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EBS History of Culture Series - Part 1 THE COUNT OF MYEONGDONG
Episode 8
Lee Jung Seop (painter)
That's a fascinating work?!
Ahhh... show it to me.
I'll give you another cup of coffee on the house.
Ahh... a little more!
That's pretty!
Can I take a look?
What... What did you paint here?
My family.
Ahh... then,
this woman must be your wife?!
My son... Tae Hyeon,
Tae Seong...
And my wife, Balgarak*-gun.
*Means toes, plus the "gun" used for younger, close acquaintances
Balgarak-gun?!
That's my wife's name.
How can that be her name?
1940, Tokyo
What's wrong?
I must have hit a rock with my foot.
Let me take a look.
I'm fine.
I need to look if it's anything serious.
Is it here?
Then, this toe?
Do...Does it hurt?
Just endure it a moment, I'll massage your foot.
Yamamoto Masako
Do...Does it still hurt?
If it does, just tell me.
I've never seen someone paint over cigarette foil before.
- It wasn't too bad, was it? - It was pretty good.
Leave me alone, will you?
Why do you always follow me around?
I said don't follow me again! Don't follow me...
Don't! Don't follow me...
Dear... Dear, help me out!
Tae Hyeon! Tae Seong! Daddy is dying!
Lee Jung Seop painted with his entire body.
His workshops weren't famous ateliers but the world he lived in.
Be it in a corner of a mental institution, or on the streets,
room saloons and coffee shops.
Whenever the pent-up sadness and loneliness buried in his soul...
were about to explode, he would take the brush and let the canvas be his antidote.
No, it wasn't just the brush.
Any instrument he could hold with his hands and could draw a shape...
graced his hands.
Even if it wasn't a canvas he was painting on,
he would take silver foil from an empty pack of cigarettes,
and draw over it, even adding color.
He added drawings to letters he sent to his beloved wife.
Even just a simple paper and pencil would do, if nothing else was available.
It was in this manner that Lee Jung Seop slowly descended into madness.
Han Muk (painter)
Jung Seop.
What are you all doing here?
Is Jung Seop still...
What are you talking about?
Unless he's completely crazy...
What did he say?
Lee Gyu Sang (painter)
We just went in, and as he was sitting on the floor,
he just stared at us.
He wasn't saying a word,
so we just sat there staring at him.
Despite all the darkness, he had no intention to turn on the lights,
and just kept glaring at us.
He's gone crazy.
Just as those rumors said.
Why did you do that?
Why didn't you utter a single word?
They're treating me like a lunatic fool.
So I just fulfilled their wishes and acted like one.
What is arguably Lee Jung Seop's representative work,
"The Departing Family."
Drawn with pencils and crayons on paper,
"Family and the Starry Moon" (1955).
Drawn on cigarette foil,
"Love" (estimated 1953~55).
"Family" (oil-painted; approx. 1953~54).
The man on the left should be Lee Jung Seop himself,
the woman sitting on the right, his wife Masako,
while the other two around them would be his two sons.
"Ox Weeping in the Glow" (approx. 1953~54).
"Cows Buttings Heads" (1953).
"White Cow" (1954)
To Lee Jung Seop,
painting cows could have been his own ways to express...
his extreme loneliness, despair and angst.
"Ravens and the Moon" (1954).
The work best representing how deep his solitude had become.
Jung Bo Seok
Depending upon the generation and the person observing them,
Lee Jung Seop's works will assume different forms and values.
You could consider him a pioneer who invented his own western-influenced form,
rather than submitting completely to other forms of westernization...
which were dominating his colleagues' work.
But he also could be a rebel, escaping from the limitations he showed...
as a painter through shock value and sensationalism.
Yet, no matter in which direction such critique ends up going,
when it came to encapsulating his life and feelings inside his work,
Lee Jung Seop was definitely an exceptional artist.
We know of many great artists who drenched their work with...
their own personality and spirit.
We hear the grieving cries of the Russian people in Tolstoy's work,
not to mention Lee Sang's masterpiece "Wings," weeping about...
the colonial period in 1930s Korea.
What stirred Victor Hugo's legacy into greatness...
was certainly not Jean Valjean's dramatic life.
