Zao Wou-Ki
(Beijing 1920 – Nyon 2013)
Sans Title (1978)
Signed and dated 78 lower right
Numbered 91/99 lower left
Etching and aquatint on BFK Rives paper, 57.5 x 39.4 cm (image size) / 76 x 56.3 cm (sheet size)
Provenance:
– Gallery de Nieuwe Weg, Doorn
- Private collection, the Netherlands
Note:
Bejing-born artist Zao Wou-Ki was one of the titans of Chinese art in the post-war period, and bridged the divide between Eastern and Western traditions.
In his art, he synthesized the tenets of modernism, calligraphy, and traditional Chinese landscape painting. He developed a unique style defined by contrasting colours, intense linework, and lyrical abstraction.
When living in Paris, Zao immersed himself in the city's avant-garde scene and befriended artists including Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Joan Mitchell, and Sam Francis. During his lifetime, he exhibited worldwide and received the Japan Art Association's Praemium Imperiale Award for painting and the Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur. Today, his work can be found in the collections of the Louvre, the Center Pompidou, the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Tate Britain, among many others.