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Lot 13 |Provenant d'une prestigieuse collection privée, Europe
Zao Wou-Ki (1920-2013)
6.2.89
Closed17 October 2019
Price Realised
EUR 2,770,000
More Information
Zao Wou-Ki (1920-2013)
6.2.89
signé en Chinois et signé en Pinyin 'ZAO' (en bas à droite); signé et titré 'ZAO WOU KI "6.2.89"' (au revers)
huile sur toile
130 x 195 cm.
Peint le 6 février 1989
signed in Chinese and signed in Pinyin 'ZAO' (lower right); signed and titled 'ZAO WOU KI "6.2.89"' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
51 1/8 x 76 ¾ in.
Painted on 6th February 1989
6.2.89
signé en Chinois et signé en Pinyin 'ZAO' (en bas à droite); signé et titré 'ZAO WOU KI "6.2.89"' (au revers)
huile sur toile
130 x 195 cm.
Peint le 6 février 1989
signed in Chinese and signed in Pinyin 'ZAO' (lower right); signed and titled 'ZAO WOU KI "6.2.89"' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
51 1/8 x 76 ¾ in.
Painted on 6th February 1989
Zao Wou-Ki (1920-2013)
6.2.89
signé en Chinois et signé en Pinyin 'ZAO' (en bas à droite); signé et titré 'ZAO WOU KI "6.2.89"' (au revers)
huile sur toile
130 x 195 cm.
Peint le 6 février 1989
signed in Chinese and signed in Pinyin 'ZAO' (lower right); signed and titled 'ZAO WOU KI "6.2.89"' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
51 1/8 x 76 ¾ in.
Painted on 6th February 1989
6.2.89
signé en Chinois et signé en Pinyin 'ZAO' (en bas à droite); signé et titré 'ZAO WOU KI "6.2.89"' (au revers)
huile sur toile
130 x 195 cm.
Peint le 6 février 1989
signed in Chinese and signed in Pinyin 'ZAO' (lower right); signed and titled 'ZAO WOU KI "6.2.89"' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
51 1/8 x 76 ¾ in.
Painted on 6th February 1989
Galerie Jan Krugier, Genève.
Collection privée, Paris.
Vente, Loudmer Scp, 23 juin 1993, lot 48A.
Galerie Jan Krugier, Ditesheim & Cie., Genève.
Acquis auprès de celle-ci par les propriétaires actuels, en 1996.
Collection privée, Paris.
Vente, Loudmer Scp, 23 juin 1993, lot 48A.
Galerie Jan Krugier, Ditesheim & Cie., Genève.
Acquis auprès de celle-ci par les propriétaires actuels, en 1996.
Y. Bonnefoy et G. de Cortanze, Zao Wou-Ki, Paris, 1998, no. 242, p. 379 (illustré en couleurs, p. 242).
Genève, Galerie Jan Krugier, Zao Wou-Ki peintures et encres, avril-mai 1990, no. 9 (illustré en couleurs, non paginé).
Subtil équilibre du calme et de l’agitation, 6.2.89 dévoile la force mature de son auteur, Zao Wou-Ki. Cette force tient au dialogue apaisé, nouveau, que le peintre entretient avec ses racines chinoises. Arrivé à Paris en 1948, Zao Wou-Ki prend rapidement place dans l’abstraction d’après-guerre : il peint à l’huile et se défait de la tradition chinoise, celle du dessin à l’encre. La mort de sa seconde épouse May, en 1972, marquera pourtant un retour au « murmure de sa langue maternelle » (Henri Michaux in catalogue d’exposition, Zao Wou-Ki, Cadby-Birch Gallery, New York, 1952). Après près de vingt ans d’absence, le peintre voyage dans son pays natal ; il reprend également, comme malgré lui, son pinceau de calligraphe. Encouragé par Henri Michaux, l’artiste s’abandonnera librement à cette forme d’expression retrouvée : « je pris conscience que la pratique de l’encre de Chine devenait plus qu’un jeu, relation que j’entretenais avec elle depuis toujours » (cité in Zao Wou-Ki et Françoise Marquet, Autoportrait, Paris, 1988, p.162).