It was a triumph of humanism, reborn from its ashes during the revolution.
As we draw a portrait of 1950s' Myeongdong,
we didn't put the spotlight on artists who successfully made a mark,
but rather on those whose legacy was drawn by fleeting, incomplete greatness,
such as Park In Hwan or Kim Su Young.
On people who lived the 1950s with their whole body and soul.
The people who ran into the clouds of despair and poverty the war created,
their body and spirit as their one and only guiding light.
Because it is only through such people that we can understand those days.
Lee Jung Seop was one of those people.
After countless trials and tribulations,
Lee Jung Seop's wedding (May 1945)
Lee Jung Seop finally married in May 1945 in Wonsan.
As you can see, the two had a traditional Korean wedding, complete with hanbok.
Masako even changed her name to Lee Nam Deok.
Just as the name change policy* was being forced upon people,
*1939's Changsshigaenyeom where every Korean had to adopt a Japanese name
she did the opposite, a Japanese adopting a Korean name.
Lee Young In - Lee Jung Seop's nephew
According to my uncle,
they never protested the fact he was a Joseon man, someone from the colony.
They were worried that marrying a painter would have brought her poverty,
but there were no serious protests of any sort, from any of the two families.
So it seems like they didn't have to go through any difficulty in that sense.
As the air raids in Tokyo were intensifying,
Choi Seok Tae (wrote Lee Jung Seop's biography)
Masako's family, just like any other urbanite, wanted to escape to the countryside.
But seeing how much his daughter missed Lee Jung Seop,
her father just thought that she'd die even before the bombardments,
so he ended up sending her to Lee Jung Seop.
In Busan, they told her the Bando Hotel in Seoul was nice,
so she reserved a room there.
Our home phone number was 797, and one day my uncle called,
saying he'd stop by in Seoul for a week,
then bring her back to Busan, and get married.
1945 - Seoul Bando Hotel
Yamamoto Masako
Masako!
It's me, Lee Jung Seop!
Are you hurting?
So, what's wrong?
I couldn't... eat the last few days.
Were you really that hungry?
You could have sent word asking for some money.
Then, I'd have to wait until the money got here anyway.
I couldn't wait to see you.
So you starved for how many days?
I went to Shimonoseki*, but the American troops had...
*Yamaguchi Prefecture, southwestern Japan
blocked all connecting routes to Busan,
so I had to leave via Hakada in Kyushu*.
Shimonoseki & Hakada: two major steamer routes to Busan during the occupation
The ticket was too expensive, so I just took a small boat from Hakada to Busan,
and I ran out of money.
The boat was so small, every wave made it swing wildly.
I got seasick, and almost couldn't eat anything there.
Masako! Masako...
You know?
I would have come for you even if I had to take a longer trip.
- No matter how far away. - Masako!
I will do the same, Masako.
If it's for your sake,
I'll go until the end of the world to find you.
These two people had to separate in Busan,
during the Korean War.
Eat some, will you?
Do you really plan on starving to death?
If it makes you suffer so much, why did you send her away?
Ahh... dear.
What's wrong?
Let me have a look.
Come on...
You're coughing blood! Let me have a look.
Ahh... it's all the better, what's wrong with you?
She's back to Japan with the kids,
so she won't have to go through all this.
It's not like it was a brief conflict.
Nam Deok wasn't healthy, either.
I just miss them, that's why!
Ahh... look at you, all grown up and still... Aigoo.
I miss your toes...
I miss Tae Hyeon, and Tae Seong...
His wife and two children were facing severe malnutrition,
so he thought they would just die this way,
and to avoid that, he sent them to Japan.
So if you think about it, the situation forced all this upon them.
He probably couldn't openly speak about how much he missed his family.
And, witnessing how much he loved his wife,
you really come to understand why he lived life that way.
He might not have said it with words,
but he'd spend entire nights drawing images on these letters,
as if he was working on one of his greatest paintings.
Seeing this dedication really proved how deep his affection for them was.
"Let us butcher the Communists,*
*A representative anti-Communist song
no matter how many."
"That is our nation's only path."
Let me do it.
Lee Bong Gu (novelist)
Not too high.
