Oil on canvas

162 × 130 cm. 633/4 × 511/8 in.

Signed in Chinese and English on bottom right; signed in English and dated on the reverse

LITERATURE
1999, Zao Wou-Ki, Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei, cover page and p.50-51
EXHIBITED
13 – 30 Nov 1999, 1948-1999 Retrospective Exhibition, Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei
2006, Zao Wou-Ki Solo Exhibition, Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei

PROVENANCE
Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei
Important Private Collection, Asia

Note: This work will be included in the artist’s forthcoming catalogue raisonné prepared by Françoise Marquet and Yann Hendgen (Information provided by Foundation Zao Wou-Ki)

Incorporate the Vault of Heaven, Reveal the Exceeding Lofty Spirit of Zao Wou-Ki
The Brilliant Debut of 01.03.99, a Stunning Masterpiece
“Torrents of air. Roaring waters. The very motion of the world runs across the triptych from left to right. As if it were overcome by an immense unsteadiness. The matter laden sky, the frothing stream, one urging the other drifting along the tide of Creation. Entire eras shivering in the grip of monstruous rockings. Time is dead, killed by the fluctuations of being and nothingness. An entertainment for the gods? No. Man stands right in the heart of the event. Here he is, a frail barque, lost on the edge of the stream.”
— Former France Prime Minister & litterateur Dominique de Villepin
The Chinese master abstractionist Zao Wou-Ki and his artistic expression are considered by many art critics and writers a “miracle,” or even a “legend.” As the litterateur, Cheng Baoyi said, “Owing to the art of Zao Wou-Ki, the long wait for Chinese painting to escape its inherent confines has ended. The real symbiosis between the East and the West has finally appeared for the first time.” And the media both home and abroad has honored him “the treasure of Chinese and Western art.” He was also the first to receive international recognition after the war among Asian artists who painted in the Western tradition.
Born in Beijing, he entered the Hangzhou Fine Arts School in 1935, unveiling the legend of an artist. In 1948, he went to France to derive nourishment and inspiration from Western art. Placed within Western-style paintings and canvases, he pursued the artistic expression peculiar to himself during a 78-year career of painting. The “Hangzhou period” (1935 to 1950) laid the foundation of Zao’s artistic practice; the “Klee period” (1951–1954) enabled him to move forward towards abstraction; in the “Oracle period” (1954 to 1957), Zao integrated the earliest form of Chinese characters into his paintings; in the “Wild cursive period” (1958 to 1970), the bold and free composition was developed; in the “Infinity period” (after the 1980s), he wielded the brush freely like the clouds rising, Zao Wou-Ki has been learning from Chinese and Western cultural traditions and refining the essence of artistic creation. Through distinctive understanding and recreation, Zao constantly interpreted new forms of visual language, exceeding himself again and again, until perfection was attained.
After the 1990s, Zao Wou-Ki was frequently invited to hold exhibitions at home and abroad, yielding brilliance in the art world. In 1993, he was awarded the “National Order of the Legion of Honour” by the former French President François Mitterrand. In 1994, the emperor of Japan Akihito granted him the “Praemium Imperiale” in the painting section. From 1991 to 1999, he successively held large retrospectives in important museums in Paris, Luxembourg, Spain, Japan, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung and Shanghai. In 1998, the retrospective “Zao Wou-Ki: 60 Years of Painting” was co-organized by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and in Shanghai Museum, which then traveled to the National Art Museum of China in Beijing and the Guangzhou Art Museum, witnessing him being embraced by Chinese audience. The presented work, 01.03.99, was completed at the peak of Zao’s international reputation.
A Fantasy in the Blue Sky with Imposing Manner of a Grand Mountain
“The image is imbued with a lively rhythm, a non-figurative painting in yellow and blue hues, presenting the painter’s unrestrained and sincere characteristics. Inscribed on the back of the painting were the name and 01.03.99, the completion date of the work which Zao Wou-Ki completed in this spring. His art is outstanding and distinctive, lyrical and emotional, consistent with his personalities.” In the catalog preface of the exhibition “1948-1999, A Retrospective of Zao Wou-Ki” in 1999, the owners of Lin & Keng Gallery in Taipei wrote as such. The discussed painting of the text is the presented work, 01.03.99, in this spring. The work also served as the cover of the retrospective catalog, highly representing the artist’s achievement over the past 60 years.
01.03.99 epitomized the many facets of Zao Wou-Ki’s art and the true meaning of painting that he spent his life pursuing. Through colors and lines, his talent was fully unveiled. Differentiated from the decentralized composition and the technique of heavy ink shading in most works from the “Infinity period,” Zao rarely chose bright orange and blue in strong contrast for this work. Using bold brushstrokes, he set the main hue through vast expanses of orange, seemingly containing warmth and fertility, in between which the black lines wind through. Such an arrangement has carried on the feature of “make the lines fractured, make the girl show herself while partly hidden” from the “Oracle period” in the 1950s, unfolding the relationships of his painting and the traditional aesthetics of Chinese calligraphy.
On the vertical axis of the painting rises a black ridge, stretching downward along with twisting lines and forming a ridge-shaped structure expanding outside from the center, which is the representative composition of Zao in the 60s. But the work has the distinction of a lyrical atmosphere, deliberate and calm because Zao was not trying wholeheartedly to “prove himself” as he did in the prime of his career. The arrangement of the painting appears spontaneous, reflecting the liberality and open-mindedness of him as an octogenarian, not to change the countenance even if Mt Tai collapses right before his eyes. The distinct realm and height of life unfolded is just like the magical blue sky in the painting, vast and boundless. The perceptions and joys of life embedded in the work are reminiscent of the poetry of Du Fu in the Tang Dynasty, particularly the verse “there is crystal blue sky above, yielding brilliant light that illuminates the ornate terrace” from the poem “A Winter View of Jinhua Mountain.”
From Integration to Innovation – the New Techniques Developed in between the Ink.
In the middle area of the picture, the seemingly suspended peach pink spreads gently from the left side, accompanied by brushstrokes of bright yellow, white, and blue, further enriching the layers of space. There exists no specific imagery, while the traces of the existence of human beings and nature are evident. As the French art critic Claude Roy said, “Zao Wou-Ki’s paintings have abandoned trees, rivers, forests, and hills, but imbued with thick lava, trembling, spewing and rising. He has aroused a new focus and theatricality.” Its inextricable relationship with the aesthetics of Chinese ink painting and the landscape painting in Song and Yuan dynasties lies beneath the Western oil paints which are bright and full of vigor. As the art critic, Jia Fangzhou pointed out, “This is an artistic approach that doesn’t belong to any Western artist!”
Moreover, a black rubbing of totem uncommonly appears in the upper right of the orange ground. Zao has studied the traditional Chinese rubbings of tablet inscriptions thoroughly. In 1967, he co-authored the book, Estampages Han, with Claude Roy, interpreting the relationship between stone rubbings and the Han culture. However, it is the first time that he incorporated rubbing into the painting, from which we can see his constant exploration of new techniques. As he once said, “I want every painting in progress to be bolder and more unrestrained than the previous one.” Even in his late years, Zao continued to pursue perfection and challenge himself.
The artistic practice of Zao Wou-Ki from the early years to the 1990s, is a journey from the East to the West, finally returning to his inner self. Through 60 years of artistic exploration, he has come through the passages of color, space, light, and material. Holding the mystery of art, he leads us to the depth of the world through his paintings.

Price estimate:
HKD: 30,000,000 - 40,000,000
USD: 3,846,200 - 5,128,200

Auction Result:
HKD: 37,710,000