Poet Wai-lim Yip (b.1937) believes: Zao Wou-ki is the first Chinese artist to blend and present together in a rich whole, the Chinese picturesque realm, the artistic mood, concepts of time and space, as well as the westernized ideas of time - space exploration. Due to his success, latecomers in China were driven on to explore and uncover the path of abstract art. In the realms of abstract painting, Zao was a pioneer①. Indeed, over the year, critiques for Zao Wou-ki's art have mainly been the work of poets. Having practiced music for six years, there is a certain musical element in Zao's paintings that is close to the levels of poetry. Among the friends who appreciate him, the most important one in his life was also a poet, Henri Michaux (1899-1984), who held the highest esteem for Chinese culture. Michaux and Zao were acquainted in 1949 and their friendship lasted for 35 years. Michaux once pointed out that Zao Wou-ki's paintings were not "landscapes" but "nature" and this assessment tallied truly with the artist's state of mind. Fortunately, through Michaux's introductions, Zao was able to assimilate himself in no time into the art and literary circle of Paris, which is a gathering of the talented and able, and hence be able to progress in step with members of the post war New York School.

"Abstract Expressionism" also known as "Non-Figurative" was a new form of mainstream art that flourished after the Second World War. Their beliefs lie in the use of form and color in an art form that wholly express the artist's concept of self. Starting from Kandinsky onwards, abstract art turned into an important art phenomenon during the mid twentieth century, while Expressionism, which began from the paintings of C'ezanne?anne and Van Gogh, reemerged again during this time due to the impact of war. The two streams of art combined to form a trend that mesmerized New York. Despite the differences in style among the members, they still dominated in their won respective domains. Two groups emerged from the trends, one of which was "Action Painting" such as the likes of Jackson Pollock, William de Kooning, Franz Kline and Guston; the other group was "Color Field Painting" represented by the likes of Mark Rothko, Kenneth Noland and Robert Motherwell. After the war, European art was also simultaneously inspired by the American art, initiating the artistic trend "L'Art informal"on the European continent at nearly the same time. Representative figures include Hans Hartung, G?ard Schneider, Pierre Soulages etc., and Zao Wou-ki, in precise, was one of the members from this artistic trend, favourably known was the lyric abstract painter.

The year 1960 held an important significance to Zao Wou-ki's life: nearing forty years old, with both life and work reaching a matured stage, he had just found a place where he could paint undisturbed and open up the horizons in his heart and soul. Once he stopped over at this lodging, he went on to stay for forty odd years until present. During June or July of 1960, Zao Wou-ki twice held solos at Galerie de France. Then, Galerie de France was already an agent representing celebrated artists such as post war abstract painter Hartung, Soulages and Manessier. At that moment, Zao had already become a member of the post war contemporary artists. In autumn 1960, together with people such as Soulages and Michaux, he represented France in the Venice Biennale and once again spread his fame throughout the international art circle. Zao Wou-ki's abstract painting from the 1960s was deemed by fine arts historians to have reached its peak and his popularity had reached unsurpassed levels. With China and Paris being equally influential and important to him, he believed that he had found a way to merge both East and West center.

Using red as a key background, applying vigorous pitch-brown colored brush strokes either precipitately or unhurriedly; "18.3.1964" is laden with force, filling the whole picture in a rich sense of rhythmic motion. His natural ideals has already exceeded the limitations of medium and materials by achieving the hard-to-attain carefree motions and spattering using oil, as well as the highly difficult dense precipitation using ink and wash. It is amazing that two entirely different cultural feel could be found bestriding naturally on the same piece of canvass. In this painting, the commonly seen symbols of the 50s had long sublimed into formless paint marks and lines. Within the composition is magnificent scenery of boundless proportions, alike a huge gigantic natural world. Onlookers are spellbound by the glorious sights and fall unwittingly into the symphonic poem depicted in the painting. At the bottom of the background are thick stores of pitch-brown that looks just like accumulated clouds constantly chasing and growing, changing in a twinkling back into momentous billows of rising steam. The swift and speedy painting touch flows in undulating rhythm, creating spatters of white frost in a flash, just like a sudden shower, just like a whirlwind; within the mist enshrouded universe, rising rolls of brown finally transforms into several thin wisps of smoke in the sky.



① Wai-lim Yip, Dialogues With Contemporary Artists - Birth and Growth of Chinese Modern Oil Paintings, Tung Ta Book Company, Taipei, December 1987 (first edition), February 1996 (second edition), p.13