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Zao Wou-KiUntitled1986
1986
Price Upon Request
Price Upon Request
Price Upon Request
Price Upon Request
Price Upon Request
Price Upon Request
Price Upon Request
Price Upon Request
Price Upon Request
Price Upon Request
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About the Item
Watercolor and ink on paper, 1986
24.00 cm. x 32.00 cm. 9.45 in. x 12.6 in. (paper)
53.50 cm. x 60.50 cm. 21.06 in. x 23.82 in. (frame)
In this watercolor enhanced with Indian ink, Zao Wou-Ki achieves a pictorial plenitude where color, brilliant and diffuse, becomes breath and light. The yellow-orange radiates across the paper, not as a set hue, but as an energy that expands, pulsates and dilutes into a vibrant lime green. For him, color is a living material, traversed by transparencies and lights, sculpted by fullness and emptiness.
The eye seeks to recognize an earth, a sky, a forest, but comes up against the fluid abstraction of the brush. Touches of red resonate, while incisive black seems to inscribe a rhythm, a gestural punctuation reminiscent of calligraphy.
For a long time, Zao Wou-Ki refused to work with Indian ink, for fear of a too obvious return to the traditions of his academic training, of an ease that would have confined him to the label of “Chinese painter”. As the artist himself said: “Thanks to my training, this was what I knew best, and I wanted to avoid taking the easy way out. I wanted to avoid taking the easy way out. Yet in the 1980s, he
explored this calligraphic technique, not to recapture the past, but to reinvent it. Ink teaches him to think differently about composition, to explore the power of emptiness, to give color the freedom of breath. Here, calligraphy is an art of pure gesture: incisive, dazzling blacks punctuate space like essential punctuations, dynamic interruptions that redefine space.
In Taoist and Confucian thought, emptiness is associated with Qi, the vital breath that animates all things. In painting, leaving voids suggests this breath, giving an impression of movement and life. The artist's aim is not to show everything, but to evoke, to leave room for the viewer's imagination. It's this fluidity, this Qi that animates the work, this mastered speed of the brush that inscribes each trace in the moment. Watercolor and ink become a territory of experimentation between the Song tradition of literary art and the lyrical abstraction of the 20th century, between the intuition of gesture and the construction of a space where light circulates. An interior landscape, an image of a world in
suspension, this work tells nothing, yet everything is at play: density and lightness, shadow and radiance, matter and breath.
Certificate of authenticity
LCD7162
- Creator:Zao Wou-Ki (1921, Chinese)
- Creation Year:1986
- Dimensions:Height: 9.45 in (24 cm)Width: 12.6 in (32 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Excellent condition.
- Gallery Location:Paris, FR
- Reference Number:Seller: LCD71621stDibs: LU1066216474902
Zao Wou-Ki
Zao Wou-Ki was born in Beijing, China, on February 13, 1921, to a wealthy family descended from the Song Dynasty.
French-educated Chinese artist Lin Fengmian was Wou-Ki’s teacher at the China Academy of Art from 1935–41 and encouraged him to study abroad in Paris. Wou-Ki made the move in 1948 with a substantial amount of financial backing and later adopted France as his new home, remaining in the country, besides a few short trips abroad, until his death.
In Paris, Wou-Ki quickly joined a large postwar French art circle, composed of key writers, poets, painters and cultural figures, including Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Riopelle and Vieira da Silva, among others. This networking helped position himself at the top of the Lyrical Abstraction movement. By his mid-30s, Wou-Ki had decided to devote his artistic career to abstract painting that blended Eastern and Western stylistic traditions.
In 2011, Wou-Ki was referred to in art publications as the top-selling living Chinese artist. He died in Nyon, Switzerland, on April 9, 2013, at the age of 93.
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By Zao Wou-Ki
Located in Paris, FR
Etching and aquatint, 1987
Handsigned by the artist in pencil and numbered 16/99
Publisher : Atelier Lacourière-Frélaut (Paris)
Printer : Atelier Lacourière-Frélaut (Paris)
Catalog :...
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1980s Abstract Abstract Prints
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No title
By Zao Wou-Ki
Located in Paris, FR
Lithograph, 1961
Handsigned by the artist in pencil and annotated EA
Edition : 125
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1960s Abstract Abstract Prints
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No title
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Etching and aquatint, 1989
Handsigned by the artist in pencil and numbered 45/99
Publisher : Poligrafa (Barcelone)
Printer : Poligrafa (Barcelone)
Catalog : Agerup 339
56.00 cm. x 75...
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Untitled
By Zao Wou-Ki
Located in Paris, FR
Etching and aquatint, 1963
Handsigned by the artist in pencil and annotated "Epreuve artiste"
Artist proof
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Untitled
By Zao Wou-Ki
Located in Paris, FR
Etching and aquatint, 1971
Handsigned by the artist in pencil and numbered 76/99
Publisher : Galerie de France, Paris
Printer : Atelier Lacourière et Frélaut, Paris
Catalog : [Agerup...
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No title
By Zao Wou-Ki
Located in Paris, FR
Etching and aquatint, 1974
Handsigned by the artist in pencil and numbered 86/100
Publisher : Galerie de France, Paris
Printer : Bellini, Paris
Catalog : [Agerup 246 A, page 140]
27....
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