And... go!
"Let us butcher the Communists,
no matter how many."
"That is our nation's only path."
"Let us march, let us go!"
Lee Jung Seop was playing with kids in the alley.
People say Lee Jung Seop has gone mad,
but that is a lie.
He just ended up that way... because he misses his family.
So what?
I'm telling you this because you're using your wife as an excuse...
to start living like a molehill once again.
Just forgive her.
A lot worse happened during the war.
Think of how many people died.
I should have died along with them.
What are you saying?
When they took me to the North,
all I thought about was her.
What if they had retaliated against her and the baby in her womb...
after I kept running away?
But I come back alive, and she's living with Lee Jong Gu?!
Careful what you say!
I'm so embarrassed, I can't even show myself in public.
How could someone who was robbed of his wife by a friend...
have the courage to walk on the streets?!
Su Young... I said keep it down.
But now she shows up and... divorce?!
It's because she probably had no excuse to say otherwise.
Even if the sky is torn apart, I won't see her again!
Jun, let's go.
You're a poet.
Someone who must bury the suffering of this whole world deep down in your soul.
But you can't even forgive your wife?
If you bury so much suffering deep down but make an exception for your wife,
how miserly would that be?
Listen to me and get back together.
Even if only for people like Lee Jung Seop,
who wish to get together but are stopped by the damned Hyeonhaetan*.
*Genkai Sea, part of the East Sea between Busan and Fukuoka
He softened his stance a lot.
If you can wait a little bit longer, he'll come back to you.
You don't need to bother anymore, Lee Seonsaengnim.
I just missed Jun,
I have no intention of returning with him myself.
- Listen... - Yes.
Of course, I have no right to make any excuse.
Whomever is to blame, you must make things right.
Su Young can't live without you.
I even heard there is someone he likes now.
That's just because he was upset. How could he ever?
You know?
I decided to live alone.
Becoming a faithful wife doesn't suit someone like me.
Ahh... you really.
I just came back to see Jun once,
but I'll just resign myself and go back.
Why did you bring up the seal? You don't even want to divorce.
If he wants to, we'll just do it.
What Lee Seonsaengnim said is right.
Know how many couples live without any affection?
You can think of it as being better than living as strangers.
What is all this noise? Uh?
Oppa feels like a demon.
What are you talking about? What did he do wrong?
If he can't forgive her, he can just take his seal...
and stamp it on those damned divorce papers!
Not giving even though you haven't forgiven her,
that's just mean, Oppa!
Su Myeong.
What do you think of Noh Bong Shik?
She's not an amazing beauty, but she's pretty.
She's a nice woman.
Noh Bong Shik or whatever, wasn't she married?
If you can't forgive your wife, how can you love a married woman?
I never said it was love... I just like her.
And how is that different?
It is!
So, tell me why.
If you love someone, her everything has to satisfy you,
whereas for someone you like, you can just like particular things about her.
Oppa, I'm not trying to take your wife's side,
but if it's really over with her, end it up properly without regrets.
I have no regrets about her.
Pyeonghwa Shinmunsa (newspaper)
Ohh... so you came to work?
Why aren't you giving me my fee?
You're three months behind with payments.
I told you about that.
So, you're buying me lunch and drinks with that money?!
It wasn't just yours I used, a good portion of mine as well.
The point is, why are you playing around with my money?!
Su Young.
I had enough of this damned newspaper.
Don't ever get involved with me again.
Su... Su Young!
Aigoo... you didn't know?
That Kim Su Young is as stingy as they get.
Still, know how much I spent for him?
You know? I never even drank a cup of coffee on his tab.
Su Young is just trying to ruin you, that's it.
Don't even associate with him again.
Ahh... how nasty.
What is the matter again, Jeon Hye Rin Seonsaeng?!
So that is all so-called scribes talk about?
Why, so-called scribes don't eat or take a leak?
You should be a little different.
Ahh... this little...
Why?
This little wench bothers you that much?!
Hye Rin!
I'll have to leave Myeongdong, so I can stop having to endure this.
Who is ever stopping you?
Don't you know that miners bring a bird with them,
when they're about to enter the pit?
