An Artist Alongside the Times, Lee Ungno 2026 Permanent Exhibition at Lee Ungno Museum

An Artist of His Time: Lee Ungno
2026 Permanent Exhibition at the Lee Ungno Museum
This permanent exhibition explores the “narrative of his era” as depicted by Lee Ungno, focusing on pivotal moments in modern and contemporary Korean history and turning points in East Asian art. Living through turbulent times—from the colonial period and liberation to the Korean War, modernization, and globalization—Lee Ungno never turned away from the questions of his time, but reflected on and documented reality through the language of art.
In the early 20th century, Lee Ungno began with calligraphy and painting (seohwa). From the mid-20th century onward, his work expanded across diverse media and forms, from abstraction and figuration to painting, sculpture, and ceramics. The art he developed through this process became an inclusive artistic language that resonates across the boundaries of time and place. This exhibition focuses on the periods when his artistic trajectory and horizons of thought began to expand and shift in earnest. It is organized into three stages: from the 1910s to before liberation in 1945; from liberation to before his move to France in 1958; and his years in France. From bamboo paintings conveying a longing for national independence to the People series, which contemplates division and reunification as well as world peace, the works on display show how his art expanded in style and subject matter amid the changes of his time.
Lee Ungno’s art crossed boundaries between Eastern and Western styles and moved toward an ongoing examination of the relationship between art and society within the global contemporary art scene. Going beyond artistic experimentation, he continually raised questions about human community and peace that transcend nation, ideology, and borders, presenting practical possibilities for how contemporary art can engage with society.
*Source: Lee Ungno Museum