- 1040
ZAO WOU-KI | 08.10.84
Estimate
25,000,000 - 35,000,000 HKD
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Description
- Zao Wou-Ki
- 08.10.84
- signed in Chinese and Pinyin; signed in Pinyin, dated and titled 8.10.84 on the reverseFuji Television Gallery labels affixed to the stretcher on the reverse
- oil on canvas
- 200 by 162 cm; 78 ¾ by 63 ¾ in.
Provenance
Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo
Private Asian Collection
Christie’s, Hong Kong, 27 November 2005, Lot 240
Private Collection
Kingsley Art Auction, Taipei, 28 November 2008, Lot 26
Private Collection
Ravenal, Taipei, 5 June 2011, Lot 156
Acquired directly from the above by the present important private Asian collector
Private Asian Collection
Christie’s, Hong Kong, 27 November 2005, Lot 240
Private Collection
Kingsley Art Auction, Taipei, 28 November 2008, Lot 26
Private Collection
Ravenal, Taipei, 5 June 2011, Lot 156
Acquired directly from the above by the present important private Asian collector
Exhibited
Tokyo, Fuji Television Gallery, Zao Wou-Ki, 6-31 October 1987
Literature
Jean Leymarie, ed., Zao Wou-Ki, Cercle d'Art, Barcelona/Paris, 1986, plate 574, p. 355
Zao Wou-Ki, Fuji Television Gallery Co., Tokyo, 1987, no.5
Pierre Daix, Zao Wou-Ki, l'oeuvre 1935-1993, Ides et Calendes, Berne, 1994, p. 144
Zao Wou-Ki, Fuji Television Gallery Co., Tokyo, 1987, no.5
Pierre Daix, Zao Wou-Ki, l'oeuvre 1935-1993, Ides et Calendes, Berne, 1994, p. 144
Condition
The work is overall in very good and its original condition. There is no sign of restoration under UV light examination.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
"The various qi are unmoving. Intention flows like water. Move ceaselessly without pause. Obtain the truth of the Dao." Excerpt from Zhengtong Daozang, Ming Dynasty
The highest abstraction necessarily reaches the state of philosophy. To appreciate a masterwork of abstract art is no less than to study a wordless philosophical classic. Between 1964 and 1967, the Russian-born abstract master Mark Rothko created a series of monumental murals in a chapel in Houston built by the American philanthropists John and Dominique de Menil. The murals in the Rothko Chapel, as it came to be known, are considered the canonical fusion of abstract art and Christian theology. As pictorial abstraction reached Asia, it was naturally connected with the Buddhist notion of emptiness and the Daoist notion of nothingness. Drawing from their own cultural heritage, Chinese artists forged an Eastern abstraction that vied in richness and brilliance with the work of Western modernist masters. In the 1980's, Zao Wou-Ki enjoyed global renown, mounting successive large-scale exhibitions in Europe, the Americas, and Japan. As Mainland China and Taiwan began more accessible and Hong Kong entered its golden age of prosperity, Zao also increasingly returned to the greater Chinese cultural sphere, mounting a large-scale solo exhibition at the History Museum in Taipei in 1981, a solo exhibition at the Hong Kong Art Center with the support of the French Consulate and Omega in 1982, and historic debut exhibitions of his abstract paintings at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing and Zhejiang Academy of Fine Art in Hangzhou (now China Academy of Art) in 1983. By this point, Zao Wou-Ki was in the top echelon of the global art world and in a state of spiritual and intellectual maturity. Dating from this time, 08.10.84 (Lot 1040) embodies Zao Wou-Ki 's philosophical resolution and vast vision at the height of his powers.
Exploring the frontiers of the universe
In scale and style, 08.10.84 exudes a self-assured cosmic vision. After his exuberance Mad Cursive period, Zao Wou-Ki underwent a withdrawal in the 1970's occasioned by the death of his beloved wife May Zao. Consequently his compositions became concentrated along a central axis, which is deconstructed and dispersed into an expansive blankness around. He pursued such compositions for about ten years until developing a new idiom and reaching another peak in his career in the 1980's. Now his compositions still had the play between dispersal into void and recoagulation into energy, but tended towards the "reconstruction" of an expansive cosmic space. The present work typifies Zao's work of the 1960's and 70's. The concentrated energy of the center expands leftwards and rightwards. Above, shining stars evoke the infinitude of the universe. The empty white space below appears not to be solid ground but amorphous, ambiguous mist, which elevates the viewer into a transcendental perspective. This otherworldly vision reaches deeply into the Chinese philosophy of the mind and is much more significant than sheer negative space. The Taixi jingwei lun chapter of the Daozang of the Ming Dynasty opens with the following lines, which perfectly encapsulates the vision of 08.10.84: "Purify oneself in practice. Forget and release the body. Forego preoccupations of the will. Stabilize the heart. Penetrate the ultimate harmony. Extend life and prolong perception. The various qi are unmoving. Intention flows like water. Move ceaselessly without pause. Obtain the truth of the Dao."
