Zao Wou-Ki |Sans titre
‘My interior world is the source of my inspiration… There are no other considerations besides my internal needs, and in this sense, I don’t require guidance from anyone else, so long as I think [the idea] is great enough or strong enough.’
In the 1960s, Zao Wou-Ki moved toward complete abstraction. He set aside the interference of representation and made direct reference to his own emotions and spirit. His work incorporates Chinese Daoist philosophy, calligraphic line, and landscape compositions, but during a trip he made to the United States in the late 1950s, he experienced unbridled creative freedom after meeting Franz Kline, Adolph Gottlieb, and other Abstract Expressionists. This prompted him to set down the burden of representation and construct his own abstract world, destroying the old and building something new. Sans titre (Lot 1043) is typical of Zao Wou-Ki’s work from this period.
Drawing is an important learning exercise, which helps artists to supplement and study their own techniques, develop series, and investigate sources of inspiration. Chu Teh-Chun made watercolour paintings on paper as a way of organising and recording larger oil painting series. Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita often made charcoal or pencil drafts on tracing paper as foundational exercises for his oil paintings or watercolours, which helped him to refine his compositions. In contrast, Zao Wou-Ki did not use watercolour painting as a preparatory or transitional step; he viewed it as equal to other mediums. He considered it an independent creative method that he used throughout his artistic career. Watercolours are as valuable as oil paintings for scholars and collectors, with endless market potential.
This season’s Evening Sale features five outstanding works by Zao Wou-Ki from different periods in his career: Klee Period piece Olive Tree (Lot 1028), Oracle Bone Period painting Mon Pays (Lot 1045), Hurricane Period work 15.02.65 (Lot 1041), and 04.01.62 (Lot 1044), painted the same year as Sans titre. These works bear witness to his transition from symbolic or partial representation to abstraction.
In Sans titre, a colossal power is concentrated around a vertical axis. Sharp ink lines from the bottom converge and intersect. The rapidly layered and scratched strokes, like an upward spurt of vital energy, flourish in this primal chaos. The composition is remarkably similar to that of 29.01.64, which sold for HK$203 million in 2017 and set an auction record for the artist. The primary tone is simple yet forceful, and the intermingled colour and line along the vertical axis achieve a similar result in a different way. The work is connected to the majestic mountains and grand rivers of Northern Song painting, but it also reflects his explorations of and experiments with Renaissance chiaroscuro techniques. In both works, he creates shocking tension and drama in the image, presaging the masterpieces of his Hurricane Period.
Oil paints and watercolours are both characterised by highly manipulable colour. The former is notable for the thick, heavy texture and colour of the brushwork, while the latter stresses the fluidity of water and the layering of colour. As more water is employed, the watercolour paint gains a translucent quality and produces clean, bright, and soft effects. Zao Wou-Ki, who had enjoyed studying Chinese painting and poetry since childhood, knew from ink landscape painting how to control the relationship between the water and pigment on paper. However, Sans titre is a Western-style watercolour painting, showing how Zao smoothly incorporated the vigour and tenacity of Chinese painting techniques to create an agile, fluid composition. He infused the thick texture of Western oil painting with the layered washes of traditional ink painting, conveying a gentle and poetic Eastern mood as he developed his own pioneering artistic language.
Sans titre and Sanyu’s Branches (Lot 1018), another masterpiece offered at this season’s Evening Sale, were both once in the collection of the Lévy family. With this esteemed provenance, Sans titre will appear at auction for the first time after more than thirty years in private hands. This is an opportunity that collectors should not let slip away.
趙無極《無題》
「我的靈感源頭是我的內在世界……除了我的內在要求，沒有其他考慮，在這一點上，我不需要接受任何人的指導，只要我自己認為它夠強、夠大。」
六〇年代，趙無極的創作邁向全面抽象，其徹底擺脫物象干擾，直指內在情感與精神。其作品不僅富於中國道家哲思、書法線條及山水結構，亦因為五〇年代末赴美遊歷，廣結克萊茵（Franz Kline）、戈特利布（Adolph Gottlieb）等抽象表現主義大師，體驗到無所羈絆的創作自由，使他勇於丟棄包袱，在大破大立中建構自己的抽象世界。《無題》（拍品編號1043）展現趙無極此時風格之經典。
素描是重要的學術標本，對補充與考證藝術家的個人技巧、系列發展，以至靈感來源甚有幫助：朱德群創作水粉紙本為龎大的油畫系列整理紀錄，而藤田嗣治往往先以牛油紙作炭筆或鉛筆素描打稿，為油畫或水彩畫進行基礎性研習，細意琢磨並完善構圖；相反，趙無極的水彩畫並不具備預備或過渡性質，亦非次於其他媒材，而是獨立成章的創作門類，橫跨趙無極藝術生涯的各個時期，其研究與收藏價值理應與油彩作品等量齊觀，市場潛力更是無可限量。
本季晚拍匯聚五幅趙無極於不同時期的精彩作品，包括「克利時期」的《橄欖樹》（拍品編號1028），「甲骨文時期」的《故鄉》（拍品編號1045），狂草時期的《15.02.65》（拍品編號1041）及與本作《構成》誕生於同年的《04.01.62》（拍品編號1044），見證藝術家從符號具象、半具象邁向抽象的遞變過程。
《無題》採取頂天立地式構圖，畫面力量聚集於中間的縱軸線上，鋒銳的水墨線條自下方輻輳交錯，以疾速之砌疊、刮刷，往上噴薄而出，猶如一道生命之氣，在混沌鴻濛中綻放。畫面構圖可見2017年藝術家拍賣紀錄，以港幣202,600,000成交的《29.01.64》極為相似：主色調散發古樸雄渾的氣勢，縱軸線上的色彩、線條交織之理路皆可見異曲同工；既與北宋繪畫中的崇山巨川相通，亦可見藝術家在構圖上對於西方文藝復興以來的「光影強化」（chiaroscuro）技巧之探索與試驗，締造同樣震撼的畫面張力與戲劇性，預示此狂草鉅作的誕生。
趙無極《29.01.64》，260 x 200 cm。成交價港幣202,600,000，2017年藝術家拍賣紀錄
油彩與水彩同樣擁有可塑性極高的色彩特性，前者以表現筆觸的肌理感與顏色的厚重感為主，而後者的繪畫過程則更著重於表達水的流動性，以及色彩的交疊層次。隨著水分的滲透度，水彩畫表現出透明的質感，產生清淨明澈、柔和滋潤的視覺效果。自幼飽讀中國古代詩畫的趙無極，從水墨山水之中了解到水與顏料於紙上互相支配的關係。在屬於西方的水彩畫之上，《無題》展現藝術家自如地援引中國書法的剛勁柔韌，創作出明快利落的構圖，將西方油畫的厚重肌理，融於傳統水墨在層疊暈染間，鋪敘溫潤詩意的東方意境，發展出一脈具開創性的藝術語言。
《無題》與本季的晚拍鉅獻常玉《紅底瓶枝》（拍品編號1018）來自同一原藏家勒維家族，可證來源有序，經歷逾三十年私人珍藏之後，如今首登拍場，實為藏家不容錯過的絕佳珍藏之選。
