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Lot Essay
FORMERLY THE PROPERTY FROM DR K S LO COLLECTION
It is worthy to note that three of Zao Wou-ki's paperwork were formerly in the Property from Dr K S Lo Collection (Lots 301, 302, 328). In 1910, he was born in Guangdong province, China. He graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a BA degree in commerce and business. After graduation, he joined the company where his father worked and was soon appointed Hong Kong manager of the real estate branch. Dr. K.S. Lo began his Vitasoy business in the winter of 1937. His Vitasoy business grew to become one of the most recognized brands in Hong Kong and in many other global regions.
As a young boy, Zao Wou-Ki learned calligraphy and classical poetry from his grandfather, who was skilled in such traditional methods of Chinese craftmanship. In 1935, he studied oil painting at the Hangzhou National College of Art under Lin Fengmian, a pioneer of Asian modern art. Untitled (Lot 301) painted in 1949 truly exemplifies Zao's technique as a trained traditional Chinese artist.
In the 1940s, he focused on Chinese pictorial tradition of scenic landscapes and stayed within the Chinese medium of ink and colour. Perhaps Zao looked up to his teacher Lin Fengmian as a source of inspiration. While upholding traditional Chinese aesthetics, Zao adopted more of a western modernist approach in his paintings.
There are some similarities between Zao's Untitled (Lot 301) and Lin's Autumn Twilight, both landscape paintings capture nature with the subjective expression of the painters. They were not constrained by the limitation of watercolour and ink, instead they were able to manipulate the overlapping of ink and colour. Notice the tree trunks are portrayed with rustic and dense black lines as well as the use of unrealistic colours to illustrate the landscape. In Zao's works, he merged different patches of vivid colours such as fuchsia, light purple, orange and turquiose green in the background to create a visual effect of spatial depths to the scene as if the sky is shifting lights and the sun is setting from a distance. This composition between areas of darker and lighter shades also leads the viewers to focus on the central region of the canvas, the trees.
From the 1950s to 1960s, Zao immersed himself in an arena of uninhibited abstract paintings in which he began to explore ancient Chinese cultures and incorporate the symbols from oracle bone inscription and hieroglyph into his paintings.
By 1971, Zao reconnected with watercolour, ink and paper once again. In Untitled (Lot 327) painted in 1975, planes of colours in yellow, blue, pink and black take over the surface of the painting. Zao gradually shifted his focus on enriching the subtle transition of colours rather than emphasizing the bold and heavy calligraphic strokes from his earlier years. It is almost like an imaginary world where the foreground and background are entirely blurred, leaving the audience to interpret the painting. As the poet Henri Michaux praised Zao in the early 1970s: "He showed me other [paintings] that he had so subtly washed [with ink]. It was as though smoke had penetrated them instead of ink. Oh! What a surprise! And what joy! He had thus rekindled his legacy: the rhythms of nature, greater than nature, as pictured in the minds of people of that part of the world."
The 1990s marked another milestone in Zao's career. He was frequently invited to hold exhibitions in Paris and abroad, yielding tremendous success in the art world. From 1991 to 1999, he held large retrospectives in important museums located in Paris, Luxembourg, Spain, Japan, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung and Shanghai. As shown in Untitled (Lot 302) painted in 1991, he began to incorporate earthy tones such as ochre, olive green and saffron into his works. As opposed to earlier works painted in 1940s where the factual representation of nature is presented, Lot 302 illustrates an abstract landscape of rising mist above majestic mountains that the viewers could hardly discern.
Untitled (Lot 329) and Untitled (Lot 328) painted in 1986 and in 1992 exhibit Zao's desire to break free of the restrictions from his previous ink paintings. As Zao has already mastered the quintessence of both oil and ink medium, he decided to return to the purest form of indian ink on paper. Despite the continuous application of ink repeatedly on the paper displaying different gradation of darkness, Zao employed the liubai "leave blank" technique. The empty white space of the paper emits a positive energy to counterbalance the black ink. In doing so, he was able to capture nature's emotional state of being to evoke a higher aesthetic realm.
