ArtHitParade
ArtHitParade on Twitter
  • Home
    • Contact
  • Next Auctions
    • Calendar
  • Top 10
    • Origin
    • From 600 BCE to CE
    • Years 1 to 1000
    • Years 1000 to 1300
    • 14th Century
    • 15th Century >
      • Years 1400-1429
      • Years 1430-1459
      • Years 1460-1479
      • Years 1480-1499
    • 16th Century >
      • Years 1500-1519
      • Decade 1520-1529
      • Decade 1530-1539
      • Years 1540-1569
      • Years 1570-1599
    • 17th Century >
      • Decade 1600-1609
      • Decade 1610-1619
      • Decade 1620-1629
      • Decade 1630-1639
      • Decade 1640-1649
      • Decade 1650-1659
      • Years 1660-1679
      • Years 1680-1699
    • 18th Century >
      • Years 1700-1719
      • Decade 1720-1729
      • Decade 1730-1739
      • Decade 1740-1749
      • Decade 1750-1759
      • Decade 1760-1769
      • Decade 1770-1779 >
        • 1776
      • Decade 1780-1789
      • Decade 1790-1799
    • 19th Century >
      • Decade 1800-1809
      • Decade 1810-1819
      • Decade 1820-1829
      • Decade 1830-1839
      • Decade 1840-1849
      • Decade 1850-1859
      • Decade 1860-1869
      • Decade 1870-1879
      • Decade 1880-1889 >
        • 1887
        • 1888
        • 1889
      • Decade 1890-1899 >
        • 1890
        • 1892
    • 20th Century >
      • Decade 1900-1909 >
        • 1904
        • 1905
        • 1907
        • 1908
        • 1909
      • Decade 1910-1919 >
        • 1911
        • 1912
        • 1913
        • 1914
        • 1915
        • 1916
        • 1917
        • 1918
        • 1919
      • Decade 1920-1929 >
        • 1920
        • 1923
        • 1925
        • 1926
        • 1927
        • 1928
        • 1929
      • Decade 1930-1939 >
        • 1930
        • 1931
        • 1932
        • 1933
        • 1934
        • 1935
        • 1936
        • 1937
        • 1938
        • 1939
      • Decade 1940-1949 >
        • 1941
        • 1942
        • 1945
        • 1947
        • 1948
        • 1949
      • Decade 1950-1959 >
        • 1950
        • 1951
        • 1952
        • 1953
        • 1954
        • 1955
        • 1956
        • 1957
        • 1958
        • 1959
      • Decade 1960-1969 >
        • 1960
        • 1961
        • 1962
        • 1963
        • 1964
        • 1965
        • 1966
        • 1967
        • 1968
        • 1969
      • Decade 1970-1979 >
        • 1970
        • 1971
        • 1972
        • 1975
        • 1977
        • 1979
      • Decade 1980-1989 >
        • 1980
        • 1981
        • 1982
        • 1983
        • 1985
        • 1986
        • 1987
        • 1988
      • Decade 1990-1999 >
        • 1993
        • 1994
        • 1996
        • 1997
        • 1998
    • Decade 2000-2009 >
      • 2000
      • 2001
      • 2006
      • 2007
    • From 2010 to Now >
      • Current Art
  • Roman Empire
  • Renaissance
  • Painting
    • Ancient Painting >
      • Oil on Copper
    • 18th Century Painting
  • Ancient Drawing
  • Art on Paper
  • Sculpture
    • Bust
    • Ancient Sculpture
    • Italian Sculpture
    • French Sculpture
  • Women Artists
    • Ancient Art by Women
    • Art by Women ca 1960
    • Current Art by Women
  • Furniture
    • Chairs and Seats
    • Colonial Furniture
