Lee ShinJa (b.1930) is a pioneering first-generation Korean fiber artist and educator, whose materials-centric practice interwove salvaged fibers, traditional embroidery thread, steel, and multidimensional abstraction. The artist’s long career as an artist, educator, and organizer persisted throughout the Korean War and Reconstruction, and has solidified her as one of the most influential artists of her generation. The artist was the subject of a recent retrospective at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea, and stands as living testament that the canon of her generation of Asian artists expands beyond established, predominantly male movements such as Dansaekhwa and Mono-ha.

Monumental tapestries such as this display the dizzying scale and intricacy of her abstract compositions. This work was made during a decade of acute impact in the artist’s life, following the death of her husband, artist Jang Woon-Sang, in 1982. During the 1980s, Lee ShinJa was a professor and dean of the art department at Duksung Women's University, where she built a first-of-its-kind industrial arts program in Korea. Lee also served as the director of the Duksung Women's University Museum during this time, and was a founding member and president of the Korean Fiber Artists Association, where she led the first edition of the Korean Fiber Art Biennale in 1984.