Works by abstract artist Rhee Seundja gain recognition after auction record, RM picture

Arts & Design

Published: 06 Jun. 2022, 18:21

Works by abstract artist Rhee Seundja gain recognition after auction record, RM picture

″Subitement la loi (A Sudden Law)″ by artist Rhee Seundja [CHRISTIE'S]

Works by Rhee Seundja (1918-2009), one of the few female first-generation Korean abstract artists, are attracting renewed attention after one of her paintings fetched a record high price for the artist at a Hong Kong auction late last month and RM, leader of boy band BTS, unveiled another painting by Rhee as part of his art collection on his Instagram account in late April.

Rhee’s 1961 painting titled "Subitement la loi (A Sudden Law)," was sold for 5,670,000 Hong Kong dollars ($722,700) at Christie’s Hong Kong on May 26.

The work is one of her paintings created in the early 1960s, which the artist herself categorized as “Woman and the Earth” paintings. They are characterized by thick textures and geometric motifs reminiscent of ancient East Asian characters.

A photo of ″Le vent en temoigne (The Wind Testifies)″ was uploaded by RM of BTS on his Instagram account. [INSTAGRAM CAPTURE]

Previously, the artist's highest-priced work was “Le vent en témoigne (The Wind Testifies)” (1965), which fetched 5,625,000 Hong Kong dollars at Christie’s Hong Kong auction on Dec. 1, 2021.

On April 30, RM, whose real name is Kim Nam-joon, uploaded four close-up shots of the painting on his Instagram account. Market insiders confirmed that the painting is now part of the K-pop superstar’s collection. RM is known as not just an art collector but also an earnest supporter of Korean 20th century, modern artists.

“The Wind Testifies” is also part of Rhee’s “Woman and the Earth” series. These paintings reflect nostalgia for the motherland and longing for her own mother and her three children, according to the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.

Rhee experienced her three young children being taken away from her by a divorce in the extremely patriarchal society of 1950s Korea, in the midst of the Korean War. Then, she left her home country for Paris, and her art bloomed there. The MMCA held a large-scale retrospective of Rhee in 2018 at its Gwacheon branch in Gyeonggi to celebrate her 100th birthday.

BY MOON SO-YOUNG [moon.soyoung@joongang.co.kr]