On September 16, 1916, the genius painter Lee Jung-seob was born as the youngest of two sons and one daughter to a prominent landowner family in Songcheon-ri, Jowun-myeon, Pyeongwon-gun, South Pyongan Province. His older brother Jung-seok was 12 years his senior, and his older sister Jung-sook was 6 years older. His father, Lee Hee-ju (1888-1918), was a frail young landowner who suffered from depression and passed away at the age of 30. His mother was the younger of two daughters of Lee Jin-tae, who dominated the modernizing economy of Pyongyang during the late Joseon and Japanese colonial periods. She managed the tenant farmers directly, took charge of the vast household, and was known as a strong woman in the Pyeongwon county. Having lost his father early, Lee Jung-seob grew up receiving abundant love from his mother during his childhood. In 1923, at the age of 8, he moved to Pyongyang and spent his youth there. Coincidentally, due to the excavation of Goguryeo tomb murals in the Pyongyang area that had begun in 1906, he was able to appreciate these murals in person. This experience later became an important foundation in Lee Jung-seob's artistic world.</p><p></p><p>* When is Lee Jung-seob's birthday?</p><p>As part of the Lee Jung-seob Art Festival held in Seogwipo in 2009, a claim was made during the Lee Jung-seob seminar that "Lee Jung-seob's birthday is not April 10 as previously known, but September 16," which garnered attention. Jeon Eun-ja, a curator at the Lee Jung-seob Art Museum, stated at the seminar, "We confirmed the record of 'born on September 16' in Lee Jung-seob's student record from the Imperial Art School (now Musashino Art University) where he studied in Japan." She explained, "The record of 'born on April 10' was mistakenly attributed to Lee Jung-seob, but it actually belongs to Kim Byung-ki, a Korean-American painter who was Lee Jung-seob's classmate at Pyongyang Jongno Elementary School and Japan's Bunka Gakuin."</p><p></p><p>* Source: Jemin Ilbo, April 11, 2012, Go Mi</p><p>* Painting: Fish and Child, 12.5 x 10.1 cm, year unknown, Lee Jung-seob

Lee Jung-seob, who went to Pyongyang, lived in his maternal grandfather Lee Jin-tae's house in Imun-ri and entered Jongno Public Elementary School in 1923. His school peers included painter Kim Byung-ki, poet Yang Myong-moon, writer Hwang Sun-won, Chae Byung-duk (the first Army Chief of Staff), and General Lee Yong-mun. Writer Kim I-suk was one grade above, and screenplay writer Oh Young-jin was two grades above. Kim Byung-ki, a lifelong friend who later studied with Lee Jung-seob in Japan, was in the same class throughout until graduation.

Lee Jung-seob entered Osan High School in Jeongju, North Pyongan Province, which was founded by Nam-gang Lee Seung-hoon (1864-1930), one of the 33 national representatives of the March 1st Movement. He joined the art department, where he met Moon Hak-soo, a senior by one year, and Ahn Ki-poong, a classmate. Ahn Ki-poong was a companion who moved to Bunka Gakuin with Lee Jung-seob after attending the Imperial Art School, while Moon Hak-soo had entered Bunka Gakuin earlier and guided Lee Jung-seop as a senior. The important encounter was with his teachers, the married couple Im Yong-ryeon and Baek Nam-soon. At that time, they were extremely rare Western-educated scholars. Im Yong-ryeon graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Yale University. He graduated as the top student in his class at Yale, and as a reward, he received funding for a world tour. While traveling through various countries, he met Baek Nam-soon, who was studying in Paris. The two got married and returned to Korea, where they became teachers at Osan School. Im Yong-ryun is said to have recognized Lee Jung-seob's talent at first sight. He introduced Lee to the Post-Impressionist and Fauvism styles he had learned during his studies abroad and emphasized the importance of practice. Together with his wife Baek Nam-soon, he passionately taught art to Lee Jung-seob, who honed his talents under his teacher's guidance. Lee's interest in 'cows,' which is often associated with him, was formed during this period. He must have observed his surroundings to create numerous practice pieces, and the cows, which were commonly seen around the school at that time, became the subject of Lee's observations. From his days at Osan School, when Lee Jung-seob signed his paintings, he would write out 'Jung-seob' in Korean characters as 'ㅈㅜㅇㅅㅓㅂ'. This was a truly courageous assertion, as it was during the dark period of Japanese colonial rule when even names had to be changed to Japanese names. When he graduated from Osan School in 1935, he caused a commotion by drawing the Korean peninsula in the signature section of the yearbook, with a fireball flying in from the Korea Strait.</p><p></p><p>* Photo: Im Yong-ryeon and Baek Nam-soon

Lee Jung-seob entered the Western Painting Department of Tokyo Imperial Art School, but returned to Wonsan after completing his first year.

