May 13–June 21, 2014
Exhibition Catalog
Yun Gee, pages 53–57
(click images to enlarge)
The Flute Player (Self-Portrait), 1928
(Next post on Friday: Anna May Wong in Picture Play)
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Showing posts with label Paris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paris. Show all posts
Friday, May 26, 2017
Yun Gee in Pioneers of Modern Chinese Painting in Paris
de Sarthe Gallery, Hong Kong
May 13–June 21, 2014
Exhibition Catalog
Yun Gee, pages 53–57
May 13–June 21, 2014
Exhibition Catalog
Yun Gee, pages 53–57
Monday, May 2, 2016
Yun Gee’s Birth Date
Yun Gee, also known as Gee Wing Yun, was born February 20, 1906, according to the Yun Gee website. The same date was mentioned in the New York Sun, January 9, 1934; the article is at the end of this post. Here is an excerpt:
Yun Gee explained in careful English that his family name really is Wing Yun Chu. He was born in China on February 22, 1906, the son of Quong On Chu, one-time merchant of Oriental goods in San Francisco.
“My teachers named me Yun Gee because of my interest in art," he explained. “It is a symbolic name meaning that my work should spread throughout China.”
Yun’s testimony on his birth date would have been in his San Francisco Chinese Exclusion Case Files #20660/7-4 and #12017/31974. Sometime later, those files were consolidated in Alien File A12066691. Yun’s testimony regarding his birth date is not available.
However, there is a file on Yun’s father, Gee Quong On, case file #38669/12-2, which is available for inspection at the San Bruno, California branch of the National Archives.
Quong On traveled to China several times. Each time upon his return to the United States, he was questioned about his family. The earliest mention of Yun was in 1907 when his first name was spelled Yen. The spelling changed from Yen to Yuen (1912) to Ngin (1914, 1922) to Yuen (1924) and to Ngin (1935, 1938). The immigration officers and translators were responsible for the different spellings.
Over the years, Quong On was consistent in stating that Yun was born during the reign of Emperor Kwong Sui, in the thirty-third year, second month and twentieth day or K.S. 33-2-20. Below are copies of pages from Quong On’s file which has information about his family as it grew over time.
October 2, 1907
December 27, 1912
October 15, 1914
September 5, 1922
Yun was in San Francisco. According to a passenger list, at Ancestry.com, he and his younger brother, Hing Yin Gee, arrived on November 27, 1921.
March 20, 1924
August 9, 1935
KS 33-2-20 with “Apr 2, 1907” in parenthesis
Yun was in New York.
Chinese-American Calendar for the 102 Years Commencing January 24, 1849, and Ending February 5, 1951
Compiled and Verified by Windon Chandler Welch, A.B.
United States Government Printing Office, 1928
Page 59 has the table for converting the date, K.S. 33-2-20 (see column two and figure 20 in black). According to this book, Yun Gee’s birth date is April 2, 1907 (see red figures). Presumably, the Chinese date, K.S. 33-2-20, was in Yun’s file. Apparently Yun did not know how to convert the Chinese calendar date, so he said his birth date was February 20, 1906.
November 9, 1938
Yun was in Paris, France
New York Sun
January 9, 1934
The above article is related to an earlier post about Yun’s performance in 1934.
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Monday, February 22, 2016
Yun Gee in The Argus: A Journal of Art
April 15, 1927
page 4: Yun, who must have a bouillant temperament under a quiet appearance, is sometimes extravagant in his ideas. His attempt at plasters in his Head is amusing, but does not do any good to his reputation. His Drawing and his Portrait of a Man make up for it and prove that he can be a serious artist and has a fine talent.
July 1927
page 2: Dorr Bothwell’s Exhibition
The Modern Art Gallery brought its first season to an auspicious close with a fine exhibition, the paintings and drawings of Dorr Bothwell. Miss Bothwell’s work impressed me as being definitely sincere, unhampered by stylistic emulation of any renowned contemporary….
…The picture of the young Chinese artist, Yun, is another extremely successful piece of work, due to its value as a portrait as well as to compositional solidity….
page 5: The “Portrait of Yun,” by Otis Oldfield, is an excellent canvas, from the standpoint of color, proportion, depth and perspective, but it does not show the genuine young Chinese painter as most people know him. It represents him as a mature and stern man, which is a respectable viewpoint but an altogether different conception to that which most people who know Yun have of this artist.
page 8: Yun, Chinese artist of San Francisco, will leave for Paris on July 9 for an indefinite period of study and work.
October 1927
page 11: We read in the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” of August 22nd: “Out of war-torn China has come a young futurist who senses the soul of the world.” This comment refers to Yun Gee, Chinese artist of San Francisco, who is now in Paris preparing for his first exhibit there.
After reviewing some of the work of Yun, the art critic of the “Daily Eagle” concludes with the observation that “Yun’s work provokes thought. His immaturity and faulty technique yield before the idea.”
November 1927
page 8: Modern Gallery Elections
At the annual election of officers last month, Julius Pommer was re-elected president and Marian Trace secretary of the Modern Gallery, a group of young San Francisco artists. The organization has grown so prosperous that it was found necessary to create a new office, that of treasurer. Jacques Schnier was elected to fill this responsible position.
Ten directors, who are likewise the charter members of the Modern Gallery, will continue in office. They are Dorr Bothwell, Ruth Cravath, Frank Dunham, Parker L. Hall, Rosalie Maus, Ward Montague, Julius Pommer, Marian Trace, Don Works and Yun Gee.
