Lee Insung
Lee Insung (1912-1950) was born in Daegu as the second son in a working class family. He graduated Suchang Elemantary School in 1928 and studied water painting at Seo Dongjin’s Daegu Art Studio. He joined a local art group, Hyangtohoe Association, from 1930 to 1934. He was first selected for the eighth Joseon Art Exhibition [Joseon misul jeollamhoe] when he was 17 years old, followed by consecutive special selections from the tenth to fifteenth exhibitions. He won a Changdeokgung Palace award in 1935 and became a Noteworthy Artist in 1937. He moved to Japan in 1931 to attend evening classes at the Taiheiyo Art School and rigorously focused on developing his art. After independence, he worked as an art teacher at Ewha Womans Middle School in 1945 and was a judge of Western painting at the first National Art Exhibition (Gukjeon) in 1949. He died in an accident during the Korean war in 1950. His work often featured vibrant color and free lines, and a creative structure. He pioneered a new style of art that featured the local color of Korea in original new ways.
Deoksugung Museum of Art
A term that refers to two separate art museums that have existed in the grounds of Deoksugung palace at different times. First, the Yi Royal Family Museum, which was built in 1938 and renamed the Deoksugung Museum of Art after independence in 1948. This iteration of the Museum was merged with the National Museum of Korea in 1969. Separately, in 1998 a branch of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea (now MMCA) was established at this location, and also named the Deoksugung Museum of Art. In 2013, the official name of the branch was changed to the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Deoksugung but some people still use the previous name, Deoksugung Museum of Art.