- 627
Zao Wou-Ki (Zhao Wuji)
Description
- Zao Wou-Ki (Zhao Wuji)
- Untitled
- Signed and dated 49 lower right
- oil and encaustic on board
- Sight: 14 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches
Executed in 1949
Provenance
Condition
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
This painting was completed in the year after Zao Wou-ki left China to go to France. Filled with the artist's passion, Zao Wou-ki's enthusiasm for his work is evident in the varying thickness of oil paint and encaustic on the board and the artist's scrapings and engravings included as part of this composition. In the mysterious atmosphere, a crescent moon hangs high in the night sky, casting its white light over the trees in the forest and the cluster of small animals below. This work is rich in narrative and imagination and is open to the viewer's interpretation.
Of Zao Wou-ki at the time, the French art critic Pierre Cabanne said that the artist could not yet speak French and that he was living in Montparnasse in Paris, painting every day; hardworking and filled with joy. He was not willing to be seen as a "Chinese painter", but simply as "a painter". According to Cabanne, his success was not owed to his talent, his superior technique or his background, but due to his powerful imagination and his passion. [1]
[1] Pierre Cabanne, Zao Wou-ki Retrospective: Artistic Commentary. Artist's Magazine, Taipei, March, 1993, p.443