    • Ancient French Furniture
    • 18th Century Furniture
    • 20th Century Furniture >
      • Art Deco
  • Prints
    • Ancient Prints
    • Modern Prints
  • Photo
    • Old Photos >
      • Travel Photos
      • Early French Photo
    • Photos 1900-1940 >
      • Photos in the 1920s
    • Photos 1970s 1980s
    • Gursky
    • Photos by Women
  • The Man
  • The Woman
  • Children
  • Man and Woman
  • Groups
  • Self Portrait
    • Self Portrait 2nd page
  • Nude
  • Abstract Art
    • Abstract Art - 2nd page
  • Landscape
    • Midi
    • Alps
    • Mountains in China
  • Cities
    • Venice
    • Paris
    • Los Angeles
  • Flowers
    • Bouquet
  • Animals
    • Bird
    • Cats
    • Horse
  • Dragon
  • Tabletop
  • Early Still Life
  • Music and Dance in Art
    • Music in Old Painting
  • Sport in Art
  • Orientalism
    • Orientalism 1830-1900
  • France
    • Louis XIV to XVI
    • Revolution and Empire
    • Louis XVIII to 2nd Empire
    • Ancient French Painting
    • Cézanne
    • Monet >
      • Monet before 1878
      • From Vétheuil to Giverny
      • Pond by Monet
    • Gauguin
    • Lautrec
    • Matisse
    • Post War French Art >
      • Klein
  • Italy
    • Italian Painting 1280-1700
    • Canaletto
    • Modigliani
    • Modern Italian Art
    • Italy 2nd page
  • Switzerland before 1940
  • Giacometti
    • Giacometti 1947-53
  • Bacon
    • Bacon before 1963
    • Bacon 1963-70
    • Later Bacons
  • UK - 2nd page
    • Ancient England
    • George I to III
    • George IV to Victoria
    • British Royals
    • Turner
    • Freud
    • Hockney
    • Doig
  • Germany
    • Ancient Germany
    • Richter >
      • Richter before 1986
    • Germany - 2nd page
  • Rembrandt
  • Van Gogh
  • De Kooning
  • Holland 2nd page
  • Old Flanders and Belgium
    • Flemish Art >
      • Rubens
    • Magritte
    • Tintin
    • Belgium 2nd page
  • Picasso
    • Picasso before 1907
    • Picasso 1907-1931
    • Picasso in the 1930s
    • Picasso 1940-1960
    • Picasso from 1961
    • Prints by Picasso
  • Spain - 2nd page
    • Ancient Spain
    • Miro
    • Spain 3rd page
  • Klimt
  • Austria 2nd page
  • USA
    • US Independence
    • Development of USA
    • US Civil War
    • Far West
    • US Painting before 1940
    • Rockwell
    • Rothko >
      • Early Rothko
      • Rothko 1957-70
    • Pollock
    • Lichtenstein >
      • Lichtenstein after 1965
    • Warhol >
      • USA by Warhol
      • Celebrities by Warhol
      • Later Warhols
    • Twombly
    • Koons
    • Basquiat
    • USA 2nd page
  • Canada
  • Central and South Americas
  • China
    • Archaic China >
      • Ritual Bronzes
    • Northern Song
    • Southern Song and Yuan
    • Early Ming
    • Later Ming
    • Early Qing
    • Qianlong
    • Modern China >
      • Sanyu
      • Zao Wou-Ki
    • New Chinese Painting
    • Chinese Porcelain >
      • Song to Yuan Porcelain
      • Ming Porcelain
      • Qing Porcelain
    • Chinese Art
    • Chinese Calligraphy
    • Jade
  • India
    • Tibet and Nepal
    • Modern India >
      • Gaitonde
  • Persia
  • Japan
  • Russia
    • Russia 1700-1900
    • Kandinsky
  • Eastern Europe
    • Chagall
  • Northern Europe
    • Munch
  • Egypt
  • Tropical Africa
    • Congo
