Item Overview
Gee Yun 1906-1963 China/American Listed Artist Original Oil "Nude Woman"
Signed Top Right
Oil on Board
Painting Size: 20" x 12".
Frame Size: 26" x 18".
Created in 1930's
CONDITION
Good Condition
Gee Yun (1906 - 1963)
Known as a Modernist painter and the creator of a style he called "diamondism", composed of fragmented forms vividly colored, Yun Gee was born in Gee Village, now called Chu Village, near Canton, China in 1906. At age 15, he arrived in San Francisco in 1921, joining his father, a merchant who traveled there frequently from China. However, his mother remained behind with his younger brothers and sisters, and Yun Gee never saw her again. He was able to become an American citizen because of his father's claim that his own citizenship papers had been destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire.
Yun Gee settled near Chinatown and enrolled at the California School of Fine Art under Gottardo Piazzoni and Otis Oldfield. Both of these men had strong influence on Gee, especially Oldfield who became a close, life-long friend. They took a sketching trip together in 1928 to the gold mining area of California. It was written that "Oldfield's Cezanne-inspired paintings would come to inform Gee's aesthetic. Lessons in forming volume from areas of contrasting warm and cool colors resonated through his work for the rest of his life."
Gee became a part of the San Francisco avant-garde, which included poet Kenneth Rexroth and artists Dorr Bothwell, Ruth Cravath, John Ferrin and Oldfield. In 1926, he formed, along with several other artists dedicated to abstraction, the Modern Gallery, which bordered Chinatown and was located on Montgomery Street. With this action, Gee renounced his earlier commitment to academic painting and burned all of his work that reflect the conservative method and style. That same year, he formed the Chinese Revolutionary Artist' Club, and gave classes in painting techniques and theory. It is thought that his theory of Diamondism was developed during this time.
PROVENANCE
Private Collection from New Jersey
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Good Condition