Inaugural exhibition focuses on artistic efforts to create renaissance of Korean art


An art exhibition has unveiled the famous bull painting by Korean modern artist Lee Jung-seob to the public this week after it made brief public appearance at an auction two years ago.

The painting, purchased by a pharmaceutical company CEO and art collector Ahn Byung-gwang, is the highlight of the inaugural exhibition of Seoul Museum, which was founded by Ahn. 

About 70 other paintings by modern Korean artists, who were Lee’s contemporaries, such as Han Mook, Park Ko-suk and Lee Bong-sang, are also on view.

“The exhibition pays homage to Korea’s modern artists who passionately pursued painting during the war and in poverty and contributed to the creation of the modern renaissance of Korean art,” said Yi Joo-heon, director of the museum, at a news conference last week.

“It was a difficult time, but was actually a renaissance for the painter Lee because most of the famous works we know today were created during those years,” Yi said. 

The exhibition focuses on six artists including Lee who held an exhibition at a coffee shop in Busan in the cold winter of 1952 ― even as the Korean War was still raging on ― shedding light on their artistic endeavors while battling poverty in the war-ravaged country. The five other artists include Han Mook, Park Ko-suk, Lee Bong-sang and Sohn Eung-seong and Jeong Gyu.

“The exhibition will highlight modern painters once again,” said Yi.

Some of the other highlights at the exhibition are a rare collection of paintings by Lee Bong-sang, which haven’t been shown to the public since 1985, and Park Ko-suk’s self-portraits, unveiled for the first time.

The exhibition also recreates the coffee shops which served as art museums in the 1950s, featuring documents related to coffee shop exhibitions.

“The Korean art world has never focused on the relationship between coffee shops and art. But it was coffee shops that served as major exhibition places before museums and galleries were built,” said Yi.

There was no place to display artwork at the time, so artists turned to coffee shops where they often held discussions on art and other issues to display their works, according to Yi.

The inaugural exhibition “Dung-seob, Go to Renaissance!” runs from Aug. 29-Nov. 21 at Seoul Museum in Buam-dong, northern Seoul. Dung-seob is Lee Jung-seob’s name rendered in a North Korean dialect.

For more information, call (02) 395-0100, or visit www.seoulmuseum.org.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)