Lee In-sung(1912)

Lee In-sung was born in 1912. He was one of the leading Western-style painters in modern Korea. Lee began learning painting in Daegu, one of Korea’s major cities, in the 1920s. His remarkable talent was recognized from an early age.

In 1931, Lee moved to Japan, where he worked at Oosama Store, an art-supply shop, while continuing to study painting. His early work Still Life is a relatively conventional still-life painting, but it already reveals the talent of the young artist. It was probably painted before he moved to Japan.

Caiyue was painted during the early period of his stay in Japan. It clearly demonstrated his growing talent and distinctive sense of color. Lee submitted the painting to the 11th Joseon Art Exhibition and received a special prize. Landscape with a Country Pavilion also shows the characteristics of his Japanese period. Transparent coloring and the delicate harmony of different colors became important features of his early style.

During his years in Japan, Lee also developed a different approach to oil painting. In some works, he allowed the texture and movement of his brushstrokes to remain clearly visible. This technique is related to impasto, in which paint is applied relatively thickly so that the physical traces of the brush remain on the surface. This should be distinguished from gouache, an opaque water-based painting technique.

Compared with transparent watercolor, these paintings have denser colors and a stronger sense of material texture. Snowy Mountain and Under the Peach Tree, painted around 1934, are good examples of Lee’s increasingly expressive brushwork toward the end of his stay in Japan.

After returning to Korea in 1935, Lee continued to expand his style in oil painting. Portrait of a Woman, which is associated with the memory of his deceased wife. 

Flowers and a Vessel are good examples of his mature approach to color and form. At the same time, he did not abandon the transparent coloring techniques that he had developed earlier.

Gyesan-dong Cathedral, generally dated to the mid-1930s, is a particularly interesting example. In this gentle and luminous painting, Lee used transparent colors to create a cool and delicate atmosphere. The work shows that even as he explored the heavier textures of oil painting, he continued to value the clarity and transparency of watercolor.

Lee’s life ended tragically at a young age. During the Korean War in 1950, he became involved in an altercation with a police officer and was shot. He died at the age of only 38. His sudden death was a great loss to the Korean art world.

Yet his paintings have survived far longer than his short life. Their transparent colors, energetic brushstrokes, and distinctive sense of light still give viewers a vivid impression of the world as Lee In-sung saw it.