Lee Ungno Museum Holds Permanent Exhibition "An Artist Who Lived Through the Times: Lee Ungno"

Animal Paintings from the French Period...
An Exhibition Enjoyable for All Ages, Including Infants and Children
Introducing Newly Acquired Works from 2025 and Family Donations,
Featuring a Never-Before-Seen Piece

Animal Painting by Painter Lee Ungno (Photo by Mo Seokbong)

The Lee Ungno Museum is holding a permanent exhibition titled "An Artist Who Lived Through the Times: Lee Ungno," showcasing the artist's works across his lifetime, including animal paintings, landscapes, historical narratives, and calligraphy, all presented together.

The Daejeon Goam Art and Culture Foundation (CEO and Director Lee Gapjae) and the Lee Ungno Museum will host the 2026 permanent exhibition from January 16 to December 25.

Photo by Lee Ungno Museum

This permanent exhibition focuses on key moments in Korea's modern and contemporary history, as well as turning points in East Asian art, to explore the "narratives of the times" written by Lee Ungno.

Jinju Cho, Senior Researcher at the Lee Ungno Research Institute, is explaining the artwork. (Photo by Seokbong Mo)

Planned by the Lee Ungno Research Institute, the exhibition highlights the historical stories within Lee Ungno's works, spanning the colonial period, liberation, the Korean War, and the eras of modernization and globalization. The exhibition is curated to appeal to audiences of all generations.

While previous permanent exhibitions have focused on Lee Ungno's abstract art, which has represented his oeuvre, this exhibition simultaneously presents his animal paintings, landscapes, historical narrative works, and calligraphy created throughout his life.

This approach aims to offer a more multidimensional perspective on Lee Ungno's art, which has often been perceived as challenging, thereby making his artistic world more accessible to the general public.

In particular, by highlighting Lee Ungno's 1977 animal paintings from the museum's collection and introducing their humorous and delightful aspects, the exhibition aims to engage not only infants and children but also a wide range of visitors, encouraging broader interest in Lee Ungno's art.

Lee Ungno, , 1980, 20.5x20.5x1.6cm, Ceramic Plate (Photo by Lee Ungno Museum)

Additionally, a ceramic plate donated by Lee Ungno's family is being unveiled for the first time. The plate features inscriptions that study and imitate the calligraphy of Chusa Kim Jeonghee (1786-1856), making it a valuable item for research.

This inscription is especially noteworthy as it allows for comparison and study alongside 19th-century works by Kim Jeonghee currently held at the Kansong Art Museum. Created in 1980, this ceramic plate vividly demonstrates how the tradition of Joseon-era calligraphy has been carried into the modern and contemporary eras through Lee Ungno's work.

Lee Gapjae, CEO of Daejeon Goam Art and Culture Foundation, is explaining the artwork. (Photo by Mo Seokbong)

Another donated piece is a poster from Lee Ungno's calligraphy exhibition at the Annick Le Moine Gallery in Paris, France. This experimental exhibition combined calligraphy displays with performances, illustrating the expanded dimensions of Lee Ungno's artistic world.

The poster integrates brush strokes, the resonance of ink, and bodily movement into a single visual language, providing an important resource for tracing how French contemporary art viewed calligraphy as the origin of Lee Ungno's abstract art.

This exhibition places art and history side by side, focusing on the periods when Lee Ungno's artistic trajectory and intellectual horizons expanded and transformed. It is structured in three stages: from the 1910s to before Korea's liberation in 1945, from liberation to before his move to France in 1958, and during his time in France.

Lee Ungno, , 1971, 291.5x205.5cm, Ink and color on paper, Photo by Eunno Lee Museum

Beginning with his bamboo paintings expressing the yearning for national independence, and extending to the "Crowd" series reflecting on division, reunification, and even world peace, the works featured in this exhibition demonstrate how Lee Ungno's art evolved in form and subject in response to changing times.

Considering the high proportion of international visitors, the Lee Ungno Museum will provide exhibition descriptions in Korean, English, and Chinese from this year. Visitors can conveniently access multilingual information about each work via brochures and QR codes.