Lee Jung-seob became discontented with the Tokyo Imperial Art School and enrolled in the art department of the more free-spirited Bunka Gakuin. This school was famous for being the first in Japan to implement co-education, with the ideology of fostering free, original, and emotional individuals in defiance of the rigid Japanese social atmosphere. In 1937, when Lee Jung-seob enrolled, his senior friends Kim Byeong-gi and Yu Young-guk were in the second-year advanced class, while Oh-san School senior Mun Hak-su was in the first-year advanced class. According to Kim Byeong-gi, during this period Lee Jung-seob's sketches were similar to Picasso's neo-classicism, and he primarily used strong lines reminiscent of Rouault.At Bunka Gakuin, Lee Jung-seob was described as a shy but talented singer who had emerged as a "blackened Joseon youth" like Rouault. He protested when a professor criticized his paintings as imitations of Picasso. Lee Jung-seob would confidently sing Joseon folk songs fluently even in front of many students, and he was admired for the neatness of his boarding room where he grew orchids. Around this time, Lee Jung-seob grew close to the non-discriminatory professor Tsuda Seiyū. Tsuda highly praised Lee Jung-seob's handprint-sized paintings made by coating Korean paper with ink and scratching, and encouraged him, believing he would become a great artist. Lee Jung-seob studied art for 5 years at Bunka Gakuin (3 years as an undergraduate, 2 years as a research student), during which time he met his wife Masako.</p><p></p><p>* Photo: Lee Jung-seob is the third from the left in the front row.

Lee Jung-seob began to gain recognition for his talent when he first submitted three 'drawings' and two 'works' to the competition held by the Free Artists Association, an organization founded by artists based in Tokyo. He was not only selected but also received the association's award. The Free Artists Association was the most avant-garde art group at the time and was at the center of Japanese abstract art. Japanese critics, including Takiguchi Shuzo, an art critic who introduced and promoted surrealism from Europe to Japan, and Hasegawa Saburo, who played a leading role in the Free Artists Association, praised Lee, saying 'A painter with genius talent has come from Korea.

In the spring of 1939, his third year of studying in Tokyo, Lee Jung-seob began dating Yamamoto Masako (1921-2022), who would become his lifelong love, as the new school year started. Masako was two years his junior at Bunka Gakuin, the liberal arts school where Lee was studying. In the fall, through an introduction by Na Chan-geun, a student at the Imperial Art School, Lee first met the poet Ku Sang (1919-2004), who would become a close friend and kindred spirit, sharing his life's journey.

Lee Jung-seob falls in love with Yamamoto Masako, who is two years his junior. In 'Lee Jung-seob's Biography,' Masako describes how she became close to Jung-seob as follows:</p><p></p><p>"During break time in the middle of the school courtyard, male students were playing volleyball, and there was one student among them who caught my eye. He was a tall and handsome young man. He was good at every sport. He was good at boxing, horizontal bar, and running, doing them all impressively. Not only that, but he also sang well. I think not just me, but other female students seemed interested in him too. One day, after a practical class ended, I was washing my brush, and he was also washing his brush next to me. At that time, it was just the two of us. He naturally started talking to me. From then on, we started meeting frequently at places like cafes."</p><p></p><p>Masako, a rare Catholic in Japan, grew up in a free and open atmosphere. Her father was the president of a subsidiary of the Mitsui zaibatsu (conglomerate). Lee Jung-seob, who fell in love with Masako, began sending her postcards with drawings from December 1940.

