Zao Wou-Ki (1921-2013) - photo 1

Zao Wou-Ki (1921-2013)

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€ 756 000
Auction dateClassic
20.10.2022 13:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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ID 832048
Lot 29 | Zao Wou-Ki (1921-2013)
Zao Wou-Ki (1921-2013)

6.2.96

signé en chinois et en pinyin 'Zao' (en bas à droite); signé, daté et inscrit 'ZAO WOU-KI 6.2.96' (au revers)

huile sur toile

73 x 92 cm.

Peint en 1996



signed in Chinese and in Pinyin 'Zao' (lower right); signed, dated and inscribed 'ZAO WOU-KI 6.2.69' (on the reverse)

oil on canvas

28 3/4 x 36 1/4 in.

Painted in 1996





Provenance

Acquis directement auprès de l’artiste par la famille du propriétaire actuel.



Exhibited

Paris, Galerie Thessa Herold, Zao Wou-Ki, Peintures récentes, novembre 1997-janvier 1998.



Special notice


Artist's Resale Right ("droit de Suite").
If the Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer also agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.



Post lot text

Né à Beijing, Zao Wou Ki voyage pour la première fois à Paris en 1948. Par les rencontres qu’il y fait et les peintures qu’il y peint, la capitale française devient rapidement le centre de son inspiration. Il emporte avec lui l’héritage artistique de son pays natal et devient une passerelle entre les traditions de l’Orient et celles de l’Occident. Il reste à la fois amarré à son passé tout en embrassant l’énergie bouillonnante de l’art européen. Zao se rattache ainsi à différentes identités culturelles sans jamais se soumettre à l’une d’entre elles. Wou Ki, signifiant « sans limites » en chinois, porte alors bien son nom.

Zao Wou Ki balance vers l’abstraction dans les années 1950. Il déploie le geste de la calligraphie que lui apprend son grand père, avec les formes de ses contemporains tels que Pierre Soulages et Joan Mitchell, qu’il côtoie entre la Galerie Kootz à New York et les cafés à Montparnasse. Il expérimente avec l’huile, l’encre, la gravure, la gouache et même le travail des vitraux – témoignage parfait de son goût pour la transparence des couleurs, la clarté des lumières et la vibration des contrastes.

À la fois brumeuse et vibrante, presque cristalline, sa toile 6.2.96 résonne avec le lyrisme du peintre anglais William Turner. À l’instar de ce dernier, Zao cherche à créer des œuvres capturant les forces élémentaires de la nature. Architecte d’espaces imaginaires, il entre dans la nature tout en se défaisant du figuratif. Il renvoie le réel à des jeux de surface, des expansions de nuances, des superpositions de tons.

Abstraite, avec un souvenir de paysage, 6.2.96 offre ainsi une liberté de lecture harmonieuse. C’est notamment pour cela que l’artiste titre ses œuvres par leurs dates de réalisation – évitant d’imposer toute association visuelle stricte. Et à propos de date, 1996 marque une période charnière dans la trajectoire du peintre. La même année sont organisées des rétrospectives au Musée des Beaux-Arts de Kaohsiung à Taiwan et au Musée d'Art de Hong Kong. C’est également à ce moment qu’il commence son projet de fresque en céramique ambitieux pour la station de métro Oriente à Lisbonne, rappelant les bleus cosmiques et verts brûlants de 6.2.96.

Born in Beijing, Zao Wou Ki travelled to Paris for the first time in 1948. Through his encounters and his paintings, the French capital quickly became the focal point of his inspiration. He brought with him the artistic heritage of his native country and became a bridge between the traditions of the East and those of the West. He remained anchored to his past while at the same time embracing the bubbling energy of European art. Throughout his artistic career, Zao was attached to different cultural identities without ever submitting to any of them. Meaning “without limits” in Chinese, Wou Ki is thus aptly named.

Zao Wou Ki swinged towards abstraction in the 1950s. He deployed the gesture of calligraphy taught to him by his grandfather, with the forms of his contemporaries such as Pierre Soulages and Joan Mitchell, with whom he rubbed shoulders between the Kootz Gallery in New York and signature cafés in Montparnasse. He experimented with oil, ink, etching, gouache and even stained glass work —a perfect testimony to his taste for the transparency of colours, the clarity of light and the vibration of contrasts.

At once hazy and vibrant, almost crystalline, his 6.2.96 canvas resonates with the lyricism of the English painter William Turner. Like Turner, Zao seeks to create works that capture the elemental forces of nature. As an architect of imaginary spaces, he enters into Nature while discarding the figurative. He sends back the real to surface games, expansions of shades, superimpositions of tones.

Abstract, with a memory of landscape, 6.2.96 offers a freedom of harmonious reading. This is one of the reasons why the artist titled his works by their dates of creation —avoiding to impose any strict visual association. And speaking of dates, 1996 marked a pivotal period in the painter's career. That same year, retrospectives were held at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan and the Hong Kong Museum of Art. It was also at this time that he began his ambitious ceramic mural project for the Oriente metro station in Lisbon, recalling the cosmic blues and burning greens of 6.2.96.
Artist:Zao Wou-Ki (1920 - 2013)
Art style:Contemporary art
Place of origin:China, Eastern Asia, Asia
Category:Painting
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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20.10.2022 – 20.10.2022
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