Yun Gee (Zhu Yuanzhi)

signed in pinyin and Chinese and dated 11/24/26; The Oakland Museum, The William Benton Museum, Connecticut and Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick labels affixed to the reverse 

Collection of Helen Gee
Helen's World of Yun Gee, Sotheby's Taipei, October 17, 1999, Lot 19
Acquired at the above sale
Private Asian Collection

Storrs, The William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, The Paintings of Yun Gee, October 13 - November 18, 1979
Greensboro, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, The Paintings of Yun Gee, February 10 - March 9, 1980
Oakland, The Oakland Museum, The Paintings of Yun Gee, March 18 - April 27, 1980
Brunswick, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, The Paintings of Yun Gee, October 10 - November 23, 1980
Taipei, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, The Art of Yun Gee, March 25 - June 14, 1992

The Art of Yun Gee, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 1992, p. 90, illustrated in colour

The work is in very good condition, there are some unpainted areas along the right edge which shall belong to the artist's creation. There are very slight wrinkles near the upper left corner. There is no evidence of restoration under UV light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

"Today Gee is the best-known Chinese American artist active in the first half of the twentieth century, appreciated especially for the strikingly modernist paintings he made in San Francisco in the 1920s."
Tom Wolf, 20th Century American Art Historian

Composed of geometric color blocks, San Francisco Street Scene depicts a corner of street with cars, tall buildings and street lamps. In line with Synchromism's theory which concentrates on colours and structures, the buildings in warm tones and the sky, people and cars in cool tones seem to be placed deftly in perfect harmony by the artist. Through employing the technique of foreshortening, Yun Gee magnifies the buildings and people in the foreground as if using a camera with a built-in fisheye lens; at the same time he gradually narrows the objects on the left of the painting to give an illusion of distance away from the viewer. Yun Gee has a profound affection toward his hometown China. Although highly inspired by his teacher Otis Oldfield, the artist's art is still infused with rich traditional sensibility. The predominant application of white in this work reflects the technique of "blank-filling" in traditional Chinese painting as well as represents a sense of space.