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Lot Essay
Zao Wou-Ki arrived in Paris in 1948, and was immediately confronted by Western abstract painting. He began by painting works that were expressive but still figurative; later he paintings were to fill with symbolic motifs and images, and eventually developed a highly expressive, fully abstract style. Zao's artistic horizon continued to expand throughout his career consolidating his individual styles. Featuring in this Day Sale are five of Zao's paintings which epitomize the continuous and sequential stylistic development of the artist from the 1950s to 1980s.
From the beginning of 1950s, Zao's expressive manner borrowed much from Paul Klee. Zao's subjects were usually still lifes or nature scenes and they exude a highly poetic and tranquil sensibility. In depicting his subjects, however, Zao already moved beyond the straightforward presentation of forms or the direct imitation of nature, deliberately eschewing details in favor of handling his subjects and building compositions exclusively through the pure elements of line and colour. The artworks of Klee exhibited a world of bold imagination, and as an inspiration to Zao they sparked his quest for the poetic imagery rested in his mind. In 1951 and 1952 Zao travelled to Spain, Italy, and Switzerland in search of poetic imageries that are dissimilar to those portrayed in traditional Chinese landscape paintings. NotreDame (Lot 1070) and Country Eglise (Lot 1073) fully illustrate the artist's aesthetic ardour for churches. During his journey in Europe, Zao closely observed the architectural features of the city and declared, "observing architecture facilitates my contemplation of the spatial arrangement of my works." The two pieces, albeit with the same theme, are of distinctive ambience; they showcase how the artist simplifies and reduces the substantial forms, such as the church building and the human figures, into lines and symbols. Neatly arrayed on the canvas, they put on view a world of agility and aura.
Unlike the richly-coloured oil paintings before 1950, NotreDame and Eglise are composed of dual-coloured background - bright red and purplish blue in Notre Dame; patina green and greyish green in Eglise. The artist deftly suppresses the use of colour, and focuses on a layered effect similar to the way ink flows on Chinese xuan paper. By so doing he presents an ever-changing variety of tones derived from these individual hues, and space is built up by means of these flowing, multi-layered effects. It was the experiment of Zao in lithography, carried out roughly at the same period that inspired his composition of a flimsy, diaphanous effect through the use of pigments. In the fluidic, gleaming Notre Dame there are the union and dispersion of pure colours. The heavily textured strokes and broad splashing mingle with the hues of bright red and purplish blue, furnishing the canvas with multi-layered changes of colour blocks. Reminiscent of the ink washes that permeate and spread through the paper, the shadings and dampness of colours bring the audience into an illusory realm of meditation. The bright red tone of the work seems to have augmented the significations of the church - a place for baptism, wedding and funeral, with all the joy and grief of life, and played for the audience a joyful note. Quite in contrast to the solemn, exuberant mood of Notre Dame, Eglise tells of the simple tranquillity of village life. Despite its small size, Eglise condenses the church, the huts nearby and the distant sierra in full display. The shape of the mountain range, which is concisely depicted by the sketchy lines, calls to mind the undulated landscape in Fishing Village in Sunset Glo (Fig.1) of Mu Qi, a Southern Song artist. While the interspersing greens trigger a rich sense of layer, the entire composition, all at once engrossing and expressive, kindles a primitive, humble feeling which seems to liberate the church's oblique tenor of awe and its affinity for life. The scene is splendid and intact, emanating a poetic, serene and lyrical ambience.
From the beginning of 1950s, Zao's expressive manner borrowed much from Paul Klee. Zao's subjects were usually still lifes or nature scenes and they exude a highly poetic and tranquil sensibility. In depicting his subjects, however, Zao already moved beyond the straightforward presentation of forms or the direct imitation of nature, deliberately eschewing details in favor of handling his subjects and building compositions exclusively through the pure elements of line and colour. The artworks of Klee exhibited a world of bold imagination, and as an inspiration to Zao they sparked his quest for the poetic imagery rested in his mind. In 1951 and 1952 Zao travelled to Spain, Italy, and Switzerland in search of poetic imageries that are dissimilar to those portrayed in traditional Chinese landscape paintings. NotreDame (Lot 1070) and Country Eglise (Lot 1073) fully illustrate the artist's aesthetic ardour for churches. During his journey in Europe, Zao closely observed the architectural features of the city and declared, "observing architecture facilitates my contemplation of the spatial arrangement of my works." The two pieces, albeit with the same theme, are of distinctive ambience; they showcase how the artist simplifies and reduces the substantial forms, such as the church building and the human figures, into lines and symbols. Neatly arrayed on the canvas, they put on view a world of agility and aura.
Unlike the richly-coloured oil paintings before 1950, NotreDame and Eglise are composed of dual-coloured background - bright red and purplish blue in Notre Dame; patina green and greyish green in Eglise. The artist deftly suppresses the use of colour, and focuses on a layered effect similar to the way ink flows on Chinese xuan paper. By so doing he presents an ever-changing variety of tones derived from these individual hues, and space is built up by means of these flowing, multi-layered effects. It was the experiment of Zao in lithography, carried out roughly at the same period that inspired his composition of a flimsy, diaphanous effect through the use of pigments. In the fluidic, gleaming Notre Dame there are the union and dispersion of pure colours. The heavily textured strokes and broad splashing mingle with the hues of bright red and purplish blue, furnishing the canvas with multi-layered changes of colour blocks. Reminiscent of the ink washes that permeate and spread through the paper, the shadings and dampness of colours bring the audience into an illusory realm of meditation. The bright red tone of the work seems to have augmented the significations of the church - a place for baptism, wedding and funeral, with all the joy and grief of life, and played for the audience a joyful note. Quite in contrast to the solemn, exuberant mood of Notre Dame, Eglise tells of the simple tranquillity of village life. Despite its small size, Eglise condenses the church, the huts nearby and the distant sierra in full display. The shape of the mountain range, which is concisely depicted by the sketchy lines, calls to mind the undulated landscape in Fishing Village in Sunset Glo (Fig.1) of Mu Qi, a Southern Song artist. While the interspersing greens trigger a rich sense of layer, the entire composition, all at once engrossing and expressive, kindles a primitive, humble feeling which seems to liberate the church's oblique tenor of awe and its affinity for life. The scene is splendid and intact, emanating a poetic, serene and lyrical ambience.