Lot 50
California Landscape
Yun GEE (Chinese-American, 1906 - 1963)
1926
Oil on board
30.5 x 45.5 cm
Estimate
TWD 2,200,000-3,800,000
HKD 512,000-884,000
USD 65,700-113,400
Sold Price
TWD 2,478,000
HKD 587,204
USD 75,780
Signature
PROVENANCE:
Collection of Otis Oldfield, the artist's teacher and friend (a gift from the artist)Collection of Helen Gee (a gift from Otis Oldfield's widow), around 1980
Sotheby's Taipei sale, "Helen's World of Yun Gee", Oct. 17, 1999, lot 12
EXHIBITED:
M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, 1995ILLUSTRATED:
M. H. de Young Memorial Museum catalogue, San Francisco, 1995, p. 54+ OVERVIEW
"California Landscape", from Yun Gee's "San Francisco Period" has a strong Cubism and Expressionism style, with bright colors and abstract contrasts. This work was in his wife Helen Gee's (1919-2004) collection. Originally, it was treasured by another artist, Otis Oldfield (1890-1969) and his family for more than half-a-century, bearing witness to the profound friendship between the two artists.
"This painting was done on a camping trip with Yun's teacher and friend, Otis Oldfield, and Yun gave it to Oldfield as a gift. It was given to me by Otis' widow, Helen, whom I met at the opening of Yun's exhibition at The Oakland Museum in 1980" – Helen Gee (an auction catalogue, Helen's World of Yun Gee)
Otis Oldfield was Yun Gee's teacher at the California School of Fine Arts. Art critic David Teh-yu Wang considers that the theory of Diamondism, created by Yun Gee, and which is built up with numerous small triangle colored shapes, may have been inspired by Otis. With warm days in California and in a jovial mood for going-out-and-sketching, "California Landscape" conveys a comfortable and graceful feeling by rational build-up of geometrical colors.
Modern & Contemporary Asian Art
Ravenel Spring Auction 2009 Taipei
Sunday, June 7, 2009, 12:00am