About the artist:

Zao Wou-ki, found his distinctive voice and vocabulary in his mid-thirties, having by that time lived in Paris for a decade. By the end of 1957 he had committed to abstraction, on terms which from the beginning set him apart from the other artists of his circle—Mitchell, Riopelle, Vieira da Silva, Soulages—as much as from his great supporter Henri Michaux. His cypher-like signature, to which he has remained faithful for over fifty years, gives his first name in Chinese characters and his last in a Western orthography. It is emblematic of a stranded cultural identity, recognized from the first by sympathetic critics as the key to his artistic direction. The recognition, however, took the form of a view of Zao’s painting as an exemplary reconciliation of Chinese and European aesthetics, in which the language of modern Western abstraction is enriched by a Chinese sensibility rooted in the past. Zao's works, influenced by Paul Klee, 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 worked formats in triptychs and diptychs. While his work was stylistically similar to the Abstract Expressionists whom he met while travelling in New York, he was influenced by Impressionism. Zao Wou-ki stated that he had been influenced by the works of Matisse, Picasso and Cézanne. His meetings with Henri Michaux pushed him to review his Indian ink techniques, always based in Chinese traditional drawings. Zao was a member of the Académie des beaux-arts, and was considered to have been one of the most successful Chinese painters during his lifetime. His auction record of RMB 89,680,000 (US$14,718,771) was set at Sotheby's, Beijing, on 1 December 2013. Former French President Jacques Chirac was offered a painting by Zao Wu Ki by his ministers during their last meeting. By the end of his life Zao had stopped producing new paintings due to health problems. He died on 9 April 2013 at his home in Switzerland. Born: 1921 - Beijing, China Nationality / Affiliation: China - France -------------------------------------------------------------------- Selected Solo Exhibitions 2004 Hommages Musée Fabre - Montpellier, France 03/07/2004 - 03/10/2004 Un univers silencieux, 60 ans de peinture Musée des Beaux-Arts - Dunkirk, France 04/04/2004 - 26/07/2004 La quête du silence, 60 ans de peintures Musée du Dessin et de l’Estampe Originale - Gravelines, France 04/04/2004 - 30/09/2004 Musée Rignault - Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, France 20/03/2004 - 06/06/2004 2003 Parcours Galerie Vanuxem - Paris, France 03/10/2003 - 13/12/2003 Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume - Paris, France 13/10/2003 - 07/12/2003 Le Petit Camarguais - Gallargues-le-Montueux, France 27/06/2003 - 21/09/2003 Recent Works Marlborough Gallery - New York NY, United States 30/04/2003 - 24/05/2003 2002 Rêve de nature Château de Chenonceaux - Chenonceaux, France 16/06/2002 - 03/11/2002 2001 Musée d'Ixelles - Brussels, Belgium 09/2001 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Art shows / fairs (Selected) 2004 Art 35 Basel Messe Basel - Basel BS, Switzerland 16/06/2004 - 21/06/2004 Represented by: Galerie Marwan Hoss - Paris, France FIAC Foire Internationale d'Art Contemporain, n°31 Paris Expo - Porte de Versailles - Paris, France 21/10/2004 - 25/10/2004 Represented by: Galerie J. Bastien Art - Brussels, Belgium 2003 ArtBrussels - 21st Contemporary Art Fair Brussels Expo - Brussels, Belgium 04/04/2003 - 08/04/2003 Represented by: Galerie J. Bastien Art - Brussels, Belgium Art Basel Miami Beach Miami Beach Convention Center - Miami Beach FL, United States 04/12/2003 - 07/12/2003 Represented by: Marlborough Gallery - New York NY, United States FIAC, n°30 Paris Expo - Porte de Versailles - Paris, France 09/10/2003 - 13/10/2003 Represented by: Marlborough Gallery - New York NY, United States Art 34 Basel Messe Basel - Basel BS, Switzerland 18/06/2003 - 23/06/2003 Represented by: Galerie Marwan Hoss - Paris, France 2002 ArtBrussels - 20th Contemporary Art Fair Brussels Expo - Brussels, Belgium 02/05/2002 - 06/05/2002 Represented by: Galerie J. Bastien Art - Brussels, Belgium Art 33 Basel Messe Basel - Basel BS, Switzerland 12/06/2002 - 17/06/2002 Represented by: Galerie Ditesheim - Neuchâtel NE, Switzerland Salon du Dessin et de la Peinture à l'Eau Espace Auteuil - Paris, France 24/01/2002 - 04/02/2002 2001 FIAC, n°28 Paris Expo - Porte de Versailles - Paris, France 10/10/2001 - 15/10/2001 Represented by: Thessa Herold - Paris, France Art 32 Basel Messe Basel - Basel BS, Switzerland 13/06/2001 - 18/06/2001 Represented by: Galerie Ditesheim - Neuchâtel NE, Switzerland Art Basel Miami Beach: cancelled Miami Beach Convention Center - Miami Beach FL, United States 13/12/2001 - 16/12/2001 Represented by: Galerie Jan Krugier, Ditesheim & Cie - Geneva GE, Switzerland Arte Fiera - Mostra Mercato d'Arte contemporanea Quartiere Fieristico - Bologna BO, Italy 25/01/2001 - 29/01/2001 Represented by: Galleria Maggiore - Bologna BO, Italy 2000 FIAC, n°27 Paris Expo - Porte de Versailles - Paris, France 25/10/2000 - 30/10/2000 Represented by: Thessa Herold - Paris, France 1998 ARCO - Feria Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, n°17 Parque Ferial Juan Carlos I - Madrid, Spain Represented by: Thessa Herold - Paris, France SAGA - 12ème Salon des Arts Graphiques Actuels Espace Eiffel Branly - Paris, France 23/04/1998 - 27/04/1998 Represented by: Atelier Lacourière Frélaut - Paris, France -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Group exhibitions (Selected) 2003 Paris 1945 bis 1965 - Metropole der Kunst. Malerei, Plastik, Graphik, Photographie Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz - Linz, Austria 11/12/2003 - 12/04/2004 2001 Portraits photographiques d'artistes Salle Rossini - Paris, France 04/10/2001 - 06/10/2001 1994 Zao Wou-Ki/Tung Wen Margue Le Cercle Bleu - Espace d'Art Contemporain - Metz, France -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Commissions and collections (Selected) Public collections FNAC Fonds National d'Art Contemporain - Puteaux, France MNAM Musée National d'Art Moderne - Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou - Paris, France Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum - New York NY, United States TFAM Taipei Fine Art Museum - Taipei, Taiwan Walker Art Center - Minneapolis MN, United States