Untitled

Zao Wou-ki studied calligraphy and classical poetry under the strict but charming tutelage of his grandfather when he was young, and he came to especially love the calligraphy of Mi Fu (fig. 1). He delved even more deeply into Chinese ink-wash painting, especially Song Dynasty landscapes, and he eventually grasped the Chinese calligraphy tradition and painting techniques so well they became second nature. But because of his familiarity, he quickly came to realize the expressive limits of these traditional forms, and the dangers of relying too much on technique. After arriving in France in 1948 to continue his studies, he made the decision to find his own unique creative approach, even if that meant a long and uncertain path lay ahead. In the late 1950s he came into contact with the New York school of Abstract Expressionism, and began moving toward a more pure and formal type of expression. He developed a landscape style with great freedom in its lines and highly poetic and calligraphic imagery. In fact, in Zao Wou-ki's watercolour works of the 1960s we sense an inner dialogue between the influences of East and West, traditional models and personal creativity, and the proper degree of emphasis on technique, as well as his attempts at reconciling those elements.

Zao Wou-ki's proficiency with ink and paper meant he was not limited by Western ideas about what works on paper could be, and could develop his own new ideas. This Untitled (Lot 31) exudes the same energy and subtle colour relationships as any oil work, its colours weaving together with its black inks even as they engage in a mutual dialectic. The artist's understanding and control of colour is exhibited most in his handling of this relationship: the blacks achieve richness through their variations in density, openness, smoothness, and heaviness, while the extremely restrained tones of light blue and violet, verging on white, are bright, spacious, and animated, and Zao's choice of a light brown base colour adds harmony and depth. Subtle transitions between layers of colour produce a poetic, imaginative space with great breadth and depth, with half a foot in the dream world, but with its own unique and precise order.

Within the overlapping of inky blacks and blue-violet tones, many varieties of brushwork can be distinguished, as Zao Wou-ki applies washes of colour as well as brushstrokes that are strong and directional. The tensions between each and the artist's thoughtful layout evoke the swiftly changing aspects of cloud and wind in nature. The words of the Northern and Southern Dynasties poet Xie Lingyun, 'Sunset is coming and waves arise on the mountain stream, rising clouds wrap themselves around the peaks,' reflect perfectly the emotions of this work: evening is coming, wind raises waves that sparkle and glitter, while clouds and mists weave among the mountain peaks. Zao Wouki's Untitled , despite being an abstract work, possesses the same sense of natural imagery and imposing scale found in works such as Guo Xi's Early Spring from the Northern Song Dynasty. At the same time, the directional sense and suggestions of physical energy in Zao's calligraphic brushwork reflect the awareness of the American Abstract Expressionists. The kind of approach that transforms the experience of nature into abstract elements, calling on tradition while transcending it at the same time, recalls the work of the contemporaneous Western artist Cy Twombly (fig. 3).

At the lower right of the painting an inscription reads 'À Pierre Neurisse-très amicalement,' indicating that it was painted by Zao Wou-ki as a gift for his friend Pierre Neurisse (1914-1995). Neurisse was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer, who in 1960 made a film about Zao Wou-ki's studio entitled Ateliers en France: Zao Wou- Ki, narrated by another friend of Zao Wouki's, the poet Claude Roy. This Untitled can thus be seen as a beautiful testament to this period of friendship between artist and film director.