Lee Quede at MMCA

Lee Quede(1963-1965) was a figurative painter who was mostly active during 1930's to 40's, a period in which Korea went through Japanese colonial rule and the subsequent liberation that once brought together for constructing harmonious national state, but the hope soon shattered by the outbreak of Korean War in 1950. Lee's artistic aspiration has been regarded as derivatives of the given social context, but to put it correctly, the painter himself was rather a victim of the time. His paintings of a large group of people produced in the chaotic space of liberation period(1945-48) are the most well known pieces. According to recent academic studies, the true implication behind these works was reflections of the centrist creed that wished to reconcile the ideologically opposed nation into peaceful one by adapting certain narratives directly from the Bible.