Watercolour on paper

28 × 37.5 cm. 11 × 14 3/4 in.

Signed in Chinese and English, dated on bottom right
PROVENANCE
7 Apr 2014, China Guardian Hong Kong Spring Auction, Lot 406
5 Dec 2020, China Guardian Autumn Auction, Lot 1512
Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above

The Clouds and Waves of the Ravine, the Clear Pool and the Song
Wandering Through Zao Wou-Ki's Poems on Paper

“I like people to be able to stroll about in my canvases, as I do myself when I am painting them.”

――Zao Wou-Ki, 1967

In 1959, Zao Wou-Ki launched the next artistic decade with his passionate and energetic “Hurricane Period”, which became his peak of creation. During this period, he was represented by the prestigious Galerie de France and, in 1965, held a major retrospective exhibition at the Folkwang Museum in Germany, gaining worldwide recognition. At the same time, Zao Wou-Ki's total commitment to his work was reflected in the poetic subtleties of ink and brush on paper as well as in the magnificence of the canvas. He used watercolour as an alternative means of expression to create the rhythm and brilliance of the natural spirit. Completed in 1967, Streams and Mountains is an exemplary example of Zao Wou-Ki's creative vision from this period, a richly detailed and poetic refinement of his watercolour work.

The Sky and the Earth Reaches the Breadth and Penetrates the Subtle to the End

The composition of Streams and Mountains is dense at the centre and sparse at the top and bottom, revealing the magnificence of heaven and earth within a few inches and highly illustrating the “central-axis” composition that was the most iconic of Zao Wou-Ki's “Hurricane Period”. In the centre of the painting, the wildly cursive lines burst forth and swirl with flexible, dense, multi-directional tremulous strokes, resembling waves and jagged rocks, building up a strong quality of ink and brushwork. The painting shows Zao Wou-Ki's pursuit of “reaches the breadth and greatness and penetrates the refined and subtle to the end".

In contrast, the silvery clouds and blue mist swirl up and the purple smoke and haze surround, leaving the sky and the earth vast and the shadows of the pond pure. The game of the virtual and the real, the dense and the empty, co-exist here. All formless and shapeless movements and vitality have signs, creating a boundless and endless universe of momentum.

Poetry and Painting Are in Symbiosis, Perceiving the Spirit of Nature

“I know the skies bursting with lightning, and the waterspouts

And the surf and the currents; I know the evening,

And dawn as exalted as a flock of doves

And at times I have seen what man thought he saw!

I have seen the low sun spotted with mystic horrors,

Lighting up, with long violet clots,

Resembling actors of very ancient dramas,

The waves rolling far off their quivering of shutters!”

――French poet Arthur Limbaud, The Drunken Boat

In the mid-1960s, Zao Wou-Ki was inspired by the poetry of the symbolist poet Limbaud's Les Illuminations to create his own form of watercolour and distil his poetic images of nature from the poetry of the East and West. In a solo exhibition at the Galerie de France in 1967, he presented a unique watercolour painting as to tribute to Rimbaud. Completed that year, Streams and Mountains may also be an echo of Limbaud's poetry from this period. It is a testament to Zao Wou-Ki's higher expression of the fusion of Eastern and Western poetry!

This work is like strolling through Zao Wou-Ki's slowly spreading landscape: The wild and powerful brushstrokes are shaped like the winding rocks and cliffs. The bold ink is listed as the passageway of the gorge. The magnificent purple smoke is transformed into the clouds in the dawn and dusk, like the poem of Limbaud: "Lighting up, with long violet clots". The clear blue colour resembles "The waterfalls of the cliffs sprinkle like snow", and it flows for an adventure, like “Dawn as exalted as a flock of doves". Until the blue colour is injected into the jade pool, "The waves rolling far off their quivering of shutters". The work undoubtedly encapsulates Zao Wou-Ki's subtle interpretation of the poetry of the East and the West. It expresses his artistic state of mind of being alone with the spirit of heaven and earth: Travelling in nature, accessing the heights of heaven and earth, and finally returning to a place of inner eternity.

Price estimate:
HKD: 750,000 - 950,000
USD: 95,500 - 121,000

Auction Result:
HKD: 900,000