Changing with the wind, Lee Ung-no's works are exhibited from all angles

Arts & Design

Published: 26 Dec. 2023, 16:53

Changing with the wind, Lee Ung-no's works are exhibited from all angles

″Crowd″ (1986) by Lee Ung-no [SHIN MIN-HEE]

DAEJEON — Modern artist Lee Ung-no (1904-1989) is “the man of crowds” thanks to his black ink paintings from the 1980s of disorganized masses of thousands of stick figures.

To anyone familiar with Lee's older artworks from the '70s, many of which were centered on motifs related to dancing, the paintings of hordes of people may seem to illustrate a festive scene, according to Kim Ji-yoon, a curator at the Lee Ungno Museum, right next to the Daejeon Museum of Art in the city’s Seo District.

Due to the nature of the art, interpretations on the “Crowd” series could be divided among viewers based on their social background. Koreans would likely recall the May 18 Democratization Movement from 1980, while Europeans could think of Germany’s anti-nuclear movements from the 1970s or France’s May 1968 civil unrest.

Despite relating to the pieces differently, they were yet on the same page in that the paintings depicted a protest scene, and this was exactly what Lee’s identity as an artist was: fusing the standpoints of the east and west.

“It’s not just about spotlighting his artistic universe from one side,” curator Kim told the press at the museum last month. “It’s about viewing his art from a multi-faceted standpoint and seeing how he had converged his Korean roots and European creativity.”

″Composition″ (late 1970s) by Lee Ung-no [LEE UNGNO MUSEUM]

The museum is holding an exhibition commemorating the 120th anniversary of Lee’s birth, curated jointly with the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. The title, “Winds from the East, Winds from the West,” alludes to how Lee’s time in both Korea and Paris influenced his artworks, including the example of the “Crowd” series.

Lee’s spectrum of artwork was extensive as he ceaselessly experimented with different genres and mediums, even saying himself that his “art changes every decade.” Among the roughly 20,000 artworks Lee produced throughout his life, it’s difficult to pinpoint a single, signature artistic style that represents Lee. He’s created everything from calligraphy and colorful abstract shapes to paper collages and traditional ink-on-paper bamboo paintings.

Still, the exhibition attempts to divide the selected 60 pieces of Lee's art into sections across major points in his lifetime that led to a conspicuous change in his art, most of which are being unveiled in Korea for the very first time. Four of them are from the Pompidou Centre’s collection in Paris.

″Bamboo″ (1932) by Lee Ung-no [LEE UNGNO MUSEUM]

Despite moving to Paris in 1958, in his 50s, Lee still tried to remain true to his Korean cultural identity by founding an educational institution that taught Eastern painting and calligraphy. The L’Académie de Peinture Orientale de Paris, which is still in operation to this day, has taught over 3,000 graduates from all over the world. Visitors to the exhibit can see the 90 pieces of archival data like photographs of Lee teaching his students and newspaper articles on the institution.

“Winds from the East, Winds from the West” continues until March 3 next year. The Lee Ungno Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day except Mondays. Admission is 1,000 won ($0.70) for adults.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]