Zao Wou-Ki (Zhao Wuji)

signed in pinyin and Chinese; signed in pinyin, titled and dated 12.12.67 on the reverse; Frank Perls Gallery and San Francisco Museum of Art labels affixed to the stretcher on the reverse

Galerie de France, Paris
Private American Collection
Private European Collection
Private Asian Collection

San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Art, Painting by Zao Wou-Ki, May 8 - June 16, 1968
Beverly Hills, Frank Perls Gallery, Zao Wou-Ki, 1968

Jean Leymarie, ed., Zao Wou-Ki, Ediciones Polígrafa, Barcelona, 1978, plate 359, p. 293
Jean Leymarie, ed., Zao Wou-Ki, Hier et Demain, Paris, 1978, plate 359, p. 293
Jean Leymarie, ed., Zao Wou-Ki, Ediciones Polígrafa, Barcelona, 1979, plate 359, p. 293
Jean Leymarie, ed., Zao Wou-Ki, Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 1979, plate 359, p. 293
Jean Leymarie, ed., Zao Wou-Ki, Cercle d'Art, Barcelona, 1986, plate 390, p.333
Jean Leymarie, ed., Zao Wou-Ki, Cercle d'Art, Paris, 1986, plate 390, p. 333

This work is overall in very good condition except very slight craquelures across the lower part and bottom right corner. There is no evidence of restoration under UV light.
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Distinctive in colour and style is Zao Wou-Ki's masterpiece entitled 12.12.67. Within the bold compositional order and gestural brushwork, the viewer is able to distinguish a strong influence of traditional Chinese landscape painting, heralding an infusion of Eastern simplicity within a Western style. Interestingly however, the painting bears little semblance to the artist's work completed from the 1970s onwards, which poses a significant understanding of the artist's change in style in that year. Zao, having been strongly inspired by the art and culture of the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, often represented symbols and signs inspired by bronze work and oracle bones created in the ancient Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, particularly in his work from the late 1950s. Closer to the 1960s, Zao began seeking inspiration from abstract works, and returned to the classical Chinese medium of ink to gain a wider variety in his work. The viewer is thus able to grasp from this piece the significant qualities of shape and contouring within a strong Eastern spirit that is dominant throughout the canvas.  This is translated through the prominent hues of deep and transparent amber, which could loosely represent the artist's golden years in his artistic life.