    • Gabon
    • Mask
  • Tribal Oceania
  • Australia
    • Colonial Australia
  • Islam
  • Buddhism
    • Early Buddhist Sculpture
  • Judaica
  • Christianity
    • Madonna and Child
  • Cars
    • Birth of Automobile
    • Cars of the 1910s
    • Cars of the 1920s
    • Cars of the 1930s >
      • Cars 1930-33
      • Cars 1934-36
      • Cars 1937-39
    • Post War Cars >
      • Cars 1940-50
      • Cars 1951-53
      • Cars 1954-55
      • Cars 1956-57
      • Cars 1958-59
    • Cars of the 1960s >
      • Cars 1960-61
      • Cars 1962-64
      • Cars 1965-67
    • Cars 1970s 1980s
    • Supercars
    • Hypercars
    • Ferrari >
      • Early Ferrari
      • From LWB to GTO >
        • California Spider
      • Ferrari after 1962
    • Italian Cars
    • Mercedes-Benz
    • Porsche
    • British Cars >
      • Aston Martin
      • Jaguar
      • McLaren
    • Bugatti
    • French Cars
    • Duesenberg
    • Ford and Shelby
    • Cars - 2nd page
  • Motorcycles
  • Jewels
    • White Diamond
    • Pink Diamond
    • Blue Diamond
    • African Diamonds
    • Jewels - 2nd page
    • Cartier
  • Silverware
  • Coin
    • Gold Coins
    • Silver Coins
    • Antique Coins
    • Coins 1000-1775
    • Coins 1776-92
    • Coins 1793-99
    • Coins 1800-49
    • Coins 1850-69
    • Coins 1870-99
    • 20th century Coins
    • British Coins
    • Dollars and Eagles
    • Asian Coins
  • Paper Currency
  • Medal and Decoration
    • Nobel Medals
  • Time Pieces
    • Clocks >
      • Old Clocks
    • Mechanical Craft ca 1800 >
      • Jaquet-Droz and Followers
    • Modern Watches
    • New Watches
    • Patek Philippe >
      • Development of Patek Philippe
      • Patek Philippe 1945-1980
    • Rolex
    • Watches 2nd page
    • English Time Pieces
    • French Time Pieces
  • Glass and Crystal
    • Glass before 1900
    • Glass 1900-10
  • From Terracotta to Porcelain
    • Ceramic before 1760
  • Textiles
  • Garment
  • Fashion
  • Books
    • Incunabula
    • Books 1501-1700
    • Fine Books 1700-1850
  • Literature
    • Literature in English
    • Literature in French
  • Poems and Lyrics
  • Autograph
  • Manuscript
  • Religious Texts
  • Political Writing
  • Comic Books
  • Comic Art
  • Travel
  • Space
  • Maps
  • Cars in Movies
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Musical Instrument
    • Violin
    • Guitar
    • Musical Instrument 2nd page
  • Pop Music
    • The Beatles
  • Poster
  • Sport
    • Sport Equipment
    • Sport Document
    • Sport Rewards and Medals
    • Sport Images before 1940
    • Sport Cards 1940-70
    • Modern Sport Cards
    • Baseball >
      • Babe Ruth
      • Baseball Bat
      • Baseball Uniform
    • Basketball
    • Ice Hockey
    • Sport Memorabilia 2nd page
    • Olympic Games
  • Origins of Sports
  • Historical Arms
    • Blade and Armour
    • Colt 1836-62
    • Later Colts
    • Winchester
    • Firearms - 2nd page
  • Toys and Carousels
    • Doll
  • Games
  • Stamps
    • World Stamps
    • US Stamps
  • Inventions
  • Instrument and Equipment
  • Sciences
    • Ancient Science
    • Sciences 1600-1800
    • Sciences from 1800
    • Astronomy
    • Physics
    • Medicine
    • Natural History
  • Whisky
  • Wine
  • Past Sales

