Lee Yil

 
Lee Yil (1932-1997), born in Gangseo, Pyeongannum-do (now part of North Korea), is one of the most influential postwar art critics in Korea. Until his death in 1997, he taught art history and art criticism at Hongik University and worked actively as an art critic. His significant essays range from his writings on the Paris Biennale, in which Korean artists participated, to numerous essays and monographs on Korean abstract and experimental artists. In particular, Lee wrote on Dansaekhwa artists such as Park Seo-bo, Ha Chong-hyun, Chung Sang-hwa, Chung Chang-sup, Yun Hyong-keun, Kim Tschang-yeul, Lee Kang-so, Kwon Youngwoo, Suh Seung-won, and Choi Myung-young.
 
Lee Yil - Dynamics of Expansion and Reduction - Selected Writings on Korean Contemporary Art
2018
English edition
Les presses du réel – Criticism, theory & documents – Misceallenous
This book, the first major publication in English devoted to the Korean critic and art historian Lee Yil (1932-1997), is a collection of texts on aesthetics, theory and history of art by the main observer of “Dansaekhwa”, or Korean monochrome. It also brings together essays and monographic prefaces that gave wide coverage to artists who had been active from the end of the Korean war up until the mid-1990s.


 top of page