In 1987, the painting was exhibited at the art gallery of Fuji Television Network. In the catalogue, the Japanese critic Junji Ito succinctly analyzes Zao Wou-Ki 's artistic development in terms of a "Locus of Space." This locus applies not only to Zao's work but more generally to the transformation of both Eastern and Western representational landscape painting into abstraction. We may compare 08.10.84 to the 19th-century master landscape Joseph Mallord William Turner, whose greatest works were no longer concerned with actual scenery but with immaterial light, moisture, air, and space. He brought painting to the threshold of abstraction but did not complete the transformation himself. It was up to later masters to fulfill this mission of his legacy. 08.10.84 can be said to have continued this 150-year artistic revolution.
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by spouse of the artist, Françoise Marquet
This work will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné currently being prepared by Françoise Marquet and Yann Hendgen (Information provided by Fondation Zao Wou-Ki)
The highest abstraction necessarily reaches the state of philosophy. To appreciate a masterwork of abstract art is no less than to study a wordless philosophical classic. Between 1964 and 1967, the Russian-born abstract master Mark Rothko created a series of monumental murals in a chapel in Houston built by the American philanthropists John and Dominique de Menil. The murals in the Rothko Chapel, as it came to be known, are considered the canonical fusion of abstract art and Christian theology. As pictorial abstraction reached Asia, it was naturally connected with the Buddhist notion of emptiness and the Daoist notion of nothingness. Drawing from their own cultural heritage, Chinese artists forged an Eastern abstraction that vied in richness and brilliance with the work of Western modernist masters. In the 1980's, Zao Wou-Ki enjoyed global renown, mounting successive large-scale exhibitions in Europe, the Americas, and Japan. As Mainland China and Taiwan began more accessible and Hong Kong entered its golden age of prosperity, Zao also increasingly returned to the greater Chinese cultural sphere, mounting a large-scale solo exhibition at the History Museum in Taipei in 1981, a solo exhibition at the Hong Kong Art Center with the support of the French Consulate and Omega in 1982, and historic debut exhibitions of his abstract paintings at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing and Zhejiang Academy of Fine Art in Hangzhou (now China Academy of Art) in 1983. By this point, Zao Wou-Ki was in the top echelon of the global art world and in a state of spiritual and intellectual maturity. Dating from this time, 08.10.84 (Lot 1040) embodies Zao Wou-Ki 's philosophical resolution and vast vision at the height of his powers.
Exploring the frontiers of the universe
In scale and style, 08.10.84 exudes a self-assured cosmic vision. After his exuberance Mad Cursive period, Zao Wou-Ki underwent a withdrawal in the 1970's occasioned by the death of his beloved wife May Zao. Consequently his compositions became concentrated along a central axis, which is deconstructed and dispersed into an expansive blankness around. He pursued such compositions for about ten years until developing a new idiom and reaching another peak in his career in the 1980's. Now his compositions still had the play between dispersal into void and recoagulation into energy, but tended towards the "reconstruction" of an expansive cosmic space. The present work typifies Zao's work of the 1960's and 70's. The concentrated energy of the center expands leftwards and rightwards. Above, shining stars evoke the infinitude of the universe. The empty white space below appears not to be solid ground but amorphous, ambiguous mist, which elevates the viewer into a transcendental perspective. This otherworldly vision reaches deeply into the Chinese philosophy of the mind and is much more significant than sheer negative space. The Taixi jingwei lun chapter of the Daozang of the Ming Dynasty opens with the following lines, which perfectly encapsulates the vision of 08.10.84: "Purify oneself in practice. Forget and release the body. Forego preoccupations of the will. Stabilize the heart. Penetrate the ultimate harmony. Extend life and prolong perception. The various qi are unmoving. Intention flows like water. Move ceaselessly without pause. Obtain the truth of the Dao."
In 1987, the painting was exhibited at the art gallery of Fuji Television Network. In the catalogue, the Japanese critic Junji Ito succinctly analyzes Zao Wou-Ki 's artistic development in terms of a "Locus of Space." This locus applies not only to Zao's work but more generally to the transformation of both Eastern and Western representational landscape painting into abstraction. We may compare 08.10.84 to the 19th-century master landscape Joseph Mallord William Turner, whose greatest works were no longer concerned with actual scenery but with immaterial light, moisture, air, and space. He brought painting to the threshold of abstraction but did not complete the transformation himself. It was up to later masters to fulfill this mission of his legacy. 08.10.84 can be said to have continued this 150-year artistic revolution.
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by spouse of the artist, Françoise Marquet
This work will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné currently being prepared by Françoise Marquet and Yann Hendgen (Information provided by Fondation Zao Wou-Ki)