ZAO WOU-KI (1920-2013)

See also : China  Modern China  Abstract art  Abstract art II
​Chronology : 1956  1958  1959  1960  1965  1966  1980-1989  1985  1988

​1956-1957 The Primordial Chaos
​2018 SOLD for HK$ 183M including premium

By his abstract art of the mid-1950s Zao Wou-Ki expresses specific feelings detached from a figurative support and gives the key in his short titles. He sees the wind, the night, the dawn, the pond, the dust, the lightning.

He works in Paris but is increasingly nostalgic with his Chinese origins. He is tempted by the synthesis of the mystical beliefs of East and West. An oil on canvas 200 x 162 cm titled Et la Terre était sans forme, dated 1956-1957, is the culmination of this creative impulse.

The title in French is therefore associated with the West and paraphrases the second verse of Genesis just before the appearance of light. In this phase the Earth is uninhabited but cannot be empty. Its creation is an explosion of colors.

The primordial world of Yin and Yang is another interpretation of the creation of forms. Since 1954 Zao was sprinkling his works with an illegible calligraphy inspired from the Oracle Bones, these earliest witnesses of Chinese paleo-scripture which were undoubtedly an attempt at communication with the heavens and anticipated the symbols on the Shang ritual bronzes. The well-centered fireball of Et la Terre était sans forme is patterned with the Oracle bones signature signs of the artist but they are too small and too tight to invite for an understanding in the modern world.

This painting was sold for HK $ 29.4M including premium by Christie's on November 25, 2007, a very high price for a work by Zao at that time. It is estimated HK $ 90M for sale by Poly in Hong Kong on March 29, lot 164.

The mystical crescendo of Zao Wou-Ki is halted by his break in early 1957 with his wife Lan Lan. The hypersensitive artist is in shock. He leaves for a long stay with his brother near New York City where he discovers the spontaneity of abstract expressionism. A new phase of total abstraction will begin.

​Please watch the video shared by Poly HK.
1956

​​1958 The Second Birth of Zao Wou-Ki
2013 SOLD 90 M RMB yuan including premium

Zao Wou-ki was deeply shocked by his divorce in early 1957. The oil on canvas titled Nous Deux, 161 x 200 cm, called for the dawn of his second career in a world inhabited by strange and indecipherable calligraphic signs. Nous Deux was sold for HK $ 35M including premium at Christie's on May 24, 2009 .

Nous Deux is one of his last works that had an explicit title. From this turning point, Zao expresses his inner fire and leaves the viewer with the task of interpreting it, or just admiring.

Abstraction is an oil on canvas, 130 x 162 cm, painted in 1958. This explosion of glowing fire is like the origin of the world in a dark environment, such as Matta also could have dreamed it. The fake calligrams from Nous Deux become smoky debris floating in front of the bright colors.

For Zao, this artwork was also the starting point of his life as a famous artist. Exhibited alongside Hartung at the Galerie Charpentier, it ensured an immediate success for this 37 year old artist. This masterpiece spent afterward half a century in the Art Institute of Chicago which is deaccessioning it now.

Abstraction is the star lot of the first great sale made by Sotheby's in Beijing, on December 1. It is estimated RMB yuan 35M. Here is the link to the catalog.

POST SALE COMMENT

Sotheby's had rightly highlighted the importance of this specific Abstraction in the art of Zao Wou-ki. It is a great success: RMB 90M including premium.
1958

​1958 The Time of the Oracles
​2019 SOLD for HK$ 116M including premium

Born in a very ancient Chinese family, Zao Wou-Ki's father was a great connoisseur of art and calligraphy. Owning a painting by Mi Fu, he had also been one of the earliest collectors of Oracle bones just after their characterization as a primordial form of writing.

In France in the 1950s, Zao soon renounces figurative art and expresses feelings, nature and seasons by harmonies of colors. The originality of his art in comparison with the expressionists is to apply to oil on canvas the techniques and wrist movements of Chinese calligraphy.

From 1955 Zao regularly overpaints his colors with a pseudo-writing, most often without any similarity with the antique or modern pictographs, thus adding a dimension of mystery to his expressions of the forces of nature and the creation of the universe. These paintings are identified as the series of the Oracle Bones.

His visit to the United States in 1957 after his break with his wife does not interrupt this trend but considerably increases his international notoriety. After meeting with American abstract painters, he appreciates that a work of art does not need a title to convey a feeling.

The untitled Oracle Bones painted in 1958 offer a great diversity of expression. A 130 x 162 cm painting shows a violent explosion of intense colors as well as a transformation of the proto-writing into a throwing of ashes. It was sold for RMB 90M including premium by Sotheby's on December 1, 2013.

