Biography
1936 Born in Korea
1956 Interrupted studies at Seoul National University and came to Japan
1961 Graduated from Nihon University, Department of Philosophy, Tokyo
1969 Awarded prize for critical writing From Object to Being, Tokyo
1969 Leads the Mono-ha movement after having successfully attracted artists following until then the vision tricks trends launched around 1968, Tokyo
1973 – 2007 Professor of Tama Art University, Tokyo
1997 Invited professor at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris
2000 UNESCO Prize (in Shanghai Biennale), Paris-Shanghai
2001 13th Praemium Imperiale (Painting), Tokyo
2005 Artists Summit, Kyoto
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022 Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Kobe, Japan
The National Art Center, Tokyo
2021 Lisson Gallery, London
Les Alyscamps, Arles, France
Pace Gallery, East Hampton, New York
2019 Lee Ufan: Open Dimension, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Dia Beacon, NY, USA
Acorns and Wildcat & Traces, Cahiers d’Art, Paris, France
Lee Ufan. Inhabiting time, Centre Pompidou Metz, France
2018 Serpentine Galleries, London, United Kingdom
2017 Pace Gallery, New York, USA
Centre de Création Contemporaine Olivier Debré, Tours, France
Couvent de La Tourette, Éveux, France
2016 Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
Château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade, France
Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, France
Castello di Ama, Siena, Italy
2015 Lisson Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice, Italy
Pace Gallery, New York, USA
Pace Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Pace Gallery, Hong Kong
2014 Château de Versailles, France
Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Tatintsian Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2013 Le Capitole, “Les Rencontres d’Arles”, Arles, France
Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris, France
Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris, France
2012 Asia Society Texas Center, Houston, USA
2011 Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
SCAI The Bathhouse Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, South Korea
2010 Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, USA
Galería Elvira González, Madrid, Spain
2009 Kukje Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2008 Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium
Dahlem Museum, Berlin, Germany
Pace Wildenstein, New York, USA
Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Lisson Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2007 Galerie nächst St. Stephan, Vienna, Austria
Resonance, 52nd Venice Biennale, Palazzo Palumbo Fossati, Venice, Italy
SCAI The Bathhouse Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2006 Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp, Belgium
IBU Gallery, Paris, France
Galerie m, Bochum, Germany
Konggan Gallery, Busan, South Korea
Shirota Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Gallery Muramatsu, Tokyo
2005 Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan
Musée d’Art Moderne, Saint-Étienne, France
2004 Espace d’Art Contemporain Fernet-Branca, Saint-Louis, France
Lisson Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2003 Samsung Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, South Korea
2002 SCAI The Bathhouse Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2001 Kunstmuseum, Bonn, Germany
Sigong Gallery, Daegu, South Korea
Konggan Gallery, Busan, South Korea
Shirota Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2000 Galerie m, Bochum, Germany
Konggan Gallery, Busan, South Korea
1999 Galerie Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris, France
Kamakura Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1998 Städtisches Museum im Städel, Frankfurt, Germany
Mitaka City Gallery of Art, Tokyo, Japan
Niigata City Art Museum, Niigata, Japan
Sigong Gallery, Daegu, South Korea
Shirota Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1997 Gallery Bhak, Seoul, South Korea
Space Shimoda, Tokyo, Japan
Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France
Lorenzelli Arte, Milan, Italy
Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, South Korea
1996 Lisson Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Galerie J. Moussion, Paris, France
Konggan Gallery, Busan, South Korea
Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1995 Städtisches Museum, Leverkusen, Germany
Galerie de Paris, Paris, France
Galerie m, Bochum, Germany
Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1994 Fondazione Mudima, Milan, Italy
The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
Inkong Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
1993 The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, Japan
Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Shirota Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1992 Konggan Gallery, Busan, South Korea
Galerie de Paris, Paris, France
1991 Lorenzelli Arte, Milan, Italy
Hara Museum ARC, Gunma, Japan
Inkong Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Gallery Ueda, Tokyo, Japan
1990 Inkong Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
Kamakura Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, South Korea
