ZAO WOU-KI | 01.05.92

Private French Collection
Private Asian Collection
Acquired directly from the above by the present important private Asian collector

Paris, Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Zao Wou-Ki, 14 October - 7 December 2003

Zao Wou-Ki & Françoise Marquet, ed., Zao Wou-Ki, Autoportrait, Artist Publishing Co., Taipei, 1992, p.96
Zao Wou-Ki, Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, 2003, p. 153
Dominique de Villepin, Françoise Marquet and Yann Hendgen, ed., Zao Wou-Ki. Oeuvres 1935 - 2008, Editions Flammarion, Paris, 2009, p. 270
Dominique de Villepin, Françoise Marquet and Yann Hendgen, ed., Zao Wou-Ki 1935 - 2008, Kwai Fung Art Publishing House, Hong Kong, 2010, p. 270
Dominique de Villepin, Françoise Marquet and Yann Hendgen, ed., Zao Wou-Ki. Oeuvres 1935 - 2010, Editions Flammarion, Paris, 2012 and 2017, p. 270

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."

By the conclusion of the 1980s, Zao Wou-ki’s technical prowess had reached a pinnacle. His composition of space—unlike his earlier works, which featured surging and twisting brushstrokes—now emanated peace and tranquillity. In the artist’s 1992 autobiography, he said, “All I do now is make paintings, allowing myself to be carried by the inspiration of the moment, by the demands of the colours. Colour is everything; nothing else matters. One must be concise with colour, even stingy…This is what I learned from Matisse’s Porte-fenêtre à Collioure. Recently I completed a piece in homage to that painting. I wanted to experiment with uniting the sky and the land, because I was inspired by how [Matisse’s painting] so richly suggests an opening, a way that uses pure colour in guiding us toward infinity.” In a piece created in the same year, 01.05.92 (Lot 1041), Zao Wou-ki uses large swathes of colour to directly convey different layers in space, displaying the very influence from the Fauvists that led the artist to reflect and innovate with his use of colour. The centre block of ink-dark colour, the combination of colours of opposing coolness and warmth, as well as the distinct, extremely simplified composition, directly link this piece to Zao Wou-ki’s important work Hommage à Henri Matisse. This homage was not only a display of the artist’s deference, but a reflection of the artist’s own unprecedented confidence. Whether in composition or creative concept, 01.05.92 can be considered an extension of Hommage à Henri Matisse. By then, Zao Wou-ki had internalized the special characteristics of the Western masters, and then using his own artistic language, he recomposed the elements of colour and space. In Hommage à Henri Matisse, Zao Wou-ki takes the pitch-black swathe that appears in Matisse’s Porte-fenêtre à Collioure and renders it on the level of abstraction, creating a space of “void,” stretching the painting’s tension to the extreme. In 01.05.92, created later, the variation in darkness is further sublimated, and in the subtle flickering of rhythm, the mysterious space within the navy blue has broken free from the geometric form, guiding the viewer’s gaze into the infinite, like the depths of the ocean, endlessly captivating one’s eyes. This visual experience is a testament to Zao Wou-ki’s transformation. Having freed himself from Matisse’s more figurative framework, the artist’s expressive mode here inclines toward Eastern spirituality, and his use of colour an individual one, accomplishing what Matisse had yet to reach on his path toward abstractionism. In 1993, Zao Wou-ki completed another painting in homage to Matisse. 01.05.92, completed between the two paintings in homage to the French artist, served as an important bridge, enriching the artist’s stylistic development. Further, in the Zao Wou-ki catalogue published by Hong Kong’s Kwai Fung Publishing in 2010, 01.05.92 and the second homage, Hommage à Henri Matisse II, are featured on adjoining pages. These two pieces, then, are connected not only in visual similarity, but clearly linked from an academic perspective.

In this painting, Zao Wou-ki applies layer after thin layer of oil colour upon the canvas, in strokes and splashes, the lively, streaming colours meeting and creating an ink wash-like effect of permeation and flow. In this way, one can see an evolution of dissipation and gathering together upon the oil canvas. The artist’s previous creations of explosive and fierce atmospheres were gradually dissolving into an expanse of misty nothingness. The concrete denseness of “gathering” in those compositions was now being replaced by a Zen spirit of “dissipation.” In 01.05.92, this phenomenon of “dissipation” is particularly thrilling. The dark blue expands from the centre without a clear direction, pouring out, and issuing a lavender mist, creating a haziness upon the golden yellow background, spreading out infinitely. In this way, it is suggestive of the Chinese classical philosophies of “the presence of subtlety beyond the imagery,” of “the mystery within a mystery.” The painting is thus an opening of the “door to the infinite world of the metaphysical.” On many levels, it broadens the viewer’s conception of space. Zao Wou-ki’s paintings no longer insisted upon displaying a scene of density and surging force, but rather turned toward creating a space of void and distance, of a unity between void and substance, of “emptiness” that was not “blank.” In 01.05.92, Zao Wou-ki took on the challenge of using a navy blue colour to create a plane of “emptiness,” and like the universe’s boundless mist, the resulting abstract realm is profound and masterly. Mysterious and indecipherable symbols float and leap near the bottom of the canvas, their form similar to the script-symbols appearing in another piece offered at this sale from the artist’s Oracle Bone Series, Untitled (Lot 1032). In this way, Zao Wou-ki seems to be using 01.05.92 to perform a reflection on the last half-century of his artistic career, acknowledging and extending the thread and special characteristics of a former series.



This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Fondation Zao Wou-Ki
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)