The oil on canvas 114 x 163 cm painted in the same year, for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on March 31, appears as an antithesis to the example above. The sweetness of the background painted in cream white enhanced with light brown and jade green brings a peaceful atmosphere accentuated by the calligraphic sharpness of the large central pseudo-writing.

This artwork is estimated HK $ 60M, lot 1026. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.

1959 14.12.59 by Zao Wou-Ki
2018 SOLD for HK$ 177M including premium by Christie's

Link to catalogue.
1959

1959 19.11.1959 by Zao Wou-Ki
2020 SOLD for HK$ 110M including premium

Link to catalogue.
Narrated beside 20.3.1960 (see below)

​1959 Let there be Light
2019 SOLD for HK$ 105M including premium

From the moment when Zao Wou-Ki deliberately chooses abstraction, his art becomes a mystical quest, tirelessly, imperturbably, in a continuity that is barely affected by the great drama of his life, the departure of his wife.

The series of the Oracle bones culminates in early 1957 with a painting titled according to the second verse of Genesis : Et la Terre était sans forme. The primordial chaos is dotted with fragments that announce the Chinese paleography. This oil on canvas 200 x 162 cm was sold for HK $ 183M including premium by Poly on March 29, 2018.

He then calms his grief by a long journey during which he meets the American abstract expressionists. When he returns, the pre-eminence of the pseudo-writing disappears. Zao is now looking for the creation of light, the third verse of Genesis, certainly easier to conceptualize visually.

On an oil on canvas 130 x 162 cm painted in 1958, the night is pierced by fire. The title, Abstraction, is significant of the uselessness of words to accompany an artwork. It is indeed one of the ultimate opus to which the artist wanted to attribute a descriptive title. Abstraction was sold for RMB 90M including premium by Sotheby's on December 1, 2013.

Two paintings made in 1959 in the same dimensions bring the birth of dawn. The earlier, dated April 21, shows a landscape scarcely visible in the dim light. All along the horizon, under the black sky, the dazzling white light of the primordial dawn is partially hidden behind volcanic projections accompanied by some amalgamated residues of the paleography. This opus is estimated HK $ 75M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on October 5, lot 1021.

14.12.59 is a composition of similar inspiration except that the blinding light has taken the form of a central ball and the sky is a glowing red. This opus was sold for HK $ 177M including premium by Christie's on May 26, 2018 over a lower estimate of HK $ 68M.

1960 The Expression of the Hurricanes
2020 SOLD for HK$ 115M including premium

At the end of the 1950s Zao Wou-Ki visited New York. His dealer Samuel Kootz, who also represented Pierre Soulages, introduced him to the artists of abstract expressionism. His creativity then changed considerably.

Previously Zao wanted to represent the mystical origin of the world by supplementing his paintings with pseudo-calligraphic inscriptions, often centrifugal, which evoke the oldest remains of Chinese culture. This style is identified as the Oracle Bone period.

Zao intelligently understands that his Oracle Bones cannot build a universal art. His new Hurricane series offers an unprecedented synthesis of abstract expressionism and action painting, on large canvases that facilitate the amplitude and the violence of the gesture.

The transition was not instantaneous. 14.12.59, 130 x 162 cm, sold for HK $ 177M including premium by Christie's on May 26, 2018 over a lower estimate of HK $ 68M, is one of the ultimate masterpieces from the Oracle Bone series. The examples below are Hurricanes.

In a vertical format, 3.4.60-1.2.69 evokes an endless swirl. This oil on canvas 195 x 130 cm was sold for HK $ 71M including premium by Sotheby's on October 5, 2013 over a lower estimate of HK $ 20M. Also vertical, 12.15.60 preserves some traces of oracles. This oil on canvas 130 x 96 cm was sold for HK $ 49M including premium by Sotheby's on September 30, 2018 over a lower estimate of HK $ 18M.

On July 8 in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sells two Hurricanes, in horizontal formats that anticipate the abstract panoramas of the next phase, from 1963 to 1966. With a dominant intense blue, 19.11.59, oil on canvas 114 x 146 cm, is estimated HK $ 60M, lot 1018. With the colors of fire, 20.03.60, oil on canvas 130 x 162 cm, is estimated HK $ 65M, lot 1017.


