Painter Lee Jong-sang, who created the portraits on South Korea’s 50,000- and 5,000-won notes, dies at 88

Lee Jong-sang, the veteran Korean painter whose portraits of the scholar Yi I and his mother Shin Saimdang appear on South Korea’s 5,000-won and 50,000-won banknotes, died on September 8 at the age of 88.

The Seoul National University emeritus professor was born in Yesan, South Chungcheong Province, and studied painting at Seoul National University. As a second-year student in 1960, he joined demonstrations during the April Revolution and suffered a gunshot wound. He later became recognized as a national merit recipient.

In 1961, Lee submitted “The Artisan,” a striking depiction of workers in a blacksmith’s shop, to the National Art Exhibition of Korea. The work earned him a record as the youngest artist to receive a special selection. He later studied Eastern philosophy at Dongguk University, earning a doctorate, and taught in Seoul National University’s Oriental painting department.

Lee worked across creation, research and education, influencing Korean painting well into the 2000s. In series including “Original Form,” inspired by landmarks such as Dokdo and Mount Geumgang, and “Modern True View,” which reinterpreted traditional landscape painting, he sought to express the independent foundations of Korean art.

He also painted historical figures and contributed to banknote designs, bringing his work into everyday life across South Korea. Lee served as director of the Seoul National University Museum and the Seoul National University Museum of Art, and received the Silver Crown Order of Cultural Merit. His funeral procession is scheduled for September 11, with burial at the National April 19th Cemetery in Suyu-dong, Seoul.