Zao Wou-Ki (Zhao Wuji)

Waddington Galleries, London, James Goodman Gallery, New York, Alison Fine Arts, Hong Kong and de Sarthe Gallery, Hong Kong labels affixed to the stretcher on the reverse

Galerie de France, Paris
Important Private American Collection
Waddington Galleries, London
James Goodman Gallery, New York
Galerie 1900-2000, Paris
Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
Important Private Asian Collection
de Sarthe Gallery, Hong Kong
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Paris, Galerie de France, Zao Wou-Ki, 1960
Paris, Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Zao Wou-Ki, 14 October - 7 December 2003
Tokyo, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Zao Wou-Ki, 16 October 2004- 16 January 2005, pl. 28, p.88 
Hong Kong, de Sarthe Gallery, Pioneers of Modern Chinese Painting in Paris, 13 May - 21 June 2014, cover & p. 77

Jean Leymarie, ed., Zao Wou-Ki, Edicions Polígrafa, Barcelona, 1978, pl. 76, p. 126 
Jean Leymarie, ed., Zao Wou-Ki, Hier et Demain, Paris, 1978, pl. 76, p. 126 
Jean Leymarie, ed., Zao Wou-Ki, Polígrafa, Barcelona, 1979, pl. 76, p. 126 
Jean Leymarie, ed., Zao Wou-Ki, Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 1979, pl. 76, p. 126 
Jean Leymarie, ed., Zao Wou-Ki, Cercle d'Art, Paris, 1986, pl. 76, p. 126
Claude Roy,ed., Zao Wou-Ki, Cercle d'Art, Paris, 1988, pl. 8, p. 95
Claude Roy,ed., Zao Wou-Ki, Cercle d'Art, Paris, 1992, pl. 8, p. 95
Claude Roy,ed., Zao Wou-Ki, Cercle d'Art, Paris, 1996, pl. 8, p. 95

This work is overall in good condition. Under UV: there is evidence of one small touch up near the lower left corner and two minor spots of touch ups near the upper left edge of the work.
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Synchronized Evolution: Uniting with the Objects of the Universe
Zao Wou-Ki's 02.04.59

The Western world had already discovered the secret to creating perspective a millennium ago. Yet Chinese painting never adopted Western theories of perspective, continuing to use its manners of evasion, cancellation, and resistance. The Chinese attitude toward space and life is not one of direct contention, of anxious opposition. Rather, it is a union, a synchronized evolution. The various scenes it portrays are like the distant bells of a temple, reverberating in the air.
Scholar of Chinese contemporary art, Zong Baihua

The "split perspective" developed in Chinese painting is in fact the product of the influence of the aesthetics of xieyi. It is the understanding resulting from the artist’s observation of nature. In Guo Xi’s Early Spring, for example, the artist attempts to portray simultaneously the different perspectives he possesses when viewing the mountains and water upon the confines of the scroll. Thus, a level perspective, a downward perspective, and an upward perspective are fused together at the same time upon the canvas, exhibiting the level-distance, the far depths, as well as the loftiness of the mountains and water. With synchronized evolution, it expresses the artist’s extremely subjective ideas. It is not a scientific perspective, but rather one that creates a boundless and poetic space.

This distinctive approach to space can also be seen in Zao’s . Although the artist has not concretely or realistically portrayed the figures of a mountain and stream, the blocks formed by connected strands of colour and the crisscrossing of lines reveal an impression of this natural scene. In the wide, vast space, dominated by a deep, autumnal green, layer upon layer of meaning is created, the scenery evolving unceasingly. In the foreground, fine and delicate strands of black extend upward, forming a triangle, like the slanting rocks of landscape paintings. In the middle ground, winding lines of colour form a circular arc, like a curving river. What the artist has portrayed here, then, is the natural landscape that resides in the depths of his heart. A single perspective would not be effective here; instead, the artist uses the brush to pursue profound depths and transformation, evolving in synchrony, fusing several perspectives into the abstract space, creating a scene that can be penetrated freely through any corner, one that allows for song, for exploration. The painting also reveals the artist’s method of observing the world, a method that is agile and vigorous, and eschews stereotype.  

In nature, the implications of time and the progressive changes in nature are rife with transformation. The tossing of waves, the quick agility of light, the smoke and mist between the water and the sky all have me spellbound. Often, I sit next to the river for hours, watching over the placid lake as the air ripples across it, the birch gently swaying in the breeze. What I see is not the finely crafted bridge or pagoda, but the expansion of space and the infinite metamorphoses created by the reflection of a leaf in the water.
Zao Wou-Ki

Zao once clearly stated that his interests lay not in concrete objects with form, but in formless, natural changes, like what comes from the leaping of light in space. In , a painting pulsating with black lines, he applies simple colour and light in an abstract manner to portray his experience and realizations gained from gazing at the heavens and the earth. Not one line or colour stumbles or hesitates or conveys doubt. In their vigorous crisscrossing, different expressions are revealed. Some lines are slender and fine as silk, embedded with a gentle, pliant strength and tension. Others are wound together into a solid form, like a flying bird that can oppose the resistance of the wind, spreading its wings and soaring, dancing to the rhythm of nature. Zao Wou-ki here has attained what Tang dynasty Zhu Jingxian described in the book Famous Tang Paintings as "commanding the fine hairs of the brush, portraying the universe through the soul". His union with nature and the natural manner in which he yields the brush lead the viewer to experience the image beyond the image, the scene beyond the scene. This painting conjures these lines from poet Li Bai’s "Traveling to Tianmu in  Dream": At the waist of the cliff, the sun rises over the ocean, / heavenly roosters sound in the air, / on thousands of precipices and valleys, the path is unsteady. / Drunk on flowers, leaning on a rock, sudden darkness. / Bears roar, dragons squall. Over rocks and springs,/ the deep forests tremble, the layered summits are frightened./ The green-black clouds desire rain,/ from placid waters mist rises;/ thunder and lightning,/ hills and mountain ranges shattering,/ the stone doors to paradise / crack and split open; / the deep dark sky is vast and mighty, its end concealed,/ the sun and moon illuminate terraces in gold and silver. Overflowing with magnanimous majesty, this truly is an unforgettable painting.