Zao Wou Ki
Encyclopedia
Zao Wou-Ki is a Chinese
-French
painter
.
in his childhood
and from 1935 to 1941 painting
at the school of Fine Arts in Hangzhou
. In 1948, he went with his wife Lan-lan, a composer, to Paris
to live on the same block in Montparnasse
where the classes of Émile Othon Friesz took place. His earliest exhibitions in France were met with praise from Miró
and Picasso.
Husband and wife each pursued his/her own career, their son having stayed on in China with his paternal grandparents. In the mid-Fifties, they were divorced, and in 1957, Zao Wou-ki decided to visit the US where his younger brother Chao Wu-Wai lived in Montclair, New Jersey
, close to the art scene in New York City
. His good friends, M. and Mme. Pierre Soulages
, travelled with him. Zao wanted to learn more about Pop Art
, which was then beginning to grab a lot of attention world-wide. He was not interested in their aesthetic and said that he had a difficult time understanding its raison d'être
– not surprising since he was unfamiliar with American popular culture. He enjoyed meeting the artists at their watering holes, the Cedars and the Five Spot
for long evenings of talk.
While in the US, he painted seven canvases at his brother’s house. There are relatively few items dating from that year (1957). Years later, the largest canvas was given by his brother, Chao Wu-Wai, to the Detroit Institute of Arts
. He left the US after a six week stay, travelling to Tokyo and then Hong Kong, where he met his future wife, actress Zhu Ying, a beautiful movie star with two young children. She later became a sculptor who received admiring and critical praise. She committed suicide at the height of her career.
, are orientated to abstraction
. He names them with the date in which he finishes them, and in them, masses of colours appear to materialise a creating world, like a big bang
, where light structures the canvas. He works often big formats in triptych
s and diptych
s.
While his work is stylistically similar to the Abstract Expressionists whom he met while travelling in New York, he is also influenced by Impressionism
. Zao Wou-ki himself has stated that he has been influenced by the works of Matisse, Picasso, and Cézanne.
His meeting with Henri Michaux
pushed him to review his Indian ink techniques, always based in Chinese traditional drawings.
Zao Wou-ki is a member of the Académie des beaux-arts
, and is considered one of the most successful Chinese painters alive. One of his paintings recently sold for a record price equivalent to 2 million USD at the Sotheby's
in Hong Kong. Former French President Jacques Chirac
was offered a painting by Zao Wu Ki by his ministers during their last meeting.
As of now Zao Wou-ki has stopped producing new paintings.
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
-French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
.
Biography
He was born in a cultivated family and studied calligraphyCalligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
in his childhood
Childhood
Childhood is the age span ranging from birth to adolescence. In developmental psychology, childhood is divided up into the developmental stages of toddlerhood , early childhood , middle childhood , and adolescence .- Age ranges of childhood :The term childhood is non-specific and can imply a...
and from 1935 to 1941 painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
at the school of Fine Arts in Hangzhou
Hangzhou
Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
. In 1948, he went with his wife Lan-lan, a composer, to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to live on the same block in Montparnasse
Montparnasse
Montparnasse is an area of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail...
where the classes of Émile Othon Friesz took place. His earliest exhibitions in France were met with praise from Miró
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
and Picasso.
Husband and wife each pursued his/her own career, their son having stayed on in China with his paternal grandparents. In the mid-Fifties, they were divorced, and in 1957, Zao Wou-ki decided to visit the US where his younger brother Chao Wu-Wai lived in Montclair, New Jersey
Montclair, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 38,977 people, 15,020 households, and 9,687 families residing in the township. The population density was 6,183.6 people per square mile . There were 15,531 housing units at an average density of 2,464.0 per square mile...
, close to the art scene in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. His good friends, M. and Mme. Pierre Soulages
Pierre Soulages
Pierre Soulages is a French painter, engraver, and sculptor.-Biography:Born in Rodez in 1919, Soulages also is known as "the painter of black" because of his interest in the colour, "...both a colour and a non-colour. When light is reflected on black, it transforms and transmutes it. It opens up...