This is a postcard painting sent by Lee Jung-seob to Masako, titled 'Man Treating a Foot,' drawn on June 4, 1941. During their courtship, while taking a walk, Masako's heel got stuck between paving blocks, injuring her toe. Blood flowed from Masako's foot, and Lee Jung-seob, surprised by the sudden situation, caressed her foot and got blood on his hands. After returning home, Lee Jung-seob drew this scene from memory. He boldly composed the layout and drew most lines straight. He expressed the subject using his characteristic sensual and quick lines. These straight lines create harmony and give a sense of overall circular flow, moving from the face to the foot and through Lee Jung-seob's arm.</p><p>Lee Jung-seob, who had fallen in love with Yamamoto Masako, began drawing pictures on government-issued postcards and sending them to her from late 1940. Starting with one piece in 1940, he drew about 80 in 1941. Over four years, the total reached about 100 pieces.

The pure and devoted love shared between painter Lee Jung-seob and Yamamoto Masako remains a poignant memory in people's hearts even after about 80 years. In the late 1930s, when Confucian ideology and anti-Japanese sentiment were intense, it wasn't easy for a Korean to marry a Japanese person. However, they nurtured their love and held their wedding ceremony in Wonsan, Hamgyeongnam-do, three months before Korea's liberation in 1945. At that time, just before liberation when the adoption of Japanese names was prevalent, Yamamoto Masako abandoned her Japanese name and adopted a Korean name. The name given to her by her beloved husband Lee Jung-seob was Lee Nam-deok, meaning 'a person with many virtues from the south (Japan).' Masako cherished this name and began living as a Korean. However, in 1952, along with news of her father's death and due to her weakened body from tuberculosis and other illnesses, she had to return to Japan.

Lee Jung-seob began incorporating young children into his paintings from 1946. That spring, his first son was born prematurely and didn't survive past autumn, succumbing to diphtheria. Worried that his son might be lonely, Jung-seob drew pictures of children and placed them in the coffin, telling his son to play with these companions. There's a painting of a peach next to the child. The peach symbolizes Shangri-La, an ideal world. After this, he left behind many paintings featuring young children as the subject.

On December 6th, Lee Jung-seob set out on a refugee journey with his wife, two sons, and nephew Lee Young-jin, leaving behind his elderly mother to escape the bombing of Wonsan. With the help of Choi Young-rim, a civilian official at the Navy's Public Relations Office, he boarded the Navy evacuation ship Dongbang-ho at Wonsan port along with Han Sang-don's family and Kim In-ho, arriving in Busan on December 9th. After a personal status investigation at the refugee camp, they were allowed to leave, and for a month, he lived as a day laborer at the docks. During this time, he tried to stop a military policeman who was beating a gum-selling boy who had stolen a plank, and was severely injured by the baton they wielded.</p><p>Jungseop's earnings were not satisfactory, and Masako also did some sewing work in the square, using the small amount of money she earned to feed the children. Later, Nam Kyung-sook, the wife of painter Hwang Yeom-soo who was close to Jung-seob, recalled Masako from that time and angrily said, "(In those days) Jung-seob was really an incompetent and bad husband." That's how desperately Masako had to sew.</p><p>The house where Jung-seob's family stayed was cramped. The air was stuffy, and the floor was cold. They slept wearing all kinds of clothes and fabrics. Even so, they groaned from the cold. Jungseop remembered the time when the whole family used to sleep naked in the warm room of their hometown. Perhaps Masako, perhaps the two sons, were also reminiscing about those days.