Réconcilié avec cet héritage, Zao Wou-Ki s’ouvre aux autres dans la décennie qui précède 6.2.89. Il bénéficie en 1981 de sa première exposition muséale, au Grand Palais, qui voyagera jusqu’à Pékin ; enseigne en 1985 à son ancienne école en Chine ; publie enfin en 1988 son autobiographie. Les œuvres de cette période suivront un même cheminement, dévoilement d’une paix intérieure. Au contact de la feuille devenue exutoire, sa peinture est transmutée. À l’image de 6.2.89, où se lit l’influence de la tradition chinoise : l’huile, diluée puis déposée en fines couches translucides sur la toile, se pare ainsi des qualités du lavis à l’encre de Chine. L’usage restreint de la couleur participe également de ce mirage. Car, si une myriade de couleurs apparaît en transparence, bleu cristallin ou violet qui tire sur le rose, l’essentiel de la composition tient aux torrents délavés noirs.
Reflet de l’humeur du peintre, 6.2.89 témoigne de l’apaisement que Zao Wou-Ki a trouvé dans cette harmonie éloquente de l’Orient avec l’Occident. L’agitation sismique des extrémités de la toile n’enlève ainsi rien à la quiétude sibylline qu’elle éveille. Bien qu’abstraite, elle suggère à l’esprit un paysage calme rêvé : celui de montagnes rocheuses, d’une plaine lisse et d’un coucher de soleil par-delà l’horizon. Peut-être est-ce la raison qui conduira Jacques Chessex à écrire pour l’exposition de la Galerie Jan Krugier en 1990, où figure 6.2.89 : « Ainsi les récentes peintures de Zao Wou-Ki se montrent-elles infiniment réfractaires à toute angoisse, à toute obsession du temps. Ignorant l’usure, le vieillissement, la destruction […] Une métamorphose vers la fraîcheur » (cité in catalogue d’exposition, Zao Wou-Ki, Galerie Jan Krugier, Genève, 1990).
A subtle balance between calm and bustle, 6.2.89 reveals the mature strength of the artist behind it: Zao Wou-Ki. This strength comes from a pacified, renewed dialogue the painter sustained with his Chinese roots. Having arrived in Paris in 1948, Zao Wou-Ki quickly found his place in post-war abstract art: producing oil paintings, he parted with the Chinese tradition of drawing in ink. But the death of his second wife, May, in 1972, prompted him to turn back to the "murmur of his mother tongue" (Henri Michaux in the exhibition catalogue, Zao Wou-Ki, Cadby-Birch Gallery, New York, 1952). After almost twenty years spent away from his native country, the painter went back there. He also, in spite of himself, picked up his calligraphy brush again. Encouraged by Henri Michaux, the artist freely indulged in this form of expression, which he rediscovered: "I realised that using Indian ink was becoming to me more than just playfulness, which is how I had always related to it before" (quoted from: Zao Wou-Ki and Françoise Marquet, Autoportrait, Paris, 1988, p.162).
Reconciled with this heritage, Zao Wou-Ki opened up to others in the decade preceding his creation of 6.2.89. In 1981, he displayed, at Le Grand Palais, his first museum exhibition, which went all the way to Beijing. In 1985, he taught at his former school in China. And in 1988, he published his autobiography. His works from this period developed in similar ways, unveiling an inner peace. When in contact with paper—which became an outlet to him—his painting was transmuted. This can be seen in 6.2.89, in which the influence of Chinese tradition is evident: oil paint, diluted then applied in thin layers on the canvas, presents the traits of Indian ink washes. Limited use of colour also contributed to this mirage. Because, despite a myriad of colours—crystalline blue or violet playing with pink—appearing transparently, the work’s main features are its black, washy torrents.
As a reflection of the painter’s mood, 6.2.89 bears witness to the peace Zao Wou-Ki found in this eloquent harmony between Eastern and Western traditions. The seismic tumult at the edges of the painting therefore take nothing away from the sibylline tranquillity it elicits. Although the painting is abstract, it suggests a calm, dreamy landscape: one of rocky mountains, a smooth plain and a sunset beyond the horizon. This was perhaps why Jacques Chessex was led to write—for the 1990 exhibition at the Galerie Jan Krugier, where 6.2.89 was featured—the following remarks: "In this way, the recent paintings by Zao Wou-Ki prove infinitely resistant to any anxiety or obsession with time. Ignorant of wear, ageing and destruction, they are a metamorphosis towards freshness" (quoted from: exhibition catalogue, Zao Wou-Ki, Galerie Jan Krugier, Geneva, 1990).