, travelled with him. Zao wanted to learn more about Pop Art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
, which was then beginning to grab a lot of attention world-wide. He was not interested in their aesthetic and said that he had a difficult time understanding its raison d'être
Raison d'être
Raison d'être is a French phrase meaning "reason for existence." It may also refer to:* Raison d'être , a Swedish dark-ambient-industrial-drone music project* Raison D'être , an album by Australian jazz fusion guitarist Frank Gambale...
– not surprising since he was unfamiliar with American popular culture. He enjoyed meeting the artists at their watering holes, the Cedars and the Five Spot
Five Spot
The Five Spot Café was a jazz club located at 5 Cooper Square in the Bowery neighbourhood of New York City.-History:In 1937, Salvatore Termini purchased what was then known as the Bowery Café, a working-class bar located under the Third Avenue El. In 1946, two of Termini's sons, Joe and Ignatze ...
for long evenings of talk.
While in the US, he painted seven canvases at his brother’s house. There are relatively few items dating from that year (1957). Years later, the largest canvas was given by his brother, Chao Wu-Wai, to the Detroit Institute of Arts
Detroit Institute of Arts
The Detroit Institute of Arts is a renowned art museum in the city of Detroit. In 2003, the DIA ranked as the second largest municipally owned museum in the United States, with an art collection valued at more than one billion dollars...
. He left the US after a six week stay, travelling to Tokyo and then Hong Kong, where he met his future wife, actress Zhu Ying, a beautiful movie star with two young children. She later became a sculptor who received admiring and critical praise. She committed suicide at the height of her career.
Career
His works, influenced by Paul KleePaul Klee
Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a German and a Swiss painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism...
, are orientated to abstraction
Abstraction
Abstraction is a process by which higher concepts are derived from the usage and classification of literal concepts, first principles, or other methods....
. He names them with the date in which he finishes them, and in them, masses of colours appear to materialise a creating world, like a big bang
Big Bang
The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model that explains the early development of the Universe. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly. This rapid expansion caused the young Universe to cool and resulted in...
, where light structures the canvas. He works often big formats in triptych
Triptych
A triptych , from tri-= "three" + ptysso= "to fold") is a work of art which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works...
s and diptych
Diptych
A diptych di "two" + ptychē "fold") is any object with two flat plates attached at a hinge. Devices of this form were quite popular in the ancient world, wax tablets being coated with wax on inner faces, for recording notes and for measuring time and direction.In Late Antiquity, ivory diptychs with...
s.
While his work is stylistically similar to the Abstract Expressionists whom he met while travelling in New York, he is also influenced by Impressionism
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
. Zao Wou-ki himself has stated that he has been influenced by the works of Matisse, Picasso, and Cézanne.
His meeting with Henri Michaux
Henri Michaux
Henri Michaux was a highly idiosyncratic Belgian-born poet, writer, and painter who wrote in French. He later took French citizenship. Michaux is best known for his esoteric books written in a highly accessible style, and his body of work includes poetry, travelogues, and art criticism...
pushed him to review his Indian ink techniques, always based in Chinese traditional drawings.
Zao Wou-ki is a member of the Académie des beaux-arts
Académie des beaux-arts
The Académie des Beaux-Arts is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.It was created in 1795 as the merger of the:* Académie de peinture et de sculpture...
, and is considered one of the most successful Chinese painters alive. One of his paintings recently sold for a record price equivalent to 2 million USD at the Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
in Hong Kong. Former French President Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
was offered a painting by Zao Wu Ki by his ministers during their last meeting.
As of now Zao Wou-ki has stopped producing new paintings.
Selected biographies
- Zao Wou-Ki, Autoportrait, Fayard, Paris, 1988.
- Claude Roy, Zao Wou-Ki, Le Musée de Poche, Editions Georges Fall, Paris, 1957.