Lee Ufan
Mono-ha philosopher-painter of a single brushstroke and a stone beside a steel plate.
Lee Ufan was born in Korea in 1936, moved to Japan in 1956 and studied philosophy at Nihon University, and became the principal theorist of Mono-ha — the School of Things — which argued in the late 1960s for placing materials in relation to one another rather than making objects out of them. Relatum, the ongoing sculpture series, is typically a natural stone set against an industrial steel plate. The paintings run through From Point and From Line, in which a loaded brush is drawn until the pigment runs out, to the Dialogue series, in which a single grey-blue stroke sits on a large empty canvas. Museums devoted to him stand at Naoshima and Busan.
The From Point and From Line paintings of the 1970s lead the market, with the recent Dialogue works forming a large and strong second group; prices are set principally in Seoul, Hong Kong and New York. The pigment is mineral-based, mixed with glue, matt and extremely vulnerable — it cannot be cleaned and marks permanently, so condition is exceptionally determinative. Lee is significantly forged and a criminal case in Korea concerned exactly that, so provenance and studio confirmation matter. There is a modest print output.
If you own a work by Lee Ufan
Send photographs and whatever paperwork came with it. The first question is what the work actually is — edition or unique, when, and in what condition — because everything else follows from the answer. A valuation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Write to info@whitebankfineart.co.uk, or start below.
Whitebank Fine Art is an art advisory and gallery, not an auction house, and is not affiliated with any auction house or with the artist, their estate or their representatives. This page describes the range we advise on. Nothing here is investment advice.