Background
Mr. Chu was born in Canton, Guangdong, China February 22, 1905.
Mr. Chu was born in Canton, Guangdong, China February 22, 1905.
He studied Chinese classics and literature in his native village and at age of 13, Mr. Chu wrote the essay "The Morality of the Chinese in the Times of the Three Kingdoms," in which he expressed radical ideas resulting in serious difference of opinion between him and the school authorities and his leaving the institution. It was at this time that Chu Yun-gee made his first attempt to paint and chose as his first subject "Kwan Yu", the famous Chinese warrior-saint in the Three Kingdoms. From that time on, his sole desire was to become a painter
At the age of 14 (1921), he went to America, entering the California Art School where he made phenomenal progress and met the well-known modern painter. During the term of his studies, he accumulated some 200 canvasses, but to his awakened spirit, they seemed to be the works of a man who had long been lost in blindness and symbols of his one-time slavishness, to the academic and he destroyed them in a bonfire with a prayer, pledging to forget and abandon the academic and to devote his efforts to the vital living art.
Under the stimulation of Otis Oldfield, Chu Yun-gee organized an exhibition at the Modern Artists Gallery, San Francisco, which brought his unique talent to public notice and he became well-known, as one of the modern painters of that city. After the exhibition, he organised "The Chinese Revolutionary Painters’ Club”.
Mr. Chu went to Paris at age of 20 in the hope of learning more of the painting of the West which he could fuse with that of the East. In December 1927 he held his first European exhibition at the Carmine Galleries which was an unparalleled success and during which, he sold most of his paintings, three of which were purchased by the Princess Lucien Murat.
Shortly after that he held another exhibition at the Salon des Independants and his exhibit, "Confucius," was declared to be the finest painting done by a Chinese artist since the days of the Sung Dynasty. At about this time, he became acquainted with Raymond Duncan who expressed great admiration for his art and the famous connoisseur, Paul Guillame also extolled him as one of the most charming artists.
After having stayed in Paris for three years with a half-year’s sojourn in Spain, he returned to America in 1930 at the age of 23. Shortly after his arrival in San Francisco, Chu Yun-gee held an exhibition at the Balzac Galleries and is now still in America doing research work in art. And then his rise in the art world has been meteoric and in spite of his youth, he has already become internationally known as one of the most outstanding painters of today.
(oil on canvas, 48 3/8 x 40 3/8 inches)
1929(oil on canvas, 36 5/8 x 41 7/8 inches)
1951(oil on canvas, 48 x 39 7/8 inches)
1928(oil on canvas, 29 7/8 x 25 inches)
1929