1989 Galerie de Paris, Paris, France
Galerie m, Bochum, Germany
Gallery Ueda, Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Shirota Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1988 The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan
Galerie Anselm Dreher, Berlin, Germany
Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy
1987 Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, South Korea
1986 Galerie de Paris, Paris, France
Gallery Ueda, Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Shirota Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1985 Kamakura Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1984 Galerie de Paris, Paris, France
Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, South Korea
Shirota Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1983 Gallery Ueda, Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1982 Studio Marconi, Milan, Italy
1981 Shirota Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1980 Gallery Ueda, Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Galerie Éric Fabre, Paris, France
1979 Gallery Takagi, Nagoya, Japan
Gallery Muramatsu, Tokyo, Japan
Jin Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten, Marl, Germany
1978 Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, South Korea
Galerie m, Bochum, Germany
Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, Germany
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark
The Antwerp Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Shirota Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1977 Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Galerie Éric Fabre, Paris, France
1976 Spectrum Gallery, Antwerp
Galerie m, Bochum, Germany
1975 Galerie Éric Fabre, Paris, France
1974 Tamura Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1973 Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1972 Myong-Dong Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
1971 Pinar Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1970 Tamura Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1967 Sato Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 Lee Ufan and Claude Viallat: Encounter, Pace Gallery, London
2020 STARS: Six Contemporary Artists from Japan to the World, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2019 The Challenging Souls: Yves Klein, Lee Ufan, Ding Yi, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China
2017 Everything at Once, Lisson Gallery, London
Japanorama. Nouveau regard sur la création contemporaine, Centre Pompisou-Metz, France
2016 When Process Becomes Form: Dansaekhwa and Korean Abstraction, Boghossian Foundation, Brussels, Belgium
Dansaekhwa & Minimalism, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
Dansaekhwa & Minimalism, Blum & Poe, New York
2015 56th Venice Biennale, Dansaekhwa, Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice, Italy
Enrico Castellani and Lee Ufan: Surgaces et Correspondences, Lorenzelli Arte, Milan, Italy
Korean Abstract Painting: 45th Anniversary of Gallery Hyundai, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, South Korea
2014 From All Sides: Tansaekhwa on Abstraction, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, USA
The Art of Dansaekhwa, Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea
Formes Simples, Centre Pompidou-Metz, France
Genius Loci (Spirit of Place), Palazzo Franchetti, Venice, Italy
Korean Beauty: Two Kinds of Nature, Seoul Museum of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
Other Primary Structures: Others 2, Jewish Museum, New York, USA
2013 Mingei: Are You Here?, Pace London, London
Parallel Views: Italian and Japanese Art from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, Rachofsky, The Warehouse, Dallas, USA
Paradise, Pace Gallery, New York, USA
Takahashi Collection: Mindfulness!, Kirishima Open-Air Museum, Kagoshima, Japan
Prima Materia, Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy
2012–13 Tokyo 1955–1970: A New Avant-Garde, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
2012 Requiem for the Sun: The Art of Mono-ha, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, USA
Requiem for the Sun: The Art of Mono-ha, Gladstone Gallery, New York, USA
Summer Group Show 2012, The Pace Gallery, New York, USA
Art as Magic: Visionary Artists and Their Inner Supernatural World, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya, Japan
2011 54th Venice Biennale, The World Belongs to You, Palazzo Grassi, and Personal Structures, Palazzo
Bembo, Venice, Italy
Beijing Voice: Leaving Realism Behind, The Pace Gallery, Beijing, China
Burning, Bright: A Short History of the Light Bulb, The Pace Gallery, New York, USA
Tricks & Humor, Yokosuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan
Pure Clay: Young Sook Park and Lee Ufan, RH Gallery, New York, USA
Silence and Time, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, USA
In Praise of Doubt, Punta della Dogana, Francois Pinault Foundation, Venice, Italy
2010 50 Years at Pace, The Pace Gallery, New York, USA
Painting: Process and Expansion: From the 1950s to the Present Day, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria
Personal Structures: Time-Space-Existence, Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn & Taxis, Bregenz, Austria