Réconcilié avec cet héritage, Zao Wou-Ki s’ouvre aux autres dans la décennie qui précède 6.2.89. Il bénéficie en 1981 de sa première exposition muséale, au Grand Palais, qui voyagera jusqu’à Pékin ; enseigne en 1985 à son ancienne école en Chine ; publie enfin en 1988 son autobiographie. Les œuvres de cette période suivront un même cheminement, dévoilement d’une paix intérieure. Au contact de la feuille devenue exutoire, sa peinture est transmutée. À l’image de 6.2.89, où se lit l’influence de la tradition chinoise : l’huile, diluée puis déposée en fines couches translucides sur la toile, se pare ainsi des qualités du lavis à l’encre de Chine. L’usage restreint de la couleur participe également de ce mirage. Car, si une myriade de couleurs apparaît en transparence, bleu cristallin ou violet qui tire sur le rose, l’essentiel de la composition tient aux torrents délavés noirs.
Reflet de l’humeur du peintre, 6.2.89 témoigne de l’apaisement que Zao Wou-Ki a trouvé dans cette harmonie éloquente de l’Orient avec l’Occident. L’agitation sismique des extrémités de la toile n’enlève ainsi rien à la quiétude sibylline qu’elle éveille. Bien qu’abstraite, elle suggère à l’esprit un paysage calme rêvé : celui de montagnes rocheuses, d’une plaine lisse et d’un coucher de soleil par-delà l’horizon. Peut-être est-ce la raison qui conduira Jacques Chessex à écrire pour l’exposition de la Galerie Jan Krugier en 1990, où figure 6.2.89 : « Ainsi les récentes peintures de Zao Wou-Ki se montrent-elles infiniment réfractaires à toute angoisse, à toute obsession du temps. Ignorant l’usure, le vieillissement, la destruction […] Une métamorphose vers la fraîcheur » (cité in catalogue d’exposition, Zao Wou-Ki, Galerie Jan Krugier, Genève, 1990).
A subtle balance between calm and bustle, 6.2.89 reveals the mature strength of the artist behind it: Zao Wou-Ki. This strength comes from a pacified, renewed dialogue the painter sustained with his Chinese roots. Having arrived in Paris in 1948, Zao Wou-Ki quickly found his place in post-war abstract art: producing oil paintings, he parted with the Chinese tradition of drawing in ink. But the death of his second wife, May, in 1972, prompted him to turn back to the "murmur of his mother tongue" (Henri Michaux in the exhibition catalogue, Zao Wou-Ki, Cadby-Birch Gallery, New York, 1952). After almost twenty years spent away from his native country, the painter went back there. He also, in spite of himself, picked up his calligraphy brush again. Encouraged by Henri Michaux, the artist freely indulged in this form of expression, which he rediscovered: "I realised that using Indian ink was becoming to me more than just playfulness, which is how I had always related to it before" (quoted from: Zao Wou-Ki and Françoise Marquet, Autoportrait, Paris, 1988, p.162).
Reconciled with this heritage, Zao Wou-Ki opened up to others in the decade preceding his creation of 6.2.89. In 1981, he displayed, at Le Grand Palais, his first museum exhibition, which went all the way to Beijing. In 1985, he taught at his former school in China. And in 1988, he published his autobiography. His works from this period developed in similar ways, unveiling an inner peace. When in contact with paper—which became an outlet to him—his painting was transmuted. This can be seen in 6.2.89, in which the influence of Chinese tradition is evident: oil paint, diluted then applied in thin layers on the canvas, presents the traits of Indian ink washes. Limited use of colour also contributed to this mirage. Because, despite a myriad of colours—crystalline blue or violet playing with pink—appearing transparently, the work’s main features are its black, washy torrents.
As a reflection of the painter’s mood, 6.2.89 bears witness to the peace Zao Wou-Ki found in this eloquent harmony between Eastern and Western traditions. The seismic tumult at the edges of the painting therefore take nothing away from the sibylline tranquillity it elicits. Although the painting is abstract, it suggests a calm, dreamy landscape: one of rocky mountains, a smooth plain and a sunset beyond the horizon. This was perhaps why Jacques Chessex was led to write—for the 1990 exhibition at the Galerie Jan Krugier, where 6.2.89 was featured—the following remarks: "In this way, the recent paintings by Zao Wou-Ki prove infinitely resistant to any anxiety or obsession with time. Ignorant of wear, ageing and destruction, they are a metamorphosis towards freshness" (quoted from: exhibition catalogue, Zao Wou-Ki, Galerie Jan Krugier, Geneva, 1990).
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Please note that this Lot is subject to the Artist's Resale Right.
Please note that this Lot is subject to the Artist's Resale Right.
Specialist note
Cette oeuvre est référencée dans les archives de la Fondation Zao Wou-Ki et sera incluse dans le catalogue raisonné de l’artiste en préparation par Françoise Marquet et Yann Hendgen (information fournie par la Fondation Zao Wou-Ki).