14 Facts About Yun Gee

Yun Gee lived and painted in San Francisco, Paris, and New York City, and was considered one of the most daring avant-garde painters during his time.

Yun Gee's father was a merchant who lived in San Francisco and, when Gee turned 15 in 1921, Gee crossed the seas aboard SS Taiyo Maru to join his father while his mother remained in China.

Yun Gee was able to obtain US citizenship and later enrolled at the California School of Fine Arts.

Yun Gee studied painting and drawing with Otis Oldfield, who became his life-long friend.

In 1926, Yun Gee founded the Chinese Revolutionary Artists' Club, where he taught classes in advanced painting techniques and theory.

In 1927, Yun Gee moved to Paris under the patronage of Prince and Princess Achille Murat.

Yun Gee quickly befriended prominent artists of the Parisian avant-garde and exhibited his work alongside them at the Salon des Independants.

Yun Gee's artwork was celebrated in New York but despite being included in exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, Yun Gee struggled during the Depression and experienced strong racial discrimination.

Yun Gee was exhibited widely, most notably at the Galerie Lion d'Or in Lausanne and Galerie a la Reine Margot.

Additionally, Yun Gee was influenced by Eastern and Western poetry, and frequently wrote original compositions to accompany his paintings.

Additionally, Yun Gee's separation from his mother was a reoccurring theme in his artwork.

Yun Gee became an active fundraiser for causes in China, where one of his most notable efforts was the completion of a large mural on K Street as a contribution for the Chinese Flood Relief campaign.

Yun Gee was heavily involved in the writing and stage design for "Kuan Chung's Generosity", a WPA Theatre project in 1930 and danced at the Institute of Chinese Studies.

Yun Gee's work was shown in 2011 at the Tina Keng Gallery, Taipei in Taiwan.