[Gallery Walk] 120th Anniversary of Lee Ungno... Unveiling Previously Unseen Works Including the "Chwiya" Series

Two Unveiled Works from the "Chwiya" Series
Part 1: Goam, Witnessing the Times?From Sketching Life to Abstraction at Gana Art Center's 120th Anniversary Exhibition

"As expected, I was more drawn to the weak than to those in power-to people who live together, who move, who work, who have something to say. And among them, I discovered that I, too, was alive." - Lee Ungno, from a conversation with Park Inkyung and Tomiyama Taeko

Ungno Lee, "Chwiya - Oesang Eun Andoemida", 1950s, ink and color on paper, 42 x 55cm. ⓒ Lee UngNo / ADAGP, Paris - SACK, Seoul, 2024. Photo by Gana Art

The 120th anniversary commemorative exhibition of Goam Lee Ungno (1904-1989) is being held at the Gana Art Center in Pyeongchang-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

The exhibition is divided into two parts and will run until early September. The first part, which opened on June 26 under the title "Goam, Witnessing the Times: From Sketching Life to Abstraction," explores Lee's journey from his 30s-when he began to move beyond the tradition of literati painting to depict scenes of everyday life-through his landscapes during the Japanese colonial period and the post-liberation era, and on to his unique abstract styles such as collage and calligraphic abstraction developed after moving to France in 1958. This trajectory is presented through more than 110 works on paper, including drawings, as well as sculptures.

The exhibition features several previously unseen works from the 1950s and 1960s. After the Korean War, Lee depicted cities left in ruins and the hardships of ordinary people in his paintings. Among these is the 1950s series "Chwiya," which shows groups of people sitting around a table drinking, with various figures drawn in the background. Two previously undisclosed pieces from this series are being unveiled for the first time at this exhibition.

Lee described "Chwiya" as "a painting akin to a self-portrait." He said, "During that period of resignation, the scenes of the night market and the warmth of ordinary people's lives, who had to struggle for survival, truly touched me."

Goam's confession that he discovered his own sense of being alive among these people is vividly conveyed in the handwritten phrase at the top left of the painting: "Wesang Eun Andoemida" (No credit allowed).

Exhibition view of the 120th anniversary commemorative exhibition of Goam Lee Ungno.
[Photo by Gana Art]

Additionally, two landscape paintings that Lee created in prison after being implicated in the 1967 Dongbaeklim Incident are being presented to the public for the first time. These include "Landscape-At Daejeon Prison," painted in 1968 while he was incarcerated in Daejeon Prison, and a painting of Moraksan, the mountain behind Anyang Prison, which he completed in 1969.

The exhibition also features the first edition of Lee's art textbook for middle and high school students, "Appreciation and Techniques of Oriental Painting" (1956), as well as "Cabbage," a still life included as a plate in the book.

The 1988 work "Jujuk" (Red Bamboo), in which Lee painted bamboo in red, is also being shown for the first time. There is a well-known anecdote in which, after facing hardships due to the Dongbaeklim Incident, an art world figure asked Lee, "Why did you paint the bamboo red?" to which Lee replied, "Then, is bamboo supposed to be black?"

A representative from Gana Art commented, "Lee Ungno's artistic world underwent dynamic transformations amid the turbulent modern and contemporary history of Korea and the influence of postwar European art," adding, "This exhibition sheds light on his artistic achievements by following that journey."

The exhibition runs until July 28. The second part, opening on August 2, will encompass Lee's representative "Crowd" series and his later works.