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Lot Essay
During his 8-year stay in Paris Cecilio Madanes, future director of the Buenos Aires Opera, organized in 1949 with the participation of contemporary Argentinian dancer Cecilia Ingenieros an exceptional drawing contest, with a jury led by Cubist artist and theorist Andre Lhote. Each of the nearly 300 participants was competing under a number in respect of their anonymity and the jury's impartiality.
A still relatively unknown Chinese painter, Zao Wou-Ki, who was assigned the number 71 (which is inscribed in pencil on each drawing), was awarded with the first prize. This special artistic contest gave the young artist who arrived a year earlier from his motherland China in Paris a much needed visibility. The wining drawings were exhibited in the Argentinian pavilion of the University campus of Paris, and offered to the organizer Cecilio Madanes, who then yielded them to his niece in 1976 when she moved to France, as a much prized symbol of French artistic liveliness. The set of five drawings testifies of the then 28-year-old Zao dexterity to render grace and movement of the dancer with an efficiency of the line that recalls the cleverness of a Picasso. One immediately recognizes Zao's figurative style of his early depictions of women with sensual almond-shaped eyes.
Grasping the poses quickly he already shows a very good ease with ink, a medium he will extensively use later on with a brush starting from the 1970s. Christie's is honoured to present this exclusive complete set of five drawings a first-hand testimony of the then anonymous Zao Wou-Ki's recognized talent in the International Paris art scene.
A still relatively unknown Chinese painter, Zao Wou-Ki, who was assigned the number 71 (which is inscribed in pencil on each drawing), was awarded with the first prize. This special artistic contest gave the young artist who arrived a year earlier from his motherland China in Paris a much needed visibility. The wining drawings were exhibited in the Argentinian pavilion of the University campus of Paris, and offered to the organizer Cecilio Madanes, who then yielded them to his niece in 1976 when she moved to France, as a much prized symbol of French artistic liveliness. The set of five drawings testifies of the then 28-year-old Zao dexterity to render grace and movement of the dancer with an efficiency of the line that recalls the cleverness of a Picasso. One immediately recognizes Zao's figurative style of his early depictions of women with sensual almond-shaped eyes.
Grasping the poses quickly he already shows a very good ease with ink, a medium he will extensively use later on with a brush starting from the 1970s. Christie's is honoured to present this exclusive complete set of five drawings a first-hand testimony of the then anonymous Zao Wou-Ki's recognized talent in the International Paris art scene.