Bon Yee (1905 - 1995) Grassland under the Mountain

Bon Yee was active/lived in China. Bon Yee is known for Landscape, still life, portrait, figure, genre painting.
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 8" x 10"
Frame Size: 14 3/4 " x 16 3/4 "
Condition: Great, No Blemishes
Style: Impressionist
Age: 20th
Provenance:
Collection from Estate in New Jersey

Yee grew up in the countryside and experienced the pain of leaving home and working as a Chinese laborer overseas, which stemmed his deep affections for the laborers. After returning to China, he devoted himself to the study of scenes of laborer at work with an appreciation that began with empathy and gradually transformed into admiration. When drawing with Xu Beijing in Guilin, Yee's awareness to the human spirit directed his focus to the laborers who worked along the riverside instead of the beautiful landscape. He said, "laborers are the healthiest and the prettiest." Under Yee's paintbrush, fishermen, farmers and coolies are filled with perseverance and as an unconquerable character.

His painting titled Victoria Harbour depicts the scenes of the harbor looking out from the Kowloon Peninsula. Under the bright blue sky, the Peak acts as a vast backdrop, together with the skyscrapers and the British colonial architecture in Central on the other side of the harbor reflect the characteristic Chinese junks. Every detail of the fishermen's work and life has been exquisitely illustrated by Yee's thorough observation, some collect the net on the wooden junks, some are pulling the net and some are pulling the sail, expressing cooperation and unity in life. Yee further portrays the working female figure with a baby on her back, recording the daily life episodes of early Hong Kong fishermen. On the left hand side of the painting, there is a female fisherman sculling the sampan in representative costume, working barefoot, allowing her to move conveniently on the boats. Adorning round-shaped bamboo hats on their head protects them from the strong sunlight as the barefooted women vigorously work, shows plentiful energy and brilliant characteristic of human nature. Chinese characters meaning safe journey are inscribed on the boat, implying the dangers of sailing and fishing brought by the merciless stormy waves, and the adventurous spirit of these brave fishermen. In fact, the spirit of absolute fearlessness of the fishermen in Yee's painting is exactly the spirit of the people in Hong Kong, which enable a small fishing village to be developed into an internationally well-known financial market, realizing the dreams of millions of people. For the very reason, a sailing junk has become a symbol of Hong Kong, recording its glorious history. The sheer size of the painting challenges its composition and spatial arrangement, and Yee presents his subjects and creates imagery successfully without a feeling of emptiness. The subject matter, use of color and application of light and shadow fully reveal the masterly painting skills and his unique way of expression, manifesting his aesthetics and personality. Yee uses realism as a means of artistic expression to demonstrate the unique appeal made by the laborers. It reminds us the worker holding axe in Jean Francois Millet's painting which represents the contribution of laborers, and describes the feeling and ideology of the general public at that period of time, and expresses a modern way of thinking.

The painterly style that Yee learned in Canada in the 1920s was significantly affected by his teachers, who were greatly influenced by the Impressionist in Northern Europe. They applied multilayer of oil paints, and a strong contrast of colors to depict the landscape of Canada. Yee's painting embodies the essence of Impressionism, and with a tightly knit composition and bold brushworks, he expresses fully his confidence and positive outlook.

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