2009–10 Essential Experience, riso Galleria Regionale della Sicilia, Palermo, Italy
2009 In-finitum, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy
Qui a peur des artistes ? Collection François Pinault, Palais des Arts, Dinard, France
2008 Sensitive Systems, Hakgojae Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
La Sottile Linea d’ombra, Fondazione Mudima, Milan, Italy
Sotto voce, Yvon Lambert Gallery, New York, USA
1st Poznań Biennale, Poznań, Poland
2007 Elastic Taboos, Kunsthalle, Vienna, Austria
Living in the Material World: “Things” in Art of the 20th Century and Beyond, The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
L’Art de Monet et sa postérité, The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
2006 La Force de l’art, Grand Palais, Paris, France
6th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea
Shelter, Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
2005 Reconsidering Mono-ha, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
2004 Rimpa – école de Rimpa, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
L’Art au futur antérieur, 1975-2004, Musée de Grenoble, Grenoble, France
2003 Happiness, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2002 The 4th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
Les Années 70: l’art en cause, capc Musée d’Art Contemporain, Bordeaux, France
2001 Century City, Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
Mono-ha – School of Things, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge and Newlyn Art Gallery, Newlyn, United Kingdom
Le Tribù dell’arte, Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, Italy
Ikiro – Be Alive, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands
2000 Sarajevo 2000, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, Austria
3rd Gwangu Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea
3rd Shanghai Biennale, UNESCO prize, Shanghai, China
Mr Paint (Bernard Frize, Katharina Grosse, Lee Ufan), Galerie Monika-Reitz, Frankfurt, Germany
1999 Kunstwelten im Dialog, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
1998 Contemporary Art of Korea Time, Hoam Art Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
Korean Monochromism, Busan Metropolitan Art Museum, Busan, South Korea
1997 Made in France, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
1996 Japan 70: Matière et Perception. Le Mono-ha et la recherche des fondements de l’art, Musée d’Art Moderne, Saint-Étienne, France
Project 8, Total Contemporary Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea
Small Truths, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, United Kingdom
1995 ASI ANA-Monoha, Palazzo Vendramin, Venice, Italy
Joongang Biennial, Hoam Art Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
70, Mono-ha, The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan
1994 Japanese Art After 1945: Scream Against the Sky, Guggenheim Museum SoHo, New York, USA
Postwar Art in Japan, Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan
1993 Spiritual in Art, Fukuyama Museum of Art, Fukuyama, Japan
1992 Working with Nature: Contemporary Art from Korea, Tate Gallery, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Seven Artists of Japan, Nagoya City Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan
Avanguardie giapponesi degli anni 70, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologne, Italy
1991–92 Aspects of Contemporary Japanese Art, The Santa Monica Museum of Art, California, Portland Art
Museum, Oregon Art Institute, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico, Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, USA
1990 Blau, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg, Germany
Minimal Art, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
1989 Croisement des Signes, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France
Biennale Middelheim-Japan, Middelheim Open-Air Museum, Antwerp, Belgium
Japan 1989, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Ghent, Belgium
Effets de Miroir, Bibliothèque Louis-Aragon, Choisy, France
1988 Monoha, Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy
Symposium of Olympic Sculpture, Seoul, South Korea
1987 Mono-ha and Postmono-ha, The Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
Painting 1977–1987, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
1986-87 Le Japan des avant-gardes, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
1986 Seoul-Paris, Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Paris, France
Mono-ha, Kamakura Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Contemporary Japanese Calligraphy and Painting, Galerie Nationale, Prague, Czechoslovakia
1985 40 Years of Japanese Contemporary Art, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Ecole de Seoul, Seoul, South Korea
1984 Wiesbadener Skulpturentage, Wiesbaden, Germany
Trends of Contemporary Japanese Art, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
1983 Ars 83, Helsinki, Finland
Tokyo Gallery in London, Juda Rowan Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1982 Meister der Zeichnung, Kunsthalle, Nuremberg, Germany
Material Gets Art, Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
