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Lot Essay
[Zao Wou-Ki] created a homeland of images, an imaginary land […] He has roots everywhere, marvelously fine, long, deep, born far away, nourished by at least two continents. ——Claude Roy
In 1981, Zao Wou-Ki, who had been residing in France for three decades, presented his first major French solo exhibition at the Grand Palais National Galleries in Paris. For this occasion, he specially created two large-scale triptychs, one of which was 05.06.80 – Triptyque. This exhibition was of extraordinary significance to Zao, as it was a sign of recognition from the Western art world for this artist of Eastern origin. It also marked a watershed moment in his artistic career, elevating it to the realm of transcendence—presenting to the world the fruits of his creativity that amalgamate the Eastern and Western traditions. Coincidentally, the exhibition was held concurrently with the exhibition of a Russian-born abstract master Nicolas de Staël, who painted abstract landscape in Paris after the Second World War. Zao’s exhibition, titled Painting, Chinese Ink, accentuated his Eastern cultural roots as its theme. It was a succinct interpretation of Zao’s breaking free from the constraints of Western abstract forms in his art, his formidable artistic technique, and his worldview about returning to his roots—it resounded with his personal emotions and epiphanies, while revealing his interpretation towards the history of Western art.
05.06.80 – Triptyque instils a sense of temporality into space, leading the viewer on a dazzling tour through time and space. It illustrates the artist’s transition from sentimental painting to painting space, marking a departure from the epic expressionism of his works from the 1960s. Among the thirty triptychs Zao created throughout his lifetime, those from the 1980s are particularly captivating for their evocation of misty, flowing spatial dimensions that are reminiscent of landscape paintings. The grandeur of this work encapsulates Zao’s creation of a realm that stems from his homeland and moves beyond the earthly world, one that is born of a perspective transcending time and space. The artist’s unrestrained brushstrokes are punctuated by the diluted oil paint gallops like the wind and coalesces into the waves. It resembles a cluster of giant rocks gazing at its own reflection in a lake; at other moments, it falls like gentle rain and scatters like snowflakes, drifting as light as smoke. Zao’s brushwork is not confined by the margins of the painting, as the pigments drip and continue to the sides of each panel following his brush. As the artist recalled, ‘From these years I let myself be overwhelmed by my freedom, which became my only guide…Large surfaces asked me to fight with space; I absolutely had to fill this surface, bring it to life and give myself to it’ (W. Zao, quoted in Zao Wou-Ki: L’espace est silence, Musee d’ Art modern de la Ville de Paris, Paris, 2018, p.37). Another monumental work from the same period, measuring nearly ten-metre long, remains the artist’s world auction record to date.
Over the years, I immersed myself in freedom, making it my sole guide… The large surfaces inspired me to battle with space: I had to fill this surface, bring it to life, give myself to it. ——Zao Wou-Ki
Art critic Francois Cheng offered unique insights on the triptychs included in the Grand Palais exhibition, ‘Only a triple rhythm can respond to the painter’s desire to master the interplay between “the finite” and “the infinite”, and to transform crucial visuals that are taking shape into vivid pictures’ (F. Cheng, quoted in Zao Wou-Ki: Painting, Chinese Ink, France 1981, n.p.). 05.06.80 – Triptyque highlights Zao’s mastery in utilising this format to blend two different traditions during this period: he draws on the continuity of multi-panel screens and multi-panel paintings in the Eastern tradition, while melding it with the episodic nature of Western altarpieces. The layout of the exhibition catalogue is equally ingenious—it allows the viewer to grasp the interconnections between Zao’s oeuvre, creating a deeper viewing experience. In 1980, the year this work was created, Zao was appointed as a professor of mural painting at Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs. He began to experiment with creations outside of traditional canvas, engaging directly in dialogues with environmental and architectural spaces—he exchanged ideas and collaborated with many renowned architects at the time: for example, he created a quadriptych ink painting for the Fragrant Hill Hotel designed by I.M. Pei, and completed a large-scale public project in La Seyne-sur-Mer commissioned by the French architect Roger Taillibert. These experiences demonstrate the artist’s devotion and aptitude in creating large-scale, multi-panel works that unite spiritual, mundane, and humane during this period.
In the present work, the artist utilises the inclusivity and tension of the triptych format. The panels exude the passion and performative quality of oil paint, while they also encompass the possibility of infinite extension through time and space as seen in Chinese scroll painting. This internal momentum, which is in harmony with all living beings, reminds us of the analogy that Claude Roy once made about Zao's paintings, 'Zao Wou-Ki, if he paints his pictures, it is to live somewhere. The Earth being what it is, he might as well invent a habitable country. This is the truth of any painting: all paintings are first and foremost the creation of a vital space' (C. Roy, quoted in ‘Un pays nomme Zao Wou-Ki’, La Galerie des arts, no. 44, May 1967, p.4). What Roy saw may well be the artist’s authentic depiction of the past, the future, and life.
