Oil on canvas

72.5 x 91.5 cm. 28 1/2 x 36 in.

Signed in English on bottom left
LITERATURE
1998, Yun Gee, Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei, p.33
2014, World Famous Artist Yun Gee Chu, Hebei Education Press, Hebei, p.38

EXHIBITED
Jun 1941, Exhibition of Twenty-five American Artists, Montross Gallery, New York
14 Nov – 1 Dec 1998, Yun Gee, Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei

PROVENANCE
Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei
Important Private Collection, Asia

This work is accompanied by a certification of authenticity issued by Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei

Note: This work is attached with an exhibition sticker from Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei on reverse

Elegance and chic, Success in Paris
Yun Gee's rare, classical scenery from the 1930s
The Frozen Fountain
In 1921, 15-year-old Yun Gee said goodbye to his hometown of Guangzhou and went to San Francisco. He belonged to the first group of artists in Chinese history to live in the United States. In the 40s, he participated in the development of modernism in North America and became the first Chinese artist to hold an important position in the history of Western contemporary art. He stayed in Paris twice, during the years 1927–30 and 1936–39. He was the first Chinese-born artist invited to join the Société des Artistes Indépendants. His participation in a group exhibition with artists such as Pablo Picasso, Raoul Dufy, Andre Derain, Amedeo Modigliani, and Moïse Kisling marked the peak of his personal artistic career. The free and unrestrained artistic atmosphere of Paris allowed him to completely recover from the depression he suffered from due to racial discrimination he experienced in the United States. He established his artistic goal of “integrating the culture of the East and West” and, together with other Chinese artists who stayed in France such as Sanyu and Lin Fengmian, promoted the development of modern Chinese art. His works have also been collected by several Western heavyweight art galleries, such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Centre Georges-Pompidou, which further confirms his extraordinary achievements in the international art scene.
Debut of an exquisite painting
Yun Gee's second stay in Paris, between 1936 and 1939, was a highly successful period of his artistic career. The respect and recognition he received from mainstream art circles in the West had given him great encouragement and creative enthusiasm. His works became more confident and mature, and the presence of soft brushstrokes, rare in his previous works, seems to reveal the contentment he felt in his heart during that time.
The object of this auction, The Frozen Fountain, was completed during that period. It is a classic masterpiece, one of Yun's exquisite works that feature park scenery as the main theme, and the largest-sized of all the pieces created during his second stay in Paris that are currently on the market. During his life, Yun Gee created fewer than 200 oil paintings, of which only 15 featured park landscapes and only 4 were completed in the 1930s, making this piece truly very precious. After the completion of the work, due to the outbreak of World War II in Europe, Yun Gee had to leave Paris, and he carried this piece back to New York. Later, it was featured on the Exhibition of Twenty-five American Artists held at the Montross Gallery in New York in 1941. It has not appeared since then. Half a century later, to everyone's excitement, The Frozen Fountain is finally debuting on the market.
Free soul in soft colors
The Frozen Fountain depicts a corner of Luxembourg Gardens during winter, secluded form the hustle and bustle of Paris. The artist uses pure, soft colors and gradients within the same color scheme to construct a sense of volume between the depicted objects and a spatial perspective of the picture, for example milky white snow and the light yellow road in the foreground, the girl on the right wearing a pale pink coat and a dark red skirt, and the yellow and brown buildings in the background. In addition, the delicateness of the color transition reflects the warm and soft winter sunshine, creating a dreamy atmosphere. It reflects the assumptions of “Diamondism”, Yun Gee's self-declared theory of art making, and his deep research on the connections between color use and picture plane. It is also worth mention that Yun's personal style is noticeably more delicate in this picture.
The sculpture in the center of the picture is The Triumph of Silenus, which was created by Aimé-Jules Dalou, a disciple of France's most famous sculptor, Rodin. The piece was inspired by Rubens' famous masterpiece The Drunken Silenus. It represents the 18th-century French artistic heritage and Left Bank avant-garde art concepts. The Frozen Fountain features flexible dark lines and superposition of white oil paint formed by short brushstrokes, which reflect the original majesty of the sculpture and exude romantic, poetic feelings.
Reminiscing the beautiful dreams of a lifetime
Yun utilized an expressionist technique and created a curved composition, basing his work on the surreal style of Giorgio de Chirico. In the 1930s, surrealism was very popular in Paris, and Yun Gee was interested in Freud's theories of dream analysis and psychoanalysis. His pictures therefore often feature subconscious elements and show dream-like traits. In 1935, before he went to Paris, Yun met his future wife, Helen Wimmer. The two were separated during his three-year stay in Paris, but Yun sent her letters almost every three days. The young and fashionable woman in the painting is slowly walking from the right and is accompanied by her dog, just as Helen kept walking in Yun's dreams, symbolizing the artist's longing for love.
The pure blue color in the background of The Frozen Fountain creates a beautiful and quiet scene, allowing the viewer to temporarily forget the noisy city and reflecting the artist's serene mood at that time. In the 1940s and 50s, Yun Gee created a number of works with New York Central Park as the main theme, but none of them feature the bright and mellow colors and pure blue sky present in The Frozen Fountain. This wonderful time in Paris became a memory that the artist cherished the rest of his life.
Yun Gee, who suffered from racial discrimination in New York, spent his golden years in Paris. The snow stopped falling in the Luxembourg Gardens, and the frozen fountain gradually melted under the clear sky. The famous statue embodied the beauty of art and profound thoughts. “I don't agree with your point of view, but I swear to defend your right to speak.” In the opposite Panthéon, the vow of Voltaire soared in the unrestrained atmosphere on the Parisian Left Bank. Paris not only witnessed Yun Gee's artistic brilliance, but also defended his freedom in art and allowed him to firmly practice his artistic ideals in his later life.

Price estimate:
HKD: 6,800,000 - 9,800,000
USD: 866,200 - 1,248,400

Auction Result:
HKD : 7,970,000