December 1927
page 10: Yun, the Chinese painter who started his artistic career in San Francisco, held a one man show in Paris during the month of November, at the Galerie Carmine. Besides this exhibit, three of his pictures have been accepted by the Princess Lucien Murat and are hung at her gallery, “Fermé la Nuit.”
June 1928
page 6: A young modern who may disappoint the prophesies which were made for his future is Yun Gee, if his Paris acquaintances turn out to be mere snobs trying to encourage him in the direction of the eccentric and in a style which, so long as it is a transitory experiment, is interesting, but which will lose its value if it becomes a set mode of expression. This does not particularly refer to the two paintings by Yun exhibited last month at the East West, as they were done last year. It is rather a far distant warning from those who follow his work in the French capital where he resides at present.
July-August 1928
page 16: Advertisement
For Sale—George Grosz’s “Ecce Homo,” $10; two Drew etchings, $5 each; a Yun crayon drawing, $3.50, and a few color reproductions of masters and moderns, 50c to $2.50.
Little Pierre Library
508 Powell St. San Francisco
page 4: Yun, who must have a bouillant temperament under a quiet appearance, is sometimes extravagant in his ideas. His attempt at plasters in his Head is amusing, but does not do any good to his reputation. His Drawing and his Portrait of a Man make up for it and prove that he can be a serious artist and has a fine talent.
July 1927
page 2: Dorr Bothwell’s Exhibition
The Modern Art Gallery brought its first season to an auspicious close with a fine exhibition, the paintings and drawings of Dorr Bothwell. Miss Bothwell’s work impressed me as being definitely sincere, unhampered by stylistic emulation of any renowned contemporary….
…The picture of the young Chinese artist, Yun, is another extremely successful piece of work, due to its value as a portrait as well as to compositional solidity….
page 5: The “Portrait of Yun,” by Otis Oldfield, is an excellent canvas, from the standpoint of color, proportion, depth and perspective, but it does not show the genuine young Chinese painter as most people know him. It represents him as a mature and stern man, which is a respectable viewpoint but an altogether different conception to that which most people who know Yun have of this artist.
page 8: Yun, Chinese artist of San Francisco, will leave for Paris on July 9 for an indefinite period of study and work.
October 1927
page 11: We read in the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” of August 22nd: “Out of war-torn China has come a young futurist who senses the soul of the world.” This comment refers to Yun Gee, Chinese artist of San Francisco, who is now in Paris preparing for his first exhibit there.
After reviewing some of the work of Yun, the art critic of the “Daily Eagle” concludes with the observation that “Yun’s work provokes thought. His immaturity and faulty technique yield before the idea.”
November 1927
page 8: Modern Gallery Elections
At the annual election of officers last month, Julius Pommer was re-elected president and Marian Trace secretary of the Modern Gallery, a group of young San Francisco artists. The organization has grown so prosperous that it was found necessary to create a new office, that of treasurer. Jacques Schnier was elected to fill this responsible position.
Ten directors, who are likewise the charter members of the Modern Gallery, will continue in office. They are Dorr Bothwell, Ruth Cravath, Frank Dunham, Parker L. Hall, Rosalie Maus, Ward Montague, Julius Pommer, Marian Trace, Don Works and Yun Gee.
December 1927
page 10: Yun, the Chinese painter who started his artistic career in San Francisco, held a one man show in Paris during the month of November, at the Galerie Carmine. Besides this exhibit, three of his pictures have been accepted by the Princess Lucien Murat and are hung at her gallery, “Fermé la Nuit.”
June 1928
page 6: A young modern who may disappoint the prophesies which were made for his future is Yun Gee, if his Paris acquaintances turn out to be mere snobs trying to encourage him in the direction of the eccentric and in a style which, so long as it is a transitory experiment, is interesting, but which will lose its value if it becomes a set mode of expression. This does not particularly refer to the two paintings by Yun exhibited last month at the East West, as they were done last year. It is rather a far distant warning from those who follow his work in the French capital where he resides at present.
July-August 1928
page 16: Advertisement
For Sale—George Grosz’s “Ecce Homo,” $10; two Drew etchings, $5 each; a Yun crayon drawing, $3.50, and a few color reproductions of masters and moderns, 50c to $2.50.
Little Pierre Library
508 Powell St. San Francisco
Related Posts
(Next post on Monday: Mei Lan-fang in This Week in Chicago)
Friday, November 14, 2014
Yun Gee’s Illustrations for Le Voyageur de Nuit
Hemry-Jacques
Les Editions du Monde Moderne, June 1930
Eleven stories and two illustrations.
(Next post on Friday: Siu Lan Loh’s Cookbook Illustrations)
Les Editions du Monde Moderne, June 1930
Eleven stories and two illustrations.
 |
| Illustration for “Celui Qui N’etait Pas Comme les Autres ” |
 |
| Illustration for “Le Regne de la Flute de Roseau” |
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(Next post on Friday: Siu Lan Loh’s Cookbook Illustrations)
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Yun Gee in Paris, 1938
Corpus Christi Times
(Texas)
April 18, 1938
Salon des Independents
.jpg)
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Yun Gee in Paris
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
August 31, 1930
(click image to enlarge)
This article, without the photographs, is in the book,
Yun Gee: Poetry, Writings, Art, Memories (2003).
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(Tomorrow: Yun Gee in Who’s Who in China)
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