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Painter Lee Jung-seob’s battle against hardship

Published: 10 Feb. 2025, 00:02

Lee Joon

The author, former deputy director of Leeum Museum of Art, is an art critic.

Adversity and hardship bring suffering to individuals, yet paradoxically, art allows one to endure a challenging life through deep introspection. Amid the current climate of turmoil and division, one cannot help but wonder how artists who lived through turbulent eras resisted their times and expressed contradictions in their work.

This is why I would like to revisit the legacy of painter Lee Jung-seob (1916–1956), an artist born out of crisis. Many modern artists lived through hardship, but few are as deeply etched into our collective memory as Lee.

Lee Jung-seob, "Ox, bird, and crab", Circa 1952-54.

Despite experiencing the Japanese colonial era, the Korean War, national division and the pain of separation, Lee testified to his era’s struggles through his art. His pen name, Daehyang, reflects his tragic fate as someone who was forced to flee south without his mother, struggled with extreme poverty and ultimately sent his wife, Yamamoto Masako, and their children to her family in Japan. He wandered between the homes of fellow artists, and while he produced silver foil paintings, postcard sketches and painted letters, most of his oil paintings — except for a few on plywood — were done on “portable paper.” His tumultuous life was, in itself, art. For him, art was the only escape from despair and suffering, the pillar sustaining his existence, and his sole refuge.

The longing for his separated family occupies a significant part of his work, but his artistic prowess and representation of the zeitgeist are most vividly realized in his “Ox” series. From childhood, Lee was so fascinated with oxen that he was once mistaken for a cattle thief. In his art, the ox represents both the Korean people’s identity and his own alter ego. Paintings such as "Fighting Oxen," "Bellowing Ox," "Collapsing Ox" and "Raging Bull" reflect not only his inner self but also the tragedy of fratricidal war, the sorrow of separation and a desperate outcry against an absurd existence. His ox paintings encapsulate the resistance and rage of the times, as well as his profound psychological state.

The reason for introducing “Ox, Bird and Crab” at this moment is because it is a “hidden masterpiece” that demonstrates an exceptional ability to capture essence and psychological depth. Compared to his vividly colored and vigorously brushed ox paintings, this piece — created with a drawing technique on traditional paper — has received relatively little attention. Estimated to have been painted between 1952 and 1954, during his years of wandering between Busan, Tongyeong, Masan, Seoul and Daegu after sending his family to Japan, the piece offers a raw portrayal of his fragile state. By mid-1955, Lee suffered from severe nervous breakdowns, extreme anxiety, depression and anorexia, relying on support from acquaintances before ultimately passing away from liver disease as an unclaimed patient in September 1956 at the age of 40.

This painting dramatically encapsulates Lee’s destitute and distressed mental state. The vacant eyes of the slumped ox, its sparse teeth and its emaciated form evoke desolation. The placement of the bird and crab in front and behind the ox is particularly striking. In iconography, birds traditionally symbolize dreams, flight, liberation and freedom. The bird standing proudly on the ox’s horn spreads its wings in confidence, while the ox’s expression is filled with hollow despair. The crab, positioned behind, threatens the ox’s last remnant of dignity — symbolized by its testicles — with its sharp pincers. Stripped of dreams and hope, weakened by age, the ox appears too drained to respond to the bird’s and crab’s mockery.

Is this an inescapable fate? The swirling motion of the ox’s tail, resembling a lightning strike, conveys an acute sense of turmoil and crisis. The phrase “whirling” is often used metaphorically to describe emotional or cognitive disarray or the overwhelming forces of nature. The slumped ox, the bird, the crab and the twirling tail are tightly interwoven within an unconscious symbolic system, vividly portraying a psyche consumed by crisis and anxiety while simultaneously offering a biting satire. Embedded within these elements are his yearning for reunion with his family, the sorrow and solitude of life and a profound sense of futility.

The question, “What is art for?” has long preoccupied me. In an era where the term "Capitalocene" is gaining currency over Anthropocene, contemporary art is increasingly swallowed by capital markets. Economic prosperity fuels the expansion of the art market, but art that moves the soul shines most brilliantly in times of crisis and hardship. Lee refused to surrender to the harsh realities imposed by colonial rule, war and division, instead transforming his suffering into artistic expression that captured the spirit of the times. His artistic philosophy not only testifies to human suffering and resilience but also reminds us of the enduring meaning and value of art in an ever-changing world.

Translated using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.