Hon-Chew Hee (American/Chinese, 1906-1993), Home Along the Coast

Watercolor on paper, signed to lower right, matted and framed under glass.
Sheet sight 14 x 20 3/8 in.; Frame dimensions 23 1/4 x 31 1/4 in.
Hon-Chew Hee was born in Hawaii, but spent his childhood until he was fifteen living in Zhongshan, Guangdong. He returned to the United States in 1921 and in 1929 went to San Francisco where he studied as a part-time student worker at the California School of Fine Art (now the San Francisco Art Institute). Among his classmates was the Chinese artist Yun Gee. Hee also met the Mexican painter Diego Rivera and studied fresco painting with him. From 1948 to 1951, Hee furthered his training in Paris, learning from the French cubist masters Fernand Leger and Andre L'hote and Germany's George Grotz.

Hee developed his own style that focused on light and shade with color to produce an almost three-dimensional background to his artworks. He incorporated Eastern and Western art concepts, fusing the importance of line and spatial effects for landscape with vivid colors. Outside of exhibiting his artworks, Hee also established the Chinese Art Association and the Hawaii Watercolour Society in 1935 and 1962 respectively.

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Good estate condition, not examined outside of frame.