So that, should gas enter the pit, the bird would be the first to die.
Aren't poets exactly like that bird?
You spend all day getting drunk and pointing out other people's faults.
When are you ever going to sing your warning prose?
This world takes your breath away,
can you just spend all your time getting drunk?
Aren't you our accomplice, Hye Rin?
That's why I decided to leave Myeongdong.
Why, think I enjoy having to spend the day with a bottle in my hands?
I'm not blaming you for drinking.
What is it now, then?
I'm just saying, drinking is at least better than faulting other people.
You got knocked down by Hye Rin again, it seems.
By the way, are you ready for your bar exam?
You need to become our first female judge! Uh?
Good gracious! Imagine the verdicts, with that personality.
So I decided to give that up.
Are you really moving to Germany to study?
Yes.
I'll fill myself with beer while I'm there.
Fine... let's hear it.
Why do you drink so much?
Because being a woman is agonizing.
Why, what's wrong with women?
In this damned country, women aren't treated like people.
I treat women like goddesses, or even better.
Park Seonsaengnim.
While I'm away, write something nice.
Don't waste all your precious talent on that bottle.
Write something even better than "The Lady and the Wooden Horse."
And who would read those damned poems anyway?
Some will!
Even as we speak, there are people who are reading your work.
Some people are reading that prose of yours,
trying to grasp that ever elusive rope that is life, just as it appears to be snapping.
How nice, our Hye Rin's words.
That I can't. Know how much credit I've given you already?
Kim Gwan Shik (poet)
Just pass it over.
To whom?!
There.
It's all yours, my friend.
Ahh... look! I said pay your tab!
I'll take care of it! Over here.
Why, is your tab any better, Lee Seonsaengnim?
I'll deal with it, come the end of the month.
Why, are you going to find the money by then?
Then, come here and catch me!
No matter how often I tried to make him stop drinking,
it was as if Dionysus was reborn inside him.
It probably was the same god of wine who protected him,
Bang Ok Rye (Kim Gwan Shik's wife)
considering how much trouble he could have gotten into.
You just couldn't change his mind, whatever you said.
Yeom Mu Woong (culture critic)
Kim Gwan Shik, Cheon Sang Byeong, Go Eun.
Those were the three "oddities" who marked our literary circles in the 50s and 60s.
But if you look at those three, Go Eun had become a very acclaimed poet.
And Cheon Sang Byeong, despite never really succeeding on a large scale,
achieved something in terms of legacy, as an author of beautiful poems.
But you can never really use eccentric behavior to judge one's work.
When judging what Go Eun and Cheon Sang Byeong achieved,
their eccentric behavior was only a by-product or a cause,
never the determining factor.
But it seemed that for Kim Gwan Shik, this eccentricity always remained on the surface.
Seonsaengnim!
What are you doing here?
Give me your consent, Seonsaengnim!
To do what?
So that Ok Rye and I can date,
please give me your consent, help and support!
Do you even have money to do that?
I can always ask for credit.
- She can't drink. - Hyeongbu. (Brother-in-law)
We're not going out to drink,
I'm bringing her to the movies.
How are you going to get credit there?
Ahhh... it will work for me.
She must be home before the curfew.
Hyeongbu.
Hyeongbu! Hyeongbu!
Many thanks, Midang Seonsaengnim!
I'll buy you a drink.
There's a new bar here called Poem...
I told you I can't drink.
The Writers' Saloon of Myeongdong was Seo Jeong Ju's "headquarters."
Literary icons like him and Kim Dong Ri would meet, drink tea or liquor,
and share their friendship around.
But, exactly because it was frequented by literary icons,
nameless scribes wouldn't feel at ease in such places.
It was then that a new bar called Poem was born,
and not much later, the Dongbang Saloon.
We'll take a look at Poem first.
Originally, this Poem was a whisky shop serving only local products.
After starting in Busan, the owner opened in Myeongdong,
and suddenly all the whisky lovers fell for its unique atmosphere.
The painting you see on the wall was...
from the famous Kim Yong Hwan* of the Professor Kojubu manhwa.
*Considered the father of Korean manhwa
Also, the names of all the regulars were listed upside down in brush writing.
