Life's Track: A Centenary Celebration of Richard Yip (1918-1981)

The Reynolds Gallery is pleased to present Life's Track: A Centenary Celebration of Richard Yip (1918 - 1981) on view March 18 through April 5, 2019.

Join us in the gallery for receptions, March 21, 6:00 - 8:00 pm and March 23, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm. These events are free and open to the public.

Organized by the artist's family and the University Curator, the show features work from the family collection with additional work from the University's permanent art collection. This exhibition explores the changes in painter Richard Yip's style, technique, and subject matter in the context of mid-20^th century ideas of Eastern and Western art. A prolific watercolorist and beloved teacher, his approachable philosophy toward making art is also on view.

About Richard Yip
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Born in Canton, China, Yip emigrated to the United States and settled in Stockton with his father in 1931. He received a scholarship to study in Oakland at the California College of Arts & Crafts but his training was cut short by WWII when he enlisted in the Air Force. After the war, he went back to China to refine his study of classical Chinese painting and returned once again to California with a new wife and the first of five children in 1948. He graduated from the College of the Pacific in 1951 and did graduate work at UC Berkeley while beginning the teaching career that would span the rest of his life.

Considered an outstanding watercolorist in a field that included many European-trained artists who made their way to Hollywood to work in animated films, Yip is considered a second-generation California Scene painter. His subjects include everything from urban grit to dramatic weather, coastal landscapes to village festivities painted on site in wide-ranging locations from Yosemite to Yugoslavia.

Yip taught thousands of students up and down the West Coast and beyond. Organizing his field workshops became the family business which sometimes included feeding class participants and their spouses fish stew on a beach in Mexico or punch and cookies in Golden Gate Park during their class exhibitions.

The artist exhibited during his lifetime at the San Francisco Museum of Art Rotunda Gallery, Denver Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the California State Fair, and the Kingsley Art League (Crocker Museum) among other venues. He completed commissions and served as a judge for regional and national exhibitions and was a member of both the California and American Watercolor Societies.