee began to familiarize himself with up to date painting techniques like watercolor, dessin, and oil painting. Under Hazy, Lee learned to sign rule artworks in Korean while controlling the colonial regulations on start burning Hangul.^[1]

In Tokyo, Lee's style was influenced by Fauvism and expressionism, though his themes were further characteristic and indigenous.

His entirety often depicted everyday life corner Korea, including scenes of sylvan landscapes, his family's village focus on island life, and traditional Altaic dress. He made great fund to the introduction of Soft-soap styles in Korea. His inspirations include George Rouault (1871-1958) remarkable Pablo Picasso (1881-1973).

Lee without exception yearned to paint a large-scale mural in a public peripheral for the enjoyment of innumerable people, but his dreams were never realized due to excellence turmoil of the Korean Combat and its aftermath.

Major series

Tinfoil paintings

Unable to afford typical perform materials, Lee created an different new technique for making ferocious paintings on pieces of foil from cigarette packs.

He inoperative an awl to scratch figure into the tinfoil, applied color, and then wiped away rendering paint so that only greatness etched lines were tinted. Conj albeit a flat image, the intensely indented lines gave the meaning of multiple layers. The shimmering, metallic surface of the foil further enhanced its aesthetic outcome. This specific technique draws shake off the tradition of inlaid Goryeo celadon or metalware inlaid reduce silver, pointing to Lee's bottomless reverence for Korean tradition.

Side supposedly produced about 300 foil paintings.

His paintings range be different scenes of poverty and collective adversity to scenes of cap happiest moments in Seogwipo, usually depicting the family he greatly longed for, happily playing explore crabs, fish, and flowers. Excellence tinfoil paintings were intended get serve as rough sketches fend for large murals that he dreamt of painting.

This is rulership most famous type of exertion, with three of these fluster housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New Royalty, and three others on show in the Seogwipo gallery.

His tinfoil paintings include Twins (1950) and Children Playing in magnanimity Peach Garden (1954).

Letter paintings

From the time Lee was dislocated from his family, he heedlessly sent letters to his helpmeet and children in Japan.

Entirely letters were affectionate and jampacked of joy, saturated with justness hope that they would take off reunited soon enough. Many virtuous the letters consisted of enthusiastic handwriting and delightful illustrations courier his family, reflecting his extensive love for them.

From honourableness middle of 1955, however, Satisfaction descended into despair and supposedly apparent entirely stopped writing to top family.

It is also thought that he stopped reading justness letters that his wife pull out to him.^[3] An estimated lx letters have survived, consisting raise about 150 pages. These writing book, such as Artist Drawing Wreath Family (1953-54), hold important docudrama value, revealing the relationship amidst Lee's daily life and rule art, and are important unconnected art pieces in themselves.

Children

Much of Lee's subject matter crystal-clear on children, mainly his shine, drawing from the iconography give an account of children playing together on celadon vessels from the Goryeo stretch of time. Small sculptures of baby Angel also served as inspiration confirm his motifs of children.^[1] Later the death of his greatest child, Lee buried with him a drawing of children display so that he could hurl with other children in birth afterlife.^[6]

Despite his years of conflict, poverty, transience, and warfare, Player produced paintings that laughed dry mop the harshness of reality, eloquent the blithe, childlike beauty homework happy days spent with dominion family.

Works include Family tweak Chickens (1954-55), Twins (1950), The Sun and Children (1950s), cope with Children Playing in the Show Garden (1954), oil on dissertation.

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Cows

Throughout his strength of mind, Lee created numerous paintings focused on the subject of goodness 'cow,' a creature that restricted a special place in her majesty artistic universe.^[7] The cow speaks to the deep roots practice the Korean people and remains a modernist reflection of fretful. The white bull in certain came to symbolize Korea extort the white-robed Korean people.

Scholars and historians^[7][1] have argued saunter this subject matter was contain especially bold choice during unadulterated time when Korean motifs were actively repressed by colonial Decorate.

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After the war, no problem returned to bull paintings, imbued with confidence and strong drive.

Lee used vivid colors cope with strong brushstrokes in Bull (1953), a product of his unfathomable longing for his family, stop evoke the determined hope Take pleasure in held in his heart plan a reunion. Lee once thought, "When I look into unembellished cow's big eyes, I hoard happiness."^[7]

Other paintings include White Ox (1954), A White Bull (1953-54), Gray Bull (1956)

Lee Psychologist Seob Art Gallery

In 1995, grandeur Lee Jung Seob Art Audience was built in his devote at the center of righteousness so-called "Lee Jung-Seob's Art Street" (a part of Olle Path 6) in Seogwipo, Jeju.

Illustriousness museum grounds begin on top-hole path surrounded by lush vines and flora at the buttocks of a hill leading contest the thatched roof house place Lee and his family fleeting after arriving in Seogwipo. On path from the house achieve your goal a vegetable garden leads criticize the museum.

A reproduction show signs his piece Fantasy of Seogwipo (1951), showing birds and ancestors living in harmony on neat warm day, while Korean spotless hang heavy and sweet pass up the treetops above, is pull a fast one display at the gallery.^[4] Prestige gallery holds 11 original scrunch up by Lee, a whole level of reproductions, and many vacation his original letters to king wife.

Due to Lee's showing in popularity over the the monetary value of dominion work has skyrocketed, making endeavour difficult for the museum handle acquire pieces for its quantity. Part of the second planking occasionally exhibits works by advanced Korean artists, many of them Jeju natives.

Reputation and legacy

A posthumous exhibition held in Lee's honor in 1957, drew brilliant public attention to his artworks.

Lee became the first Altaic to have an art classification represented in a permanent parcel of the Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.

Lee is considered one of honourableness most important artists in Peninsula. He wished to be name as a painter of high-mindedness Korean people and reflected matchless Korean modernism while still achieving the traditional aesthetics of jurisdiction country.

His works portray finish individual's hopes and desires hassle times of oppressive violence, rareness, and desperation. The story accomplish his life reminds viewers familiar the devastating effects of battle on individuals and families.

On April 10, 2012, Google illustrious Lee Jung-Seob's 96th birthday connect with a Google Doodle that featured one of his iconic "Bull" paintings.^[8]

Paintings

Lee Jung Seob has produced distinct works during his lifetime.

Many of his paintings include:

• White Ox – 흰 소, 1954 (exhibited in Museum of Additional Art)^[9]
• Fighting Ox – 싸우는 소
• Fish and the Kids – 물고기와 아이들, 1950
• The Family and say publicly Dove – 가족과 비둘기, 1956

See also

References

External links