Know what's great about Poem?
First, the whisky is cheap.
Second, they always give you credit.
Third, you can make good friends here.
And fourth, our Madam here is a beauty.
Isn't that right, my darling?
Two are right, but two are not.
You got the first and third right,
but not the second and fourth.
So, what is this "second and fourth"?
I give no credit,
and I certainly am no beauty.
You are... Someone looking this good certainly is.
Still, no credit, Seonsaengnim!
Then, just give it to us for free.
Feels like a raccoon den.
Wait here a moment. I'll get you something to drink.
Seonsaengnim.
Aigoo... Gwan Shik is here!
My name is missing there.
Ohh... is that so?
I told Lee Gyu Seok to write your name.
Look.
Look all you want, but there's no trace of my name.
Then, we'll have to list him.
- Darling. - Yes?
Give our Kim Gwan Shik a glass of Rivera.
How can you add a new one for every person coming?
It's not like he's the first.
Is it my fault my name is not on the list?
Seonsaengnim, isn't that right?
Of course.
Madam, two glasses of Rivera.
Two, at that?!
So you succeeded?
Did Seo Jeong Ju agree?
I'm about to win him out.
- Darling. - Yes?
Just two glasses won't do.
Let's give them a bottle.
- On your tab, then. - All right, all right. On my tab.
Or someone else will pay for me.
Here, have a seat.
Seonsaengnim.
As if your tab wasn't enough, why are you taking care of someone else's?
He's sitting on flowers.
What I'm saying is, not only that youngster is arrogant...
Know what's great about being young, my darling?
That even if you take the wrong path, you have time to go back on your mistakes.
That's youth for you.
Isn't that right?!
A bit more, more.
Here... here.
To our meeting.
Poem was the paradise of poor artists.
They liked it because the whisky was cheap,
and they loved getting drunk after only a few glasses of that.
This is how the Dongbang Saloon, the poor artists' safe haven was born.
What brings you here, Director?
- Is Lee Sajang inside? - Of course he is.
Let's go in, Kim Sajang.
He's inside with a guest, if you pardon me.
Is that so?
I'll let him know you're here right away.
No need! We'll just wait.
I'm so sorry.
Lee Hwa Ryong here is the busiest man in Myeongdong.
Lee Jung Jae, again?!
He's planning to turn Myeongdong into a wasteland.
He can just deal with me, why involve Myeongdong?
You need to be careful.
- I'll get going. - Is it...
that uncomfortable to earn some money working for me?
When I can give you enough help to deserve any money I'll call you.
As you wish.
You can go in now.
So Boss Shin comes here these days?
Ahhh... not at all!
But if he worked for him, Lee Sajang would gain quite a fist?!
They say he's the best around here.
You can enter.
Then again, he's got you.
- Kim Sajang, let's go in. - Yes.
- Aigoo! Lee Sajangnim! - Aigoo... Director Baek!
Introduce yourself.
- Go ahead. - My name is Kim Dong Geun.
I'm Lee Hwa Ryong.
- Here, have a seat. - Yes, yes.
Kim Sajang is a young businessman.
He's son of a rich family, and he's been making good money on his own lately.
You're flattering me.
Lee Sajang... you know the Daehan Jungseok Building, right?
He's built up a three-storey building next to it.
Ahhh... really?
It's just a small structure, it's no building.
Ahhh... If it's that big, it's a building all right!
- Tell Lee Sajang about it. - Still...
Kim Sajang wants to help you out.
Ahhh... sure.
It's three storeys, so I wanted to use the first to build a saloon,
a place where all scribes, painters, actors and the like could enjoy some rest.
As for the second, could we call it a writing lab?
I wanted to make a place for scribes to write in.
And finally the third would be like a lecture hall,
used for meetings, parties... You know, that kind of structure.
But you're not going to make any money out of that.
Aigoo... I'll get going!
Lee Sajang, you take care of it yourself.
Director Baek!
Discuss something like that with the scribes, why me?
You're the man here in Myeongdong, who else would I ask?
Ehhh... I'm going.
Take good care of Myeongdong. Uh?
Enjoy the trip back.
What now?
What do you think? Let's just make it.
