PRINTPROVENANCE:
Private Callertion, Asia
This painting is to be sold with a certificate of authenticity issuedby Atelier Zao Wou-ki.
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18.02.2002
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2002 Oil on canvas 81 x 100 cm Signed lower right Wou-ki in Chinese and ZAO in French |
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Estimate
46,000,000 - 55,000,000 11,358,000 - 13,580,000 1,464,000 - 1,750,500
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Sold Price
47,360,000 11,523,114 1,484,174
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PROVENANCE:
Private Callertion, Asia
This painting is to be sold with a certificate of authenticity issuedby Atelier Zao Wou-ki.
Catalogue Note:
lively and full of hope,
AS BRIGHT AND INSPIRING
AS IF IT DESCENDED RIGHT
FROM THE HEAVENS .
As people celebrated the new millennium, Zao Wou-Ki welcomed the 8th decade of his illustrious life. Following decades of aesthetic convergence between east and west tempered with the joys and sorrows of the majestic era, the artist’s journey continued on as he persisted in making breakthroughs and the search for new artistic territories. After a long, arduous life of magnificent attainments and dynamic emotions, at 80 years of age Zao Wou-Ki had already gained the great respect of all had come to know him. He became a member of the Academie des Beaux- Arts de’l’Institute de France in 2002, the same year in which he completed “18.02.2002”. Through his iconic style of lyrical abstraction, a refreshingly mellowed harmony between earth and sky was lovingly conveyed, the culmination of revelations accumulated over decades of artistic endeavor.
Perhaps because of the artist’s immanent wisdom and magnanimity, Zou Wou-Ki’s works century exhibit a conscious restraint of contradictory conflicts and intense emotions in the 21st century. The surge of passion and struggle is elevated, and his use of color became brighter and softer. His brushstrokes remained superbly rigorous, but the strength was hidden beneath a veil of quietness and serenity, unapparent yet enduring. “18.02.2002” utilizes central composition; the darker colors aggregated in the center are painted with light, slender brushstrokes that produce a dynamic sense of speed and resounding strength and display the artist’s ability to master lines, a legacy of his “oracle bone script era” in the 1950’s. The painting is layered with multiple shades of blue, green, and yellow. Each vibrant color is uniquely expressive yet converges harmoniously with the other colors to create a sophisticated and ever-changing charm, as ethereal as billows of wind flowing through the atmosphere. Compared to Zao Wou-Ki’s earlier works, the increased presence of light over shadow gives the majestic work an ambiance of refreshing harmony. Somewhere within the boundless void, invisible forces are amassing and transforming, revealing the blazing power that lie underneath the peaceful tranquility.
“18.02.2002” may be otherwise interpreted as a vast expanse of ocean, in which galloping waves reflecting the crystalline colors of blue and green intonate a mysterious, resonating melody. Warmth emanates from the pale yellow horizon, exuding a poetic peace and calm, reflecting the flames of the sages. It could also have been a panoramic view of mountain and valley, with towering mountaintops peeking through shrouded mist and diaphanous clouds. Under the pale yellow sky is the elegant outline of a mountain, while the splashes of paint in the center resembles the rugged, rocky landscape, or a sturdy tree towering above the misty horizon as it stands tall and proudly within the mountains, liberated from the constraints of the universe. The painting is imbued with the boundless vivid spirit of Chinese landscapes, yet also reminiscent of German Romantic master Casper David Friedrich’s 1808 “Morning Mist in the Mountains” (Rudolstadt Staatliche Museum, Thüringen, German), where natural beauty and grand sentiments of the artist are displayed within a poetic atmosphere of dreamy romance. Unlike the pale gray shades of coldness and frigidity in “Morning Mist in the Mountains”, however, Zao Wou-Ki employed bright greens and blues in “18.02.2002”, making the colors surge, and added lively strokes of darkness to create endless variety. It was as if he were composing a melodious tune, lively and full of hope, as bright and inspiring as if it descended right from the heavens.
After decades of fervor, struggles, passion, and force, Zao Wou- Ki ultimately transcended the poetic landscapes of his Klee era, the symbolic and metaphorical oracle bone script era, through to the elevated emotiveness of lyrical abstraction. His later works appear at ease and carefree, with bright colors that dissipate as naturally as flowing layers of ink wash. His brushstroke came from the heart; whether expeditiously or meticulously slow, each brushstroke exuded assurance, serenity and harmonious wisdom. “18.02.2002” is boundless and ethereal; its invisible forces both intensively dynamic and exquisitely light; captivating, but peacefully. The artist had achieved a perfect balance between tangible and intangible sights and objects, thereby imbuing the painting with endless spatial possibilities. As colors of clarity and brilliance flow through the rhythmic composition, vivid and light, ever-changing and sophisticated, it is as if the soul has transcended to a celestial realm.
