Oct. 15–Jan. 17 at Ulsan Art Museum

Over 140 works on display, including pieces from the Lee Kun-hee Collection

"Ten Children" (1950s, engraving and oil paint on silver foil, 10×15.2 cm) and "Bull" (1950s, oil on paper, 26.5×36.7 cm), both part of the Lee Kun-hee Collection held by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, will be on view at the Ulsan Art Museum exhibition. [Ulsan Art Museum]
"Ten Children" (1950s, engraving and oil paint on silver foil, 10×15.2 cm) and "Bull" (1950s, oil on paper, 26.5×36.7 cm), both part of the Lee Kun-hee Collection held by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, will be on view at the Ulsan Art Museum exhibition. [Ulsan Art Museum]

A retrospective of Lee Jung-seob (1916–1956), widely regarded as Korea's most beloved modern painter, will open in Ulsan for the first time.

The Ulsan Art Museum will host "An Unfinished Story — Lee Jung-seob, the People's Painter" from Oct. 15 through Jan. 17, offering a three-month survey of the artist's life and work.

The exhibition will bring together more than 140 pieces, including 109 works from the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art's Lee Kun-hee Collection — donated by the family of the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee — alongside paintings, silver-foil engravings, postcard drawings, letter drawings and archival materials gathered with the cooperation of Leeum Museum of Art, the Lee Jung-seob Art Museum on Jeju Island, and the artist's descendants.

Visitors will be able to see masterworks from multiple collections side by side: "Bull" and "Three Figures" from the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, "Tongyeong Landscape" from Leeum Museum of Art, "Landscape with Seopseom Island" from the Lee Jung-seob Art Museum on Jeju Island, and letter drawings held by the artist's family.

The exhibition is organized around the regions and periods of Lee's life. Works not on physical display will be presented through video.

Lee drew on the people and landscapes he encountered throughout his life, as well as his longing for his family, expressing these themes through recurring subjects — bulls, family scenes, children and landscapes.

"This is the first Lee Jung-seob retrospective ever held in Ulsan, and a meaningful occasion that brings together masterworks from major museums and the artist's own family," an Ulsan Art Museum official said.


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