On January 15th, Lee Jung-seob's family boarded a ship from Busan to Jeju Island. Upon arriving in Jeju, the family spent three days eating sweet potatoes given to them and sleeping in a cow shed. They walked through the snow to reach the Catholic church in Seogwipo. The Lee family settled in the home of Song Tae-ju and Kim Soon-bok, the village head couple of Aljari Dongsan Village, located at 512-1 Seogwi-dong, Seogwipo. They were given a small side room of about 1.4 pyeong (4.62 square meters) and maintained their livelihood with rice rations from religious organizations. The landlady, Kim Soon-bok, shared small amounts of soybean paste and soy sauce with the Lee family. The family survived on rationed grains and sweet potatoes, as well as crabs they caught and seaweed they gathered, which they used to make porridge and side dishes.</p><p>The Aljari house, situated on a slightly sloping hillside, had a view of the sea to the south, with Munseom and Seopseom islands visible. This is the scenery depicted in works such as &lt;View of Seopseom&gt; and &lt;View of the Sea&gt;. Lee Jung-seob is known to have painted four portraits in Seogwipo. The subjects of these portraits were three neighboring residents who died during the Korean War and the landlord, Song Tae-ju. Kang Im-yong, the owner of a brewery, helped Lee Jung-seob and received several paintings in return. &lt;Fantasy of Seogwipo&gt;, depicting children picking fruit in the orchards with Seogwipo's sea in the background, is a representative work from this period.</p><p>Although their economic situation was difficult, with four people living in a single room of a small thatched house and catching fish and crabs for food, this was a happy period in his life. His later works also reflect the life he experienced during this time. In December, he left for Busan again with his family.</p><p></p><p>* Painting: Fantasy of Seogwipo, Lee Jung-seob, 1951</p><p>

The cow paintings, which are representative works of Lee Jung-seob, are no different from his self-portraits. The cow paintings are interpreted as reflecting his inner landscape according to the situations he faced. The 'Yellow Bull,' painted in 1953 when he was 38 years old, is a work that captures the energy of the bull in the moment with vibrant brush strokes, bold depiction, and keen observation. It showcases his strong will to move forward to a hopeful future with his family. The painting measures 52 cm in width and 35.5 cm in height, and was created using enamel and oil paint on paper.

Lee Jung-seob held a solo exhibition at the Midopa Department Store gallery from January 18 to 27, 1955. This exhibition took place 1 year and 8 months before Lee's passing, and it was like a final breakthrough of hope, prepared solely with the dream of reuniting with his family in Japan. He exhibited oil paintings, drawings on silver foil paper, and other sketches. There are records indicating that 32 pieces were displayed at the solo exhibition, while an exhibition guide mentioning 45 pieces has also been passed down. However, based on various records, it is estimated that more than 45 works were actually exhibited. There was also a small commotion during the exhibition. Some paintings, including those on silver foil paper, were ordered to be removed for being considered obscene. Despite this, the exhibition was well-received, and the 'Bull' painting was particularly popular. Although more than 20 pieces were sold, the collection of payments was poor, and the artist was even cheated out of some of the money for his paintings.

On September 6, 1956, Lee Jung-seob, who had been suffering from jaundice, anorexia, and schizophrenia, closed his eyes for the last time on a hospital bed at the Red Cross Hospital in Seodaemun, Seoul, with no one by his side. He was 40 years old. His body was treated as unclaimed and left unattended, with an invoice for the unpaid hospital bill of 180,000 won placed on his bed. It was after three days that novelist Kim Yi-seok came to visit and first discovered his death, then notified his family. After his belated cremation, some of his ashes were scattered in Mang-u Cemetery, some in Jeongneung Valley where he had lived until the end, and a portion was delivered to his wife in Japan a year later by his friend, the poet Ku Sang, during a visit.</p><p>* Painting: Lee Jung-seob's last work, 'The River of No Return' Oil on paper, 18×15cm, 1956

Following his tragic and lonely death, Lee Jung-seob's artistic world began to gain attention in the Korean art scene during the 1970s. The 'Lee Jung-seob Exhibition' held at the Hyundai Gallery in 1972 was the first large-scale exhibition that heralded this new focus. By showcasing 120 of Lee Jung-seob's works and simultaneously publishing a catalog, it became the occasion that imprinted Lee Jung-seob's existence on both the art world and the general public.

In 1999, Gallery Hyundai held a 'Lee Jung-seob Special Exhibition,' achieving a record-breaking attendance of about 90,000 visitors for the first time in the gallery's history. Through this exhibition, which attracted an average of 1,800 visitors daily, Lee Jung-seob was reborn as the 'National Artist' beloved by Koreans. This exhibition not only showcased his representative works including 'Bull,' but also unveiled 'Self-Portrait,' 'Joy,' and 'Fighting Bulls' for the first time.</p><p></p><p>* Photo: Self-Portrait by Lee Jung-seop. Pencil on paper, 48.5×31cm, 1955.

