YUN GEE

Born in 1906 in Guandong. Gee moved to America at the age of 15. In 1925, he entered the California Academy of Art to study painting under Gottardo Piazzoni and Otis Oldfield, the later who became his good friend. His first solo show was held at the Modern Gallery in San Francisco in 1926, where he met his first patrons, Prince and Princess Achille Murat, who encouraged him to go to France. He had several solo shows during his stay in Paris, and many of his works were selected to the Salon d’Automne, Salon des Independants, and Salon des Tuileries. In 1932, Gee was invited by the Museum of Modern Art in New York to take part in an exhibition of murals. In 1945, he suffered a serious mental depression and remained very ill for two years. He passed away at the age of 57. In 1968, the Robert Scholkoph Gallery in New York held a retrospective of his works, reviving his memory after he had been forgotten for many years.