LEE Jungseob, Cock fight (1955)

Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles(KCCLA/Director Wijin Park) presents the 10th video of Virtual Korea-Exhibition Series: the Collection Open Lecture "Lee Jungseob, Cock fight (1955)" by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) from MMCA's Youtube channel.

Lee Jungseob is a familiar name to Koreans and is known as a prolific artist. Artist Lee Jungseob was born in 1916, in Pyeongwon, Pyeongan-namdo, North Korea. He endeavored in his life, and despite being an oil painter, he made diverse efforts to apply Korean elements, technique and aesthetics to his work. Unfortunately for us, he passed away at young age of 40.

In "Cock fight", there is a sense of self assurance, and it is significant in that it holds all the energy he had generated in his short life. The artist used a rather thick paper, which was commonly used in Korea, and it said to have applied something like clay water on it.

Lee Jungseob's "Cock Fight" was one of the first acquisitions made after MMCA's establishment. Its purchase price at the time was KRW 200,000. Now part of the Museum's collection for many years, "Cock Fight" is remembered by many Korean people.

This Virtual Korea-Exhibition Series #9 video is about 9 minutes long, presented by curator Kim In-hye from MMCA.

We hope that you can discover the artist's sense of assurance and his energy generated in his short life through this video!



Lee Jungseob (1916-1956):
Lee Jungseob is a familiar name to Koreans and is known as a prolific artist. Artist Lee Jungseob was born in 1916, in Pyeongwon, Pyeongan-namdo, North Korea. His art education began when he met Yim Yong-Ryeon, a first-generation of oil painters in Korea, at Osan Junior High School in Jeongju, Pyeongan-bukdo. Later he went to Japan to study. He graduated from the Department of Painting at Bunka-gakuin in Tokyo and pursued a career as a professional artist. He endeavored in his life, and despite being an oil painter, he made diverse efforts to apply Korean elements, technique and aesthetics to his work. Unfortunately for us, he passed away at an early age of 40.