Ung-no Lee

Why this artist matters now

Ung-no Lee was a Korean painter and calligrapher who synthesized abstract expressionism with East Asian ink traditions. Born in 1904, he developed a distinctive gestural vocabulary that merged Western modernist gesture with the material properties and philosophical depth of brush and ink on paper. His work emerged in the postwar period as a bridge between Korean artistic practice and the international avant-garde, employing spontaneous mark-making and bold compositional asymmetry across large-scale canvases.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 1mo ago