RESULTS including premium :
1959, SOLD for HK$ 110M
1960, SOLD for HK$ 115M

1960

​1964 Abstraction and Calligraphy
​2017 SOLD for HK$ 203M including premium

Zao Wou-Ki is passionate about art since childhood. His grandfather teaches him calligraphy. Later in Europe he often uses that specifically Chinese philosophy in his abstract art.

Calligraphy is a visual art with its five shades of ink. Like Western graphology it reveals the behavior and energy of the writer. The emperors used huge autograph characters to convey to the court their moral precepts as the Sons of Heaven.

At first Zao's message is primarily visual. When he incorporates lines in his abstract theme of natural forces, they do not constitute words. The synthesis will come later : in 1957 he integrates into his works some paleo-writing elements from the oracle bones.

Zao is attentive to anything that can exacerbate his exceptional energy. His visits to New York teach him to leave freedom to the movement of the hand, which does not exclude a repetition of the gesture to achieve an unlimited entanglement of colors. He also cancels any reluctance to monumentality despite the material difficulties for its implementation, as Rothko had done ten years earlier.

His abstract landscapes become gorgeous. 09.01.63 was sold for HK $ 76M including premium by Sotheby's on September 30, 2017. 29.09.64 was sold for HK $ 153M including premium by Christie's on May 27, 2017.

Painted in the mean time, 29.01.64, oil on canvas 260 x 200 cm, retrieves altogether the vertical format and the memory of the imperial calligraphy. A kaleidoscopic landscape is masked by a gigantic sign with complex lines in which Chinese readers globally recognize the character meaning love or longevity. Westerners may instead see a big tree in the storm.

29.01.64 is estimated HK $ 85M for sale by Christie's in Hong Kong on November 25, lot 24. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.

​​1964 Abstraction up to the Horizon
​2017 SOLD for HK$ 153M including premium

Zao Wou-Ki reaches a new level of his maturity in the early 1960s. His intense art no longer needs references to other artists. Alone in his studio he lets his inner tensions explode. He had learned from the abstract expressionists of New York the advantage of the large formats with which the artist increases the amplitude and the speed of the movement.

His vast and tormented landscapes with a perspective and a horizon in fact come exclusively from his subconscious. His fire based planet is composed of incandescent whirls and of lava flows.

29.9.64 is his largest format on its date, originally 255 x 345 cm later reduced to 230 x 345 cm under the supervision of the artist. The dominant darkness is embellished with saturated blue fighting with bright white in the foreground and an orange center.

The large surface allows a multitude of minute details that constitute together the sumptuous balance of the universe while resorting to the widest variety of techniques : impasto, transparent layers, drips, splashes and pseudo-calligraphy.

Two weeks later the Hommage à Edgar Varèse executed in the same original size confirms a key to the creativity of Zao at that time. He was passionate about contemporary music and a great friend of Varèse. The musician knew how to place silences in the midst of the noise just like the tumultuous landscapes of the artist include quiet details.

29.9.64 is estimated HK $ 38M for sale by Christie's in Hong Kong on May 27, lot 4. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.

1965 15.02.65 by Zao Wou-ki
2019 SOLD for HK$ 102M including premium by Sotheby's

Link to catalogue.
1965

1966 18.11.66 by Zao Wou-Ki
2020 SOLD for HK$ 114M including premium by Christie's

Link to catalogue.
1966

1966 17.1.66 by Zao Wou-Ki
2019 SOLD for HK$ 99M including premium by Christie's

Link to catalogue.

​​1982 The Ochre Sands of Yungang
2013 SOLD for HK$ 95M including premium

Zao Wou-Ki is devastated by the death of his wife May in 1972 at the age of 41. To rebuild his life, he travels frequently to China and uses very large formats to simulate an infinite space. In 1977 he marries his third wife, Françoise.

In the fall of 1981, he visits the Yungang grottoes, the gigantic Buddhist shrine created by the Wei 1,550 years ago. Back in his studio, he paints the triptych 15.1.82.