To escape the devastation of war, painter Lee Jung-seob came to Seogwipo as a refugee in January 1951 with his wife and two sons, staying for a year. In Seogwipo, Lee Jung-seob created masterpieces such as 'Landscape with a View of Seopseom' and 'Fantasy of Seogwipo'.</p><p>The establishment of the Lee Jung-seob Art Museum began in 1995 when the Ministry of Culture and Sports erected a 'Lee Jung-seob Residence Memorial Stone' to commemorate the Year of Art. The following year, the Seogwipo City Naming Committee decided to review the designation of 'Lee Jung-seob Street' and designated 360 meters south of the road adjacent to Lee Jung-seob's residence as Lee Jung-seob Street. Subsequently, in 1997, the restoration of Lee Jung-seob's residence was carried out, recreating the appearance of the house where Lee Jung-seob and his family lived during the North-South War.</p><p>In 2002, Seogwipo City opened the Lee Jung-seob Exhibition Hall near his former residence. Located in Seogwi-dong, Seogwipo City, the Lee Jung-seob Art Museum is a two-story building with a total area of 5,700m², including the park. In 2003, the Lee Jung-seob Exhibition Hall received a donation of 66 works, including original pieces by Lee Jung-seob, from Lee Ho-jae, chairman of Gana Art Center, and was registered as a Type 2 art museum. The following year, it received a donation of 54 works, including original pieces by Lee Jung-seob, from Park Myung-ja, CEO of Gallery Hyundai, and was registered as a Type 1 art museum. As of 2022, the Lee Jung-seob Art Museum houses 60 original works by Lee Jung-seob and has a total collection of 304 pieces.

One year ahead of Lee Jung-seob's 100th birth anniversary, the exhibition 'Lee Jung-seob's Love, Family' was held, showcasing for the first time to the public about 20 previously unreleased letter paintings and original photographs of three silver foil paintings housed in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.</p><p></p><p>* Photo: Lee Joong-seob, People Reading the Newspaper, 1950-52, Incising and oil on metal foil on paper, 10.1×15cm, Gift of Arthur McTaggart, MoMA Collection

Yamamoto Masako, the Japanese wife of Lee Joong-seob (1916-1956), a 'national artist' famous for his bull paintings and silver foil drawings, passed away due to old age in Japan on August 13, 2022. She was 101 years old. The funeral was held on the 18th at Tokyo Setagaya Church, attended only by family members.</p><p></p><p>The deceased was born in 1921, five years younger than Lee Joong-seob. They met as senior and junior students when Lee entered the Art Department of the Japan School of Culture in 1938 where he was studying abroad. They became lovers while working together. Dozens of 'picture postcards' that Lee Joong-seob sent to Mrs. Yamamoto during their courtship in 1940-41, confessing his love, are currently on display at the 'Lee Kun-hee Collection Special Exhibition: Lee Joong-seob' at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul.</p><p></p><p>The deceased came to Busan by boat just before Japan's defeat in 1945, and held a wedding ceremony with Lee Joong-seob in Wonsan, starting their newlywed life. Right after the marriage, Lee gave her a new Korean name, 'Lee Nam-deok' (李南德), meaning 'a virtuous woman from the south'. She later gave birth to and raised two sons, Tae-hyun and Tae-sung, and took on the family's livelihood until their refugee days during the Korean War. She became a regular model for her husband's oil paintings and silver foil drawings, and after Lee's death, she became known to the public as the artist's 'muse'.</p><p></p><p>Mrs. Yamamoto left for Japan with her two sons when her father passed away in 1952, and in July 1953, she spent a week with Lee Joong-seob when he visited Tokyo, which became their final farewell. After Lee Joong-seob died in 1956 due to malnutrition and as an unidentified person, she did not remarry and lived with her two sons. In 2012, she visited Korea and donated her husband's palette to Seogwipo City, Jeju, where the Lee Joong-seob Art Museum is located.</p><p></p><p>* Source: August 30, 2022, Hankyoreh Newspaper, by Noh Hyung-seok</p><p>* Photo(by Tomoko Onuki): Mrs. Masako Yamamoto on September 1, 2016. Behind her, photos of Lee Jung-seob and their wedding can be seen on the shelf.