Seundja Rhee left Korea for Paris in 1951 and began her studies of formative arts, eventually forming an extensive oeuvre of Western painting and woodblock prints throughout her life. Her works attempted a marriage of the formative arts and literature, while the body of work she left behind transcends time and demonstrates her creative powers that encompassed not only painting but also pottery, tapestry, mosaic, and poetry. While diverse, she is well known for her explorations in abstraction utilizing geometric patterns and the incorporation of Korean symbols and text. She regarded the Eastern philosophical concept of yin and yang as the most important basis of her work.
Read MoreWhile spending the majority of her practicing years in France and having been influenced by the French schools of art, her themes and subject matters reflect her personal sentimentalities and experiences as a Korean. At a time when many Korean artists dreamed of moving to France, she made her first trip to France in 1950 and enrolled in Académie de la Grande Chaumière in 1953 to study painting for the first time in her life, under the guidance of the renowned modernist artist Henri Goetz.
Rhee has exhibited in numerous institutions including, among others, the National Museum of Modern Art Paris, Museum of Modern Art Ljubljana, Center Pompidou, National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo, Gyeongnam Art Museum, and the Seoul Museum of Art. She was introduced to the Korean audiences for the first time in 1965 and has held consecutive solo exhibitions at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) in 1970, 1978, 1988, and her fourth solo exhibition in March of 2018 celebrated the 100th anniversary of this significant female artist.
Rhee's works are on display at major art institutions within and outside Korea such as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Leeum, Museum of Modern Art at Saint-Etienne, Nantes Art Museum, National Museum of Modern Art in Paris, and Musee d'Art modern de la ville de Paris.
Text courtesy Gallery Hyundai
