PROVENANCE:
Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 27 Oct., 2003, lot 367
Ravenel, Taipei, 6 Dec., 2009, lot 037
Acquired by the present owner from the above sale Important Private Asian Collection This painting is to be sold with a certificate of authenticity issued by Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei.

EXHIBITED:
Experiences of Passage: The Paintings of Yun Gee and Li-lan , Lin & Keng Gallery, Beijing, 15 Nov. - 16 Dec., 2008

In 1939, Yun Gee's returned to New York fromParis for the second time as the World WarII ensued. After all, New York was a thrivingmetropolis that was to become the center of theart world during the 1940s and 1950s. It waswhere Yun Gee, the transnational cosmopolite hadonce found his "modern" voice on his own termsduring his first visit. A place where he had paintedwhat many regard as one of his masterpieces,Wheel "Industrial New York" in 1932, a paintingthat was subsequently included in the muralexhibition for the 1932 opening exhibition at thenew headquarter for the new Museum of ModernArt (MoMA) in the mansion formerly owned byColonel William Barbour. The New York Timesart critic Edward Alden Jellew, selected Yun geeand three others as the "finest" in the exhibition.The significant painting had since been selectedinto the salon exhibition in France and on displayin various major galleries across the United Statesand Europe. In retrospect, the artist intended tobuild upon what he had already accomplishedin hopes that it would allow him to advanceas an artist. Hence, the artist actively painted,engaged in exhibitions and various initiatives inrelieving war efforts during the first few yearsback in New York. However, what seemed to bepromising in the beginning soon turned to be aconstant struggle between the artist's desire tobe a modernist inhabitant of the world and theforcefulness of others to deduce his artistic talentsinto a stereotypical orientalism. Regardless of thehardships and discriminatory maltreatments he hadexperienced and endured as the war progressed,his endeavor in devising an international stylesynthesizing aspects of modern art that is uniquelyhis own eventually materialized as reflected in hisworks and had proven to be a fruitful endeavor.

Frost in Central Park encompasses a hint ofpoetic lyrical flow reminiscence of the schoolof Paris from the early days of the artist's careerwhile encompassing elements of expressionismpracticed through out his artistic career. For mostof his life, the artist painted many genre subjectswith a modernist approach, which essentiallycentered upon the daily activities of ordinarypeople pursing work and pleasure in the streetsor parks of the city. In retrospect, the artist hadrendered other paintings of Central park (Fig.1), adepiction of a secluded setting void of the hustle orbustle of the city. It is very quiet. Another paintingentitled West Tower from Central Park In Winter,featuring a woman walking her pet in the parknear what appeared to be a squirrel burying a nut.In contrast to the aforementioned examples, thepresent lot seems to exhibit a romantic narrativequality that distinguishes it from the others. It wascompleted during the period when the artist hasreached maturity in terms of his stylistic approach.In essence, it is very probably that the depictiondenotes the subjective reality of the artist at thetime the painting was rendered.

The structural composition of the rolling landscapesubtly leads to a pair of figures in winter ensemblesstrolling across the park amidst leafy greenerytinted with red frost, perhaps some form ofderivative of the self is apparent in this instant.Upon returning to New york, the artist residedon the upper east side and would frequently visitthe Central Park along with his partner, HelenWimmer, whom he subsequently married in 1942and had a child, Li-lan with after returning to NewYork from his second trip to Paris in 1939 (Fig. 2).

Interestingly, the male figure next to the femalecompanion is holding a walking stick. In aninterview with the wife of Otis Oldfield, his formerteacher and mentor at the California School ofFine Arts, presently the San Francisco Art Institutein San Francisco; remarked that Yun Gee wouldalways appeared well polished and dressed inWestern clothes, at times with a pipe in his mouthand a gentleman's walking cane. Coincidently,the romantic sentiment given off by the strollingcouple is disrupted by the bare branches of the oaktree in the foreground that separates the space ofthe scene at a diagonal, creating special complexityand dimension that extends to the geometric highrise buildings with uniformly shaped rectangularwindows in the background that convey a senseof melancholy and disillusionment of the urbanindustrial state, further emphasized by hazy tonesof grey and black.

This attribute may be in association to the agonythat the artist must have felt upon returning toNew York in hopes of advancing his artisticcareer, but instead, he was tormented by anexploitative society filed with racial prejudice anddiscrimination that was fundamentally virulentagainst outsiders, particularly persons of Asiandescent.

The contrasting light and dark is also reflective ofa solemn reality. In essence, the artist's ingeniouscompositional arrangement entices the viewer tofollow an undulating visual rhythmic movementfrom the rolling landscape on which two figuresare walking upon, leading to the bare branches inthe foreground and the building structures in thebackground, all of which interweave harmoniouslywith each other to deliver a sense of layering andrhythmic movements on the painting. The artistfurther imbued his work with nostalgic tints andshades rendered in a combination of the colorsochers, green, auburn, browns, and reds, attestingto the artist's special gift as a colorist. The presentlot beautifully encapsulates the meditative effectsof companionship, inline with the calmness andspirituality of the Taoist philosophy within an urbanindustrial setting where solitude is not uncommon.

"Every sincere painting tries to find an adequateexpression of its time. In expressing how peoplelook at things and at what." The aforementionedquote summarizes Yun Gee's belief, which wasvigorously practiced throughout his life as an artist.In essence, he initially painted with knowledgeof cubism gained from his San Francisco teacherand dear friend Otis Oldfield's which enabledhim to paint genre scenes in an avant garde style,an offshoot of cubism that Gee later theorizedas Diamondism. The artist's subsequent study ofCézanne (Fig.3) and of lyricism and surrealism inParisian art allowed him to emphasize on formsand gave his painting a new sense of clarity andorder; the populist and realist style of his NewYork period delicately compliments his modernistapproach. While the fluidity of his painting may beattributed partially to his calligraphic training backin Guangdong, China as a youth, which was furthermanifested by his later study of the works by artistssuch as Matisse and Pascin.

These experiences in passage as a transnationalcosmopolite have enabled him to develop amodernistic approach in his artistic oeuvre that isuniquely his, through which emerges his very ownidentity as an artist. Although for the majority ofhis life, he was doomed by various misfortunes andhad been a victim of discrimination and bigotry as atransnational artist, but this plague may have in turnallowed him to gain insights that both strengthenedand enriched his perspective. The unity of subjectand form is characteristic of Yun Gee's mostexciting works and his artistic productions duringhis New York phrase indeed attest to his superiorsensitivity, as reflected through his modernist'spropensity and talent in rendering the ordinaryeveryday things special and the ability to injecthis very own subjective response in a thoroughlyaesthetic piece. Yun Gee, a poet, an artist, acosmopolite, a revolutionist, is in essence a man ofbroad perspective with a distinctive worldview.