Myeongdong's backbone is made of those artists.
Ahhh... the Mona Lisa, let's go in.
Ohh... here they are!
Lee Bong Gu Seonsaengnim, right?
Yes, and you are?
Yes, my name is Lee Hwa Ryong.
We met each other already, remember?
Ahhh! You paid for me!
You still remember that?
We owe all this comfort to you, Mr. Lee.
There's no need to worry about gangsters here.
Park Hyung...
It's all right.
All those living by the fist are gangsters anyway.
That's not what I meant.
Should our boys cause any problem, come and tell me right away.
Ahh... there's nothing like that here.
Gangsters... Ahh...
Those boys tend to avoid places like this, on the contrary.
Ohhh... come here, Kim Sajang.
Ohhh... Aren't you Kim Dong Geun?
How have you been, Park Seonsaengnim?
You knew each other?
He made all that money thanks to the war.
That's even better.
You even know each other, so that will make things even easier.
Here, have a seat.
This is how the Dongbang Saloon would be born.
Dongbang Cultural Hall
Here... let's have another applause!
In the autumn of 1955, near the Daehan Jungseok Building...
was born the Dongbang Cultural Hall.
Its third storey was a meeting hall, the second a writing lab,
while the first was a saloon, giving happiness and a new hope...
to all the scribes who were forced to roam other saloons and bars.
It wasn't just scribes.
Theater and film actors, painters and musicians...
It became a cosy haven for all of them.
But it made all those poor scribes happier than anybody,
since now they had a place to write, without all the scolding...
and gazes they received while wandering all the various bars.
Back then, our literary circle was almost divided into...
the "Mona Lisa clique" and the ones frequenting the Writers' Saloon.
Here at the Writers' Saloon were Seo Jeong Ju and Kim Dong Ri,
whereas all the cocks of the walk gathered at the Mona Lisa.
It might have been Lee Bong Gu and Park In Hwan's "territory,"
but it was also where Lee Jung Seop drank and even slept in during the day.
We now return to Lee Jung Seop's story.
What's wrong with your head?
Did you get hurt, Lee Hyung?
Nah.
So why is your head bandaged?
It's because my hair was starting to stretch upwards.
My hair got all stiff and pointing up and it was so embarrassing,
so here I am, I solved it.
Now it looks better, doesn't it?!
You know?
I'm going to open a personal exhibition.
Exhibition?
I found a way to sell my paintings.
If I get some money, I can send it to Japan!
That's good to hear.
From now on, I'll have to get on it and paint all day.
I'll paint all day and make some money.
I'll make some money, I tell you!
So... my Balgarak-gun,
my Tae Seong and Tae Hyeon,
can stop going through all those hardships.
Because of debts.
I must... I must paint!
I must paint something that will sell!
Apples... flowers... beautiful women...
I must pay their debts.
She amassed all those debts because of me.
Paint, you fool!
You wretched fool!
Paint, now!
Paint something that will sell!
Lee Jung Seop's works were certainly not basking in beauty.
Some people say his work resembled the schizophrenia which was engulfing him.
But no picture could have been as beautiful as Lee Jung Seop's soul.
In the next episode, we'll dig even deeper into Lee Jung Seop's beautiful spirit.
Brought to you by WITH S2 Written In The Heavens Subbing Squad
Main Translator and Timer: MisterX
Timing QC: Victory
Editor/QC: thunderbolt
Coordinators: mily2, ay_link
I miss my kids.
And my wife... even more.
My wife and kids, you know? They're almost starving in Japan.
If I don't sell my paintings now, they'll really starve to death.
But what can I paint to make people buy it?
Wasn't your husband getting paid today?
I'm sorry, I'll pay you back next month.
If you're out of rice, you should have told me!
I asked you to follow me, and you said no.
I wanted to die.
So why didn't you?!
They all said you were dead, how could I?
I tried to kill myself more than once.
Why don't I see you around these days?
I'm going to America next month.
Is Park In Hwan ill or something?
I can smell when something is not going right.
I wanted to see you one last time.
You're leaving today? For Germany?
Right.
Seonsaengnim.
Goodbye.
What are you asking me to paint?!
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