ZAO WOU-KI | La course

Private Asian Collection
Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 6 April 2014, Lot 556
Acquired directly from the above by the present important private Asian collector

The work is overall in good condition. Very minor craquelure is present across the overall surface; examination under UV light reveals minor signs of retouching to the area. Conservation report is available upon request.
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"For French people to witness these young foreign artists arriving in Paris in 1949 with an attitude of arriving in the world's capital, arriving at the laboratories and the palaces of modern art, is not only gratifying but also inspiring. The most beautiful part of it is that they accept French influence while retaining their own identities, and in many cases, they become even more assertive as inheritors of the culture of their homelands ... for a century, this has been the case for thousands of artists, and Zao Wou-Ki is no exception." Bernard Dorival, Director of Musee Nationale d'Art Moderne, Paris

In 1948, Zao Wou-Ki left China aboard the André Lebon - the same ship that his mentor Lin Fengmian took some thirty years prior - beginning an émigré life in France that would last more than six decades. Zao had been the youngest student ever to enrol at the National School of Fine Art in Hangzhou, and after graduating, he remained at the institution as teaching assistant. During this period at the academy, he was profoundly influenced by mentors who had studied in France, and he saw France as representative of the Western art that he longed to study. Once World War II had ended, the artist embarked on his journey west, demonstrating his determination to ascend the summits of the art world.

La course (Lot 1021), created in 1949, perfectly expresses the artist's exuberant attitude at the time: four powerful steeds, guided by their jockeys, strive for position. These horses subtly recall the artistic vanguard that Zao Wou-Ki met soon after arriving in Paris, including Hans Hartung, Pierre Soulages, Micolas de Staël, and Maria-Helena Vieira da Silva: contemporaries who inspired Zao to strive for excellence. Zao also venerated Sanyu, a member of the previous generation of Chinese émigré artists in France. Upon arriving in Paris, Zao immediately visited this contemporary of his mentor, Lin Fengmian. At the time, Sanyu was absorbed in animal-themed oil paintings, and La course exhibits the same majestic air as Sanyu's horse paintings from the same era.



This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist
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)