Japanese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Camden Arts Centre, London, United Kingdom
1980 Skulptur im 20. Jahrhundert, Wenkenpark, Basel, Switzerland
Contemporary Art in Japan, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
1979 11th International Biennial Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo, prize, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
1st Henry Moore Grand Prize Exhibition, prize, Hakone Open-Air Museum, Kanagawa, Japan
1978 Z. B. Skulptur, Städtisches Museum im Städel, Frankfurt, Germany
Focus 78, Centre Culturel du Marais, Paris, France
1977 13th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan, prize, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Documenta 6, Kassel, Germany
Drawing 5 Artists, Minami Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
100 Prints, Acquisitions 1973–1976, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
1976 Festival international de la peinture, Cagnessur-Mer, France
École de Seoul, Seoul, South Korea
2nd Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
1975 3rd Triennale-India, National Academy of Art, New Delhi, India
Contemporary Art of Japan, The Museum of Ietevorg, Stockholm, Sweden
Contemporary Art of Japan, Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Norway
1974 Japan traditionell Gegenwart, Städtisches Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, Germany
Japanese Art in Louisiana, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark
1973 11th Contemporary Art Exhibition, A Retrospective: 20 Years of Contemporary Japanese Art, Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan
12th Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
1972 2nd Seoul Print Biennial, Seoul, South Korea
Napoli International Exhibition, Naples, Italy
8th International Biennial Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
1971 7th Paris Biennale, Paris, France
1970 Aspects of New Japanese Art, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
7th International Biennial Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
1969 5th International Young Artists Exhibition, prize, Japan Cultural Forum, Tokyo, Japan
9th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan,
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
10th Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil
Trends in Contemporary Art, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
1968 Contemporary Art of Korea, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
Public Collections
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
Albright Knox Museum, Buffalo, NY
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Asia Society Texas Center, Houston
Busan Municipal Museum of Art, Korea
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Castello di Ama, Siena, Italy
Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris
Commanderie de Peyrassol, Flassans-sur-Issole, France
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
Donjon de Vez, France
FNAC, Paris, France
Fondazione Mudima, Milan
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids
Fukuoka Museum of Art, Japan
Galerie Nationale de Prague, Czech Republic
Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan
Hakone Open-Air Museum, Kanagawa, Japan
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Iwaki City Art Museum, Fukushima, Japan
Kröller-Müller Rijksmuseum, Otterloo, The Netherlands
Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Germany
Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland
Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany
Kunstsammlungen der Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany
Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul
Lee Ufan Museum, Naoshima, Japan
Le Musée de Sculpture en Plein Air, Paris
M+ Museum, Hong Kong
Miyagi Museum of Art, Sendai, Japan
Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan
Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama, Japan
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The National Museum of Art, Osaka,
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
National Museum of Modern Art, Seoul
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Nationalgalerie, Berlin
Niigata Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan
Ohara Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan
Pinault Foundation, Venice
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
Seoul Municipal Museum of Art, Korea
Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo
Sezon Museum of Modern Art, Nagano, Japan
São Paulo Art Library, Brazil
Situation Kunst, Bochum, Germany
Sonja Henle-Niels Onstad Museum, Oslo, Norway
Space Lee Ufan, Busan, Korea
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Germany
Städtisches Museum Leverkusen, Germany
Städtisches Museum im Städel, Frankfurt
Stuttgart Staatsgalerie, Germany
Sundheim Collection, New York
Sunjae Museum of Art, Korea
Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa, Japan
Tate Modern Gallery, London
Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Utsunomiya, Japan
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan
Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
Utsunomiya City Museum of Art, Tochigi, Japan
Worcester Art Museum, MA