In the 1960s, Zao Wou-Ki returned to Paris after completing his global journey spanning several years. He saw a panorama of fresh artistic ideas, and further inspired by a new romance with his second wife May-Kan who he met during that period of extended travel, Zao returned to his studio with a renewed energy. He embarked on his Hurricane Period, and it is this series of works that set him apart as the first post-war Asian artist to be considered an Abstract master on the international scene. With his signature explosive composition, unrestrained brushwork and bold color palette, he became the first post-war Chinese artist to win recognition as an abstract artist across the globe. 05.11.62 (Lot 1026), painted in 1962, is a testimony to this gold period of artistic creation.
Featuring the classic tripathi composition, the current lot is divided into upper, middle and lower sections, with a strike of green light breaking through the amber-coloured background. The compact, powerful and well-defined composition reflects the artist’s rocketing career. Another painting 26.04.62 shares the same colours, composition, and year of creation as the present lot, and was sold in Sotheby’s Hong Kong 2018 Spring sale for HK$85.3 million. When viewed alongside the previously mentioned 26.04.62, the larger of the two, the composition of 26.04.62 focuses on the horizontal expansion of space, whereas 05.11.62 is relatively tighter and more focused on the exploration of 3-dimensional expansion. That suggests 05.11.62 was created after 26.04.62 to develop ideas first explored in the earlier painting, hence displaying a more complete sense of space.
When 05.11.62 was completed, the artist’s global development was speedily expanding. Another Hurricane Period painting 17.01.60 (Lot 1023) from this auction was originated from Galerie de France, which greatly assisted in the expansion of Zao Wou-Ki's artistic achievement across mainland Europe. In the UK, Zao was represented by the Redfern Gallery; in America, Kootz Gallery also aided in Zao's success. And the aesthetic of the Hurricane Period soon expanded across North America, even in Canada. In Canada, because of the French-speaking regions, new artistic trends from Paris were even more readily accepted. Blair Laing of Laing Galleries went to Paris in 1959 and he was deeply drawn to Zao’s “abstracts with dreamy oriental overtones.” Laing took Zao’s works to promote in Toronto and thus became the first champion of Zao’s art in Canada. In 1969, a second museum retrospective was held at the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art and National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec, showing the reach of his art in North America. Bearing witness to this phase of history, 05.11.62 presents an opportunity not to be missed for interested collectors.
一九六〇年代，趙無極結束數年環球遊歷重返巴黎，期間邂逅第二任妻子美琴，在事業以及愛情的雙重激盪下，回歸畫室潛心創作，開闢「狂草系列」。他以氣勢澎湃的畫面、奔放馳騁的筆觸以及大膽創新的用色，一躍成為戰後華人藝術家中首位問鼎國際抽象殿堂的大師，步入藝術創作的黃金時期。誕生於1962年的《05.11.62》（拍品編號1026）即是此時期的經典傑作。
《05.11.62》採用狂草時期經典佈局，以上、中、下經典的三段式構圖，用橫空而出的一抹碧綠將琥珀色的畫面橫貫劈開，將畫作的能量聚集於畫面中央。此作畫面緊湊，層次分明，影射出藝術家此時人生事業攀升，意氣風發的澎湃之情。與本畫色彩、構圖一脈相承、且創作年份相同之《26.04.62》曾在2018年香港蘇富比春拍中以85,263,500港幣成交。若並觀這兩幅創作僅相隔數月的作品，可見《05.11.62》之佈局則相對緊湊，在橫向構圖之外，更有突出縱向空間之發展，不難推測是前畫完成之餘意猶未盡的二次創作，整體空間感和立體維度顯得更為完整。
趙無極此時的事業已發展至全球，藝術版圖迅猛擴張，臻至巔峰；同場拍賣另一趙無極『狂草時期』傑作《17.01.60》（拍品編號1023）源自巴黎法蘭西畫廊，見證趙無極六〇年代以法國為中心，在歐洲大陸的藝術發展。藝術家在與歐洲大陸隔海相望的英國，則有倫敦雷德芬畫廊（Redfern Gallery）為其推廣，在美國，則有紐約庫茲畫廊（Kootz Gallery）為其打入美國抽象藝術市場；而趙無極的狂草美學，更是勢如破竹般深入美洲大陸，在加拿大境內亦大展拳腳。《05.11062》的最早來源便是在多倫多對戰後抽象藝術卓有貢獻的萊茵畫廊（Laing Galleries）。萊茵畫廊主理人布萊爾·萊茵1959年前往巴黎為畫廊徵集藝術品時，在羅浮宮策展人查爾斯·斯特林的推薦下拜訪包括趙無極、皮耶‧蘇拉吉（Pierre Soulages）和漢斯·哈同（Hans Hartung）等一眾抽象畫家，期間被趙無極筆下「極具夢幻色彩的抽象筆觸 」深深吸引，立下決心將其作品帶回多倫多推廣，由此成為首位將趙無極的藝術推廣之加拿大之伯樂。《05.11.62》作為見證此段歷史的重要存在，不僅是趙無極個人藝術版圖擴張之佐證，更是戰後全球抽象藝術脈絡之樞紐，飽含的深刻歷史意義。