Sale information
Born in Beijing in 1921, Zao Wou Ki grew up
in a family of intellectuals.
He was introduced to calligraphy by his grandfather
father, then entered the Hangzhou School of Fine
Hangzhou in 1935. There he received traditional
but was soon attracted to Western
to Western painting. In the
the 1940s, thanks to postcards
brought back by his uncle from Paris and through
the great Western masters:
Matisse, Cézanne, Klee, Picasso, etc.
Zao Wou Ki left China and settled in Paris
in Paris in 1948. He befriended
representatives of the Nouvelle École de Paris:
Riopelle, Soulages, Hartung and became
close friend of Henri Michaux.
Zao Wou Ki is considered one of the greatest
greatest representatives of lyrical
lyrical abstraction. This turn towards abstraction,
made in the early 1950s, leads to complex
to complex compositions composed of organic
organic, poetic forms, like the expression
the expression of a meditative mental labyrinth.
This piece, offered at auction, is particularly
particularly representative of the artist's
artist's state of mind in this second half
1960s.
During this period, his wife May, in poor
precarious psychological health, was subject to
repeated periods of depression. It was
in this distressing and sombre context
that Zao Wou Ki once again explored working
paper, the medium of calligraphy, her initial
his initial training, and which in Chinese
the reflection of the soul.
In this watercolor, the composition radiates
from a central tension. The
entangled construction in the middle
of calligraphy, seems to spread to the whole paper
paper in a more liberated gesture.
The near-absence of color
from black to dark brown,
reinforces the sense of depth and darkness
of depth and darkness, making the artist's work seem
as an introspective process, a means
process of expression that enables her to find
at peace with her inner life.
The artist's works, particularly those on paper
works on paper, are veritable bridges
the Chinese tradition of calligraphy
and Western abstraction,
between inner research and the expression
of a certain lyricism.
It's also because he has been for pictorial art a great
the great Passer, a fusion between China and the West
between China and the West, just as François Cheng
was for literature, that Zao Wou Ki
is considered one of the greatest
artists of the second half of the 20th century,
elected to the Académie des Beaux Arts, decorated with the
decorated with the Légion d'Honneur and collected by
major international museums.