It is worthy to note that three of Zao Wou-ki's paperwork were formerly in the Property from Dr K S Lo Collection (Lots 301, 302, 328). In 1910, he was born in Guangdong province, China. He graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a BA degree in commerce and business. After graduation, he joined the company where his father worked and was soon appointed Hong Kong manager of the real estate branch. Dr. K.S. Lo began his Vitasoy business in the winter of 1937. His Vitasoy business grew to become one of the most recognized brands in Hong Kong and in many other global regions.
As a young boy, Zao Wou-Ki learned calligraphy and classical poetry from his grandfather, who was skilled in such traditional methods of Chinese craftmanship. In 1935, he studied oil painting at the Hangzhou National College of Art under Lin Fengmian, a pioneer of Asian modern art. Untitled (Lot 301) painted in 1949 truly exemplifies Zao's technique as a trained traditional Chinese artist.
In the 1940s, he focused on Chinese pictorial tradition of scenic landscapes and stayed within the Chinese medium of ink and colour. Perhaps Zao looked up to his teacher Lin Fengmian as a source of inspiration. While upholding traditional Chinese aesthetics, Zao adopted more of a western modernist approach in his paintings.
There are some similarities between Zao's Untitled (Lot 301) and Lin's Autumn Twilight, both landscape paintings capture nature with the subjective expression of the painters. They were not constrained by the limitation of watercolour and ink, instead they were able to manipulate the overlapping of ink and colour. Notice the tree trunks are portrayed with rustic and dense black lines as well as the use of unrealistic colours to illustrate the landscape. In Zao's works, he merged different patches of vivid colours such as fuchsia, light purple, orange and turquiose green in the background to create a visual effect of spatial depths to the scene as if the sky is shifting lights and the sun is setting from a distance. This composition between areas of darker and lighter shades also leads the viewers to focus on the central region of the canvas, the trees.
From the 1950s to 1960s, Zao immersed himself in an arena of uninhibited abstract paintings in which he began to explore ancient Chinese cultures and incorporate the symbols from oracle bone inscription and hieroglyph into his paintings.
By 1971, Zao reconnected with watercolour, ink and paper once again. In Untitled (Lot 327) painted in 1975, planes of colours in yellow, blue, pink and black take over the surface of the painting. Zao gradually shifted his focus on enriching the subtle transition of colours rather than emphasizing the bold and heavy calligraphic strokes from his earlier years. It is almost like an imaginary world where the foreground and background are entirely blurred, leaving the audience to interpret the painting. As the poet Henri Michaux praised Zao in the early 1970s: "He showed me other [paintings] that he had so subtly washed [with ink]. It was as though smoke had penetrated them instead of ink. Oh! What a surprise! And what joy! He had thus rekindled his legacy: the rhythms of nature, greater than nature, as pictured in the minds of people of that part of the world."
The 1990s marked another milestone in Zao's career. He was frequently invited to hold exhibitions in Paris and abroad, yielding tremendous success in the art world. From 1991 to 1999, he held large retrospectives in important museums located in Paris, Luxembourg, Spain, Japan, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung and Shanghai. As shown in Untitled (Lot 302) painted in 1991, he began to incorporate earthy tones such as ochre, olive green and saffron into his works. As opposed to earlier works painted in 1940s where the factual representation of nature is presented, Lot 302 illustrates an abstract landscape of rising mist above majestic mountains that the viewers could hardly discern.
Untitled (Lot 329) and Untitled (Lot 328) painted in 1986 and in 1992 exhibit Zao's desire to break free of the restrictions from his previous ink paintings. As Zao has already mastered the quintessence of both oil and ink medium, he decided to return to the purest form of indian ink on paper. Despite the continuous application of ink repeatedly on the paper displaying different gradation of darkness, Zao employed the liubai "leave blank" technique. The empty white space of the paper emits a positive energy to counterbalance the black ink. In doing so, he was able to capture nature's emotional state of being to evoke a higher aesthetic realm.