AS BRIGHT AND INSPIRING
AS IF IT DESCENDED RIGHT
FROM THE HEAVENS .
As people celebrated the new millennium, Zao Wou-Ki welcomed the 8th decade of his illustrious life. Following decades of aesthetic convergence between east and west tempered with the joys and sorrows of the majestic era, the artist’s journey continued on as he persisted in making breakthroughs and the search for new artistic territories. After a long, arduous life of magnificent attainments and dynamic emotions, at 80 years of age Zao Wou-Ki had already gained the great respect of all had come to know him. He became a member of the Academie des Beaux- Arts de’l’Institute de France in 2002, the same year in which he completed “18.02.2002”. Through his iconic style of lyrical abstraction, a refreshingly mellowed harmony between earth and sky was lovingly conveyed, the culmination of revelations accumulated over decades of artistic endeavor.
Perhaps because of the artist’s immanent wisdom and magnanimity, Zou Wou-Ki’s works century exhibit a conscious restraint of contradictory conflicts and intense emotions in the 21st century. The surge of passion and struggle is elevated, and his use of color became brighter and softer. His brushstrokes remained superbly rigorous, but the strength was hidden beneath a veil of quietness and serenity, unapparent yet enduring. “18.02.2002” utilizes central composition; the darker colors aggregated in the center are painted with light, slender brushstrokes that produce a dynamic sense of speed and resounding strength and display the artist’s ability to master lines, a legacy of his “oracle bone script era” in the 1950’s. The painting is layered with multiple shades of blue, green, and yellow. Each vibrant color is uniquely expressive yet converges harmoniously with the other colors to create a sophisticated and ever-changing charm, as ethereal as billows of wind flowing through the atmosphere. Compared to Zao Wou-Ki’s earlier works, the increased presence of light over shadow gives the majestic work an ambiance of refreshing harmony. Somewhere within the boundless void, invisible forces are amassing and transforming, revealing the blazing power that lie underneath the peaceful tranquility.
“18.02.2002” may be otherwise interpreted as a vast expanse of ocean, in which galloping waves reflecting the crystalline colors of blue and green intonate a mysterious, resonating melody. Warmth emanates from the pale yellow horizon, exuding a poetic peace and calm, reflecting the flames of the sages. It could also have been a panoramic view of mountain and valley, with towering mountaintops peeking through shrouded mist and diaphanous clouds. Under the pale yellow sky is the elegant outline of a mountain, while the splashes of paint in the center resembles the rugged, rocky landscape, or a sturdy tree towering above the misty horizon as it stands tall and proudly within the mountains, liberated from the constraints of the universe. The painting is imbued with the boundless vivid spirit of Chinese landscapes, yet also reminiscent of German Romantic master Casper David Friedrich’s 1808 “Morning Mist in the Mountains” (Rudolstadt Staatliche Museum, Thüringen, German), where natural beauty and grand sentiments of the artist are displayed within a poetic atmosphere of dreamy romance. Unlike the pale gray shades of coldness and frigidity in “Morning Mist in the Mountains”, however, Zao Wou-Ki employed bright greens and blues in “18.02.2002”, making the colors surge, and added lively strokes of darkness to create endless variety. It was as if he were composing a melodious tune, lively and full of hope, as bright and inspiring as if it descended right from the heavens.
After decades of fervor, struggles, passion, and force, Zao Wou- Ki ultimately transcended the poetic landscapes of his Klee era, the symbolic and metaphorical oracle bone script era, through to the elevated emotiveness of lyrical abstraction. His later works appear at ease and carefree, with bright colors that dissipate as naturally as flowing layers of ink wash. His brushstroke came from the heart; whether expeditiously or meticulously slow, each brushstroke exuded assurance, serenity and harmonious wisdom. “18.02.2002” is boundless and ethereal; its invisible forces both intensively dynamic and exquisitely light; captivating, but peacefully. The artist had achieved a perfect balance between tangible and intangible sights and objects, thereby imbuing the painting with endless spatial possibilities. As colors of clarity and brilliance flow through the rhythmic composition, vivid and light, ever-changing and sophisticated, it is as if the soul has transcended to a celestial realm.