Seund Ja RHEE (1918-2009) Geometric Abstraction... Lot 160

Seund Ja RHEE (1918-2009) Geometric Abstraction on a Blue-Purple Background, 1959 Oil on canvas signed and dated "SEUND JA RHEE 59" lower right. Annotated "RHEE" on the frame. Dimensions : 73 x 60 cm Provenance : French private collection. Born in 1918 in Jinju, Korea, Seund Ja Rhee occupies a prominent place in the pantheon of 20th century Korean artists. Since her childhood, the artist has had a passion for architectural elements, like the stacked stones of ancient Korean architecture. The first contemporary Korean artist to live and work in France, Seund Ja Rhee moved to Paris in 1951, in the same way that Lee Ufan moved to Japan. From that time on, Seund Ja Rhee worked to develop her creativity in painting, printmaking, and ceramics. His pictorial creations subtly combine the mysterious and profound meanings of Far Eastern philosophy with a certain tendency to intellectual games. Seund Ja Rhee seeks to create a universal aesthetic language, a kind of "Esperanto of painting". The globe is symbolized by the circle, which is recurrent in his works. The mauve color and its shades, omnipresent in our painting, reminds us of the fragrant violet flowers that cover the ground of his garden in Tourrettes-sur-Loup. Indeed, this picturesque village near Grasse was chosen by Seund Ja Rhee as the location for her studio and a Korean-style showroom, which she decorated and named "Silver River. Among the more than 4,000 known works of the artist is our painting made in 1959, the year of her first exhibition in Switzerland, at the Beno Gallery in Zurich. Born in 1918 in Jinju, Korea, Seund Ja Rhee occupies a prominent place in the pantheon of 20th century Korean artists. Since her childhood, the artist has had a passion for architectural elements, like the stacked stones of ancient Korean architecture. She was the first contemporary Korean artist to live and work in France during the 20th century, Seund Ja Rhee moved to Paris in 1951, in the same way that Lee Ufan moved to Japan. From that time on, Seund Ja Rhee worked to develop her creativity in painting, printmaking, and ceramics. Her pictorial creations combine the mysterious and profound meanings of Far Eastern philosophy with a certain tendency to intellectual games. Seund Ja Rhee seeks to create a universal aesthetic language, a kind of "Esperanto of painting". The earth is symbolized by the circle, which is recurrent in her works. The mauve color and its shades, omnipresent in our painting, reminds us of the fragrant violet flowers that cover the ground of her garden in Tourrettes-sur-Loup. Indeed, this picturesque village near Grasse was chosen by Seund Ja Rhee as the location for her studio, as well as a Korean-style showroom that she decorated and named "Silver River". Among the more than 4,000 known works of the artist is our painting, which was created in 1959, the year of her first exhibition in Switzerland, at the Beno Gallery in Zurich.