October 30, 2025 Art, War, and Exile: Rediscovering Lee Qoede's vision for Korean Modernism
THE CENTER FOR KOREAN STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAIʻI AT MĀNOA PRESENTS:
Art, War, and Exile
Rediscovering Lee Qoede's Vision for Korean Modernism
Date: Thursday, October 30, 2025 at 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Venue: Center for Korean Studies Auditorium
This talk highlights the career of Lee Qoede (이쾌대, 1913-1965), a brilliant yet often overlooked figure in modern Korean art history, through a new, global lens. Living through Japanese colonial rule, the Korean War, and then exile in North Korea, Lee grappled with how art could express national identity, everyday life, and the collective struggle of ordinary people.
Drawing on insights from her book Art, War, and Exile in Modern Korea: Rethinking the Life and Work of Lee Qoede (Amsterdam University Press, 2025), Jinyoung Anna Jin situates Lee within global currents spanning the influence of Mexican muralists to the shifting geopolitics of Cold War Asia.
By looking at Lee's legacy through a transnational perspective, Lee's art can be seen as part of a wider story of creativity and resilience, trying to answer an enduring question: What can art do in a time of upheaval?
Speaker:
Jinyoung A. Jin, Ph.D., is the director of Asian art and culture at Stony Brook University's Charles B. Wang Center and the author of Art, War, and Exile in Modern Korea: Rethinking the Life and Work of Lee Qoede (Amsterdam University Press, 2025).
The event is free and open to all. For further information, including information regarding disability access, telephone the Center for Korean Studies at 808-956-7041. This event is in part supported by the Academy of Korean Studies Strategic Research Institute Program (AKS-2020-SRI-2200001).
The University of Hawai‘i is an equal opportunity institution.