The image is structured in two main registers for an ascending vision. The foreground is obscure, opening a window on an impressionist atmosphere composed of yellow ochre mixed with lilac, which is a direct reference to the sands of Yungang. The low edge of the image is fringed with bright sparks which are an expression of joy and vitality.

15.1.82, oil on canvas 195 x 390 cm overall, was sold for HK $ 85M including premium by Sotheby's on October 5, 2013, lot 11, and is estimated HK $ 70M for sale by Christie's in Hong Kong on December 2, lot 143.

The triptych Juin-Octobre 1985, 2.80 x 10 m overall, offers a comparable contemplation, with similar contrasts. The dark part goes up at the extreme edges, giving the illusion of a theater curtain. This monumental oil on canvas was sold for HK $ 510M including premium by Sotheby's on September 30, 2018.

​1985 Pei and Zao at Raffles City
2018 SOLD for HK$ 510M including premium

The architect I.M. Pei has considerably influenced the style of the great modern cities. When his fame becomes international, he revisits his native China. In the 1970s the Far East no longer wants its urbanism to follow the West. They always desire higher, more spectacular, more functional. Pei is building an office skyscraper 198 meters high in Singapore.

Zao Wou-Ki also made his own return to his sources. In the 1980s the originality of his abstract paintings inspired by East and West met with great success in the Far East.

Pei is creating in Singapore a complex named Raffles City based on a tower and two hotels, and incorporating a shopping center and a convention center. In 1985 the project is advanced enough to anticipate the interior design. Zao is traveling in the Far East. Pei makes him visit the Raffles site and commissions him a gigantic painting for adorning the grand lobby of the main building alongside abstractions by Ellsworth Kelly and Kenneth Noland in the minimalist taste of the architect.

Back in France, Zao prepares this work with a passion comparable to Monet opening with the Grandes Décorations the ultimate phase of his career. The result is a triptych of oils on canvas, 2.80 m x 10 m overall, which is installed in 1986 as planned and will remain there until 2005. Contrary to Zao's usual practice, the title is not a mere date but a period, Juin-Octobre 1985, thus confirming the prolonged attention given by the artist in its execution.

Juin-Octobre 1985 is the most monumental artwork in Zao's entire career. According to his inspiration in that decade, it evokes the mystical unicity between nature and the infinite. The incandescent center is seen beyond a dark curtain accented by strident blue. It will be sold by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on September 30, lot 1004. The press release of September 7 indicates that this painting is expected beyond HK $ 350M.
Abstract Art
Abstract Art - 2nd page
China
Modern China
Decade 1980-1989
1985

1988 Zao Wou-Ki inspired by Monet
​2019 SOLD for HK$ 178M including premium

Contemporary art is a dramatic evolution toward gigantic formats. Zao Wou-Ki buys in 1977 a 15th century fortified house near Beaune-la-Rolande 100 km south of Paris. He installs his studio in an outbuilding. In this room 8 meters high, he opens windows in the attic and creates a mezzanine to check the effect of his work.

These new conditions are a challenge that delights the artist. The coverage of the whole space becomes a gradual exercise in which planning and instinct are competing. It is in this quiet shelter that the artist paints his large triptychs of the 1980s. The man is welcomed by his neighbors for his courtesy but they do not know about his industry. He keeps in parallel his Parisian workshop.

The most monumental work, made for Singapore, is titled and dated Juin-Octobre 1985. This triptych 2.80 x 10 m overall was sold for HK $ 510M including premium by Sotheby's on September 30, 2018.

On May 25 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 200 x 486 cm titled Triptyque 1987-1988, lot 38 estimated HK $ 120M. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house.

This triptych completed in 1988 is conceived as a tribute to Monet and Matisse, more precisely to the harmonious blend of colors and lights of the Grandes Décorations and to the Collioure window that opens onto the landscape like a stage curtain. Zao associates with this European acknowledgement his Chinese sensibility, in a composition where the absence of perspective is a way to evoke the infinity of the world.
1988
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.