User:J43won 77/Lee Jung-seob

Lee Jung Seob (April 10, 1916 in Pyeongannamdo – September 6, 1956 in Seoul) was a Korean fauvism painter, who became one of the most important Korean modern artists after death. He is creditted for introducing Western style to Korea and also embedding Koreanness with it. He is most known for his tragic life story and his oil paintings such as "Ox series", which captured the emotions of Koreans living in the era and the artist himself.

Early Years
In 1916, during Korea under Japanese rule, Lee was born as the youngest child of the wealthy landowner family in Pyeongannamdo. From an early age, Lee showed his talents for drawing and painting. On the other hand, his talents in academics were not as great as his artistic talents. Because of it, he primarily applied to Pyeongyang Public Highschool but got rejected and ended up enrolling at Osan School. In Osan School, Lee met Yongryeon Lim, a teacher of the school and also an artist who graduated from Yale School of Art. Lim influenced Lee's art style greatly. Especially when it comes to drawing, Lim emphasized its importance, saying, "An artwork is created through countless practices. Do esquisses more than grains of sand on the seashore. Your own art comes after it."

Studying Abroad
In 1935, Lee entered Teikoku Art School for Occidental Painting in Japan and studied art in earnest. He abruptly quit and entered Bunka Gakuin (Japanese: 文化學院), which was more fascinated with the avant-garde than Teikoku. At Bunka Gakuin, Lee showed Fauvist tendencies and a strong, free-like drawing style. By this time, in Japan, the Association of Free Artists (Jiyu Bijutsuka Kyokai), an art organization that advocated freedom of expression and pure art spirit, was created. Its perspective of viewing art as a freedom respected all forms of art and artists regardless of their nationality. Because of it, many Korean artists, including Lee, actively exhibited their artwork through the association. Throughout multiple exhibitions, Lee's attempt to embed Koreanness with Western Modernism through the image of an ox drew the attention of multiple Japanese and Korean artists. Whanki Kim evaluated that "almost every artwork depicted an ox. A contrast made with calm colors, precise distortion, an honest image, and a simple highlight; he is an artist with good qualities. . . . This year, Mr. Lee was the brightest figure in our artistic field. Keep moving forward." Meanwhile, Lee met a woman named Yamamoto Masako (Japanese: 山本方子, Korean name Lee Nam-deok, in hangul: 이남덕) in Bunka Gakuin. Lee and Yamamoto used to call each other by nicknames; Lee's nickname was "Ago-Lee", which was a combination of the Japanese word for jaw and his last name, teasing his long jaw, and Yamamoto's was "Asparagus", teasing her long toes. In Lee's letters to Yamamoto written later in his life, he often indicated each other with these nicknames. In 1945, Lee and Yamamoto came back to his hometown in Korea and got married the next year.

Under Communism
After 1945, Korea had become independent from Japanese rule, but due to the conflicts between two ideologies, capitalism and communism, it got divided into North and South. Lee's hometown was located in Wonsan, Pyeongannamdo, which is north of the Korean Peninsula. Thus, Lee's hometown was under the rule of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), the communist side. The art style that North Korea desired was different from what Lee had been pursuing. Because of the influence of the USSR, the government's interest was Socialist Realism. However, what Lee was interested in was Fauvism. Also, as an artist who believed in liberal creative activities, the social pressure on artists' shoulders was difficult to tolerate. In 1946, their first child was born but suddenly died from diphtheria. At that time, he was preparing an exhibition and making artwork as an unknown artist. The sudden death of his child greatly affected him. He sent his painting "A Child Flies with a White Star", which was inspired by his loss, to the exhibition commemorating the independence of Korea in 1947.

Korean War
In 1950, the Korean War occurred. During the war, Lee's family experienced persecution for being wealthy landowners, and his hometown became a battle field. Soon, he left his hometown with his family as a refugee and moved around storehouses and refugee shelters. Since he was no longer able to get any financial support from his family, Lee and his family faced poverty. They moved to Busan, Tongyeong, and finally Jeju Island, finding a better place for their financial situation.

Separation
In 1952, while Lee and his family were living in the slum in Busan, Yamamoto's father passed away in Japan, leaving some fortunes to her. Due to financial hardships and safety, he sent Masako and his two sons to Japan initially as a temporary arrangement. Yamamoto and their two sons emigrated to Japan, while Lee remained in Korea. During this period, Korea and Japan terminated their diplomatic relations, which blocked Lee from visiting Japan. Lee, after a year, visited his wife and children in Japan by getting a permit through a friend. Although the permit only allowed visiting, not staying, after ten days he had to come back to Korea. This was his last moment with his family. Lee later returned to the capital of Seoul.

After the short reunion, Lee started to earn a budget for a ship ticket to Japan while finding a way to emigrate. He picked up a job as a crafts teacher. Also, he created and sold numerous paintings through multiple exhibitions. From 1952 to 1954, he created about 300 paintings and 200 silver-foil paintings. Most of his prominent artwork, such as "A Bull" and "White Ox", was created during this period. Lee would send letters and postcards with drawings to his family, expressing his love and longing to see them again.

Despite his efforts, the situation worsened over time. In Japan, Yamamoto got scammed by his colleague and lost her assets. In 1955, he held only one private exhibition at the Midopa Gallery, but the government took down some of his artwork from the exhibition, claiming he violated disorderly conduct by painting naked children. Dealing with poverty, hard work, the agony of being unknown, separation, and alcohol, Lee's health had declined over years, and he ended up getting multiple health defects such as malnutrition and schizophrenia.

Death
In 1955, Lee was put into an asylum after having a fight in a pub by his friend, and the next year, he was diagnosed with hepatitis. After years of drinking to forget the grief and loneliness, his liver was severely damaged. On September 6, 1956, aged 39, he died of hepatitis during his hospitalization at Seodaemun Red Cross Hospital. His body was cremated and buried at Mangwoori Public Cemetery.

Local Colour
Lee made great contributions to the introduction of Western styles in Korea. During his studies in Japan, Henri Rousseau and Henri Matisse influenced him, and soon he became fascinated with Fauvism, which remained until he died. Meanwhile, even with his Western style, his themes were very characteristic and indigenous. During the period, implying Koreanness in art was a shared goal among modern artists, and Lee was an artist who actively attempted to meet the criteria. He liked to paint local subjects that can easily be found in Korea, such as an ox, child, fish, and chicken, expressing his emotions and hope through them. For this reason, Lee is an important figure in modern Korean art history, widely credited for successfully merging Korean and Western modern art trends.

Ox Painting
Lee's efforts to embed Koreanness with Western style are best exemplified in his "Ox" series. Painting an ox as a theme was an answer by him to the question, "What represents Koreanness?". Since Korea used to be an agricultural society, an ox was a valuable property that represents fortune. Furthermore, Lee focused its characteristic of being dilligent and progessive characteristic projecting it to Koreans going through the colonization and war. When the communist party asked him the meaning behind his artwork "A Bull and a Child", he answered that "the bull liberated us, and the children represent our nation in the future". In his other painting, "White Ox", an image of a white ox walking forward represents Koreans who were known for wearing white clothes overcoming the wound from struggles. An ox was a persona of Korea and also himself struggling to meet his family again.

Tributes
On April 10, 2012, Google celebrated Lee Jung-Seob's 96th birthday with a Google Doodle that featured one of his iconic "Bull" paintings.