Lee Byung-Gue studied in the Western-style painting division of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. In 1968 he exhibited his work at the Sin Moon Gallery in Seoul. He showed his paintings regularly in the government-sponsored "National" exhibition from 1949-71 and was a professor at the Sai Jong University in Seoul from 1962-72. He won the Seoul Cultural Award in 1964 and the Korean Cultural Award in 1971.