Zao Wou-Ki

Collection particulière, France
Vente: Christophe Joron-Derem, Paris, Peintures, Objets d'Art, Mobilier Classique, Décoration du XX, Design, 18 juin 2008, lot 89
Collection particulière, Europe

The colours are fairly accurate in the catalogue illustration although the overall tonality is deeper in the original work. The work is executed on its original canvas and is not relined. Under Ultra Violet light inspection, there is no evidence of restoration. This work is in excellent condition.
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Comme sur le plateau d’un jeu de Go, Pierre Soulages et Zao Wou-Ki construisent stratégiquement sur la toile leurs territoires.
Les bras s’étirent et se contractent pour déplacer les pierres noires et blanches tel le mouvement des pinceaux, brosses et rouleaux qui s’animent de cette peinture gestuelle propre au travail des deux maitres.
Le fond clair du plan de 28.10.65 et de Peinture 46 x 38 cm, 14 mai 1961 s’architecture alors d’une calligraphie, magnifique et indéchiffrable, de traits de noir et brun nuancés, qui s’abandonnent quelque part entre l’Orient et l’Occident.
Pierre Soulages et Zao Wou-Ki se sont rencontrés en France dans le milieu des années 1940. Ils partagent la même ambition d’une Abstraction lyrique et le même sentiment apatride qui fera le sel de l’Ecole de Paris. Le premier arrivant de Rodez et le second de Chine. Très vite, leurs recherches sur la peinture gestuelle se croisent et se répondent et il n’est pas rare de les trouver ensemble dans les galeries de Saint Germain des Prés.
En mai 1957, Zao Wou-Ki présente sa première exposition personnelle à la Galerie de France qui, engagée sur la voie non figurative, représente également Pierre Soulages et Hans Hartung. C’est d’ailleurs avec le soutien de Pierre Soulages que Zao Wou-Ki part à New York en 1957 et se mêle aux avant-gardes américaines d’après-guerre. Au début des années 1960, leur œuvre respective et reconnue et leurs expositions se multiplient dans le monde entier.
Après la cordée cubiste, pourrait-on alors évoquer une autre cordée Soulages - Zao Wou-Ki ? Sûrement, si l’on considère leurs réflexions communes et leurs voyages d’étude. Les Etats-Unis d’abord qu’ils sillonnent ensemble en 1957, s’arrêtant dans les musées américains, de Washington à San Francisco. L’Eden d’Hawaïen ensuite, en quête de primitivisme, lors d’un séjour de dix jours au milieu des palmiers et des plans d’ananas. Puis, le voyage initiatique vers l’Asie à Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara en 1958. Un Grand Tour contemporain à l’occasion duquel, ils rencontrent des calligraphes japonais traditionnels et d’avant-garde. Alors que Zao Wou-Ki s’installe à Hong Kong où il a rencontré sa deuxième épouse, Pierre Soulages continue le voyage vers l’Inde.
Ces deux œuvres magistrales datées 1961 et 1965 sont le fruit de ces recherches communes sur l’abstraction gestuelle mais traduisent également cette histoire personnelle de dialogues, de voyages et d’expériences partagées entre deux jeunes peintres à qui l’Histoire réservera une carrière au plus haut niveau. En émane cette aura unique qui confère à ces œuvres leur caractère précieux et singulier.

Pierre Soulages and Zao Wou-ki build their territories strategically across the canvas like the players of a board game.
Their arms straighten and bend as they shift the black and white stones in a movement similar to that of the paintbrush or the paint roller, animated by a gestural painting specific to these two masters.
The light background of the plan of 28.10.65 and of Peinture 46 x 38 cm, 14 mai 1961 thus structures itself into a magnificent and indecipherable calligraphy of nuanced black and brown strokes that lose themselves somewhere between the Orient and the Occident.
Pierre Soulages and Zao Wou-Ki met in France in the mid-1940s. They shared the same ambition of creating a Lyrical Abstraction movement and the same stateless feeling that was to characterize the essence of the Paris School. The first arrived from Rodez, the second from China. Very quickly, their research on gestural painting found a common ground and they were often seen together in the galleries of Saint Germain des Prés.
In May 1957, Zao Wou-Ki presented his first solo show at the Galerie de France then dedicated to non-figurative painting and thus also representing Pierre Soulages and Hans Hartung. It was indeed with Pierre Soulages’ s support that Zao Wou-Ki was able to leave for New York in 1957 and mingle with the post-war American avant-garde. At the beginning of the 1960s, their respective works were recognized and their exhibitions multiplied across the world.
After the Cubist Epoch, can we talk of an Epoch belonging to Soulages and Zao Wou Ki? Certainly, if we consider their communal thoughts and their study trips. First, the United States where they went together in 1957, visiting American museums from Washington to San Francisco. Later, they travelled to the Eden of Hawaï in search of Primitivism, spending ten days in the midst of palm trees and pineapple plantations. And finally the initiatory trip to Asia, to Tokyo, Kyoto and Nara in 1958. A contemporary Grand Tour where they encountered traditional and avant-garde Japanese calligraphers. Whilst Zao Wou-Ki settled in Hong Kong where he met his second wife, Pierre Soulages continued his travels to India.
These two masterful works dated 1961 and 1965 are the fruit of this communal research on gestural abstraction but also convey this personal history of dialogues, of trips and experiences shared between two young painters upon whom History has bestowed such great careers. This unique aura emanates from the works endowing them with a unique and precious character.