Zao Wou-Ki, if he paints his pictures, it is to live somewhere. The Earth being what it is, he might as well invent a habitable country. This is the truth of any painting: all paintings are first and foremost the creation of a vital space. ——Claude Roy
Moving from the surrealism of his “Klee Period”, the inscription-like abstract calligraphy of “Oracle Bone Period”, to the race against speed and power in the “Hurricane Period”, Zao in the 1970s was encouraged by his poet friend Henri Michaux to experiment with Chinese ink. The artist began to explore the medium in the decades to come. He endeavoured to integrate and adapt traditional ink techniques into his oil paintings, which later developed into the ‘Infinite Period’. Francois Michaud describes Zao’s rediscovery of ink as a quest to 'continue on the path that has opened up, while seeking to remove all that is "heavy" and to preserve only the essence' (F. Michaud, ‘Abstractness of All Weight’, The Way is Infinite: Centennial Retrospective Exhibition of Zao Wou-Ki, Hangzhou 2023, p.278).
A closer look at 05.06.80 – Triptyque from the 1980s reveals how the brushwork and composition highlight the artist’s understanding of the characteristics of ink painting. The dots, splashes, and layers of colours on the canvas not only illustrate the attributes of oil paint, but also display the lightness and the “absence of brushstroke” in Chinese ink. In terms of composition, it employs an open format that is distinct from the horizontal or vertical centred compositions from the 1950s and 1960s, presenting an expansive and free-flowing diffusion. Through the presence of tangible structures along the edges of the painting, a bright and open space is created at the centre. It reflects the artist’s spirit of the “non-self” that is devoid of the “ego”.
'Zao’s works are closely connected to the experience of his life. They function like a seismometer that duly captured the most important events in his life.' (F. Cheng, Ibid.) From Jardin de mon père (1955), 10.09.72 – En mémoire de May (1972), to the tender image of a small boat in Le vent pousse la mer (2004), the paintings are “truthful” records of the people, events, and places in the artist’s life. Zao reminisces about his loved ones through revisiting familiar places; his longing is profoundly expressed in 05.03.75-07.01.85, where he infuses his memories of his mother into an ethereal portrayal of the Taihu Lake in his hometown. In this light, 05.06.80 – Triptyque is not only a reflection of Zao’s perception of the world but also a mirror to his inner world. The beauty of Suhang’s landscapes was a well of inspiration deep within Zao. The series of ink on paper works Zao created in the 1970s (Collection of Centre Pompidu, Paris) are candid captures of the West Lake featuring sparse brushstrokes. The West Lake was the cradle for countless literati such as Su Shi and Bai Juyi, and it was also the foundation for Zao’s creative development during his youth—he attended the Hangzhou School of Fine Arts at age fourteen, and he returned to his alma mater in Hangzhou to teach after the war. In this work, the artist uses his iconic blue as the main tone; at the centre are glitters of light on the water surrounded by hills, greenery and rocks, recalling the shimmers of the West Lake in Suhang.
Zao’s returns to Suhang carry profound feelings in a similar vein as Cézanne’s portrayals of Mont Sainte-Victoire in his hometown of Aix-en-Provence. Both masters draw on their revisits to beloved places as the backdrops to their creations. Cézanne uses colour blocks and lines to evoke impressions of Mont Sainte-Victoire; unlike Monet who depicts light and shadow as an ever-flowing force, Cézanne employs near-geometric forms to construct the sense of space in the composition. Zao utilises the varying degrees of lightness and density of ink to convey form through empty space. With his technique of the “absence of brushstroke”, he endows form (the finest brushstrokes and ink washes) with spirituality and imagery, weaving a magical space that cannot be defined by the spectrum and yet connects with reality—at the emotional and philosophical levels, it bears faint echoes of the Water Lilies series from Monet’s late years, yet distinctly different from it. Zao’s triptych presents a non-singular pictorial space, in contrast to the Monet’s one-point perspective depiction in the Water Lilies. Compared to the two 19th century impressionist masters, Zao moves beyond the limits of painting from life in his exploration of landscape, conjuring up realms of Eastern imagery.
The Grand Palais exhibition marked Zao’s return to the East, and it fostered the merging of Eastern and Western aesthetics in the East Asian art world. After the Paris exhibition, the selection of artist’s works including the present work embarked on an over two-year touring exhibition to the East. This was closely related to the rapid economic development and growing cultural confidence in Asia in the 1970s and 1980s. This work was first exhibited at various national art museums in Japan, including Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka; Grand Art Gallery, Tokyo; the Prefectural Museum of Art, Fukui; The National Museum of Art, Kyoto; and The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura. In the following year, this work along with other exhibits travelled to Hong Kong Art Centre, Hong Kong, and National Museum of Modern Art, Singapore. In 1983, this work appeared in the artist’s first solo exhibition in his home country since 1948, being exhibited at The National Art Museum of China in Beijing and his alma mater Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou (now China Academy of Art), signifying the artist’s return to the East and homecoming.
Pierre Soulages, artist and close friend of Zao, once stated, 'I don’t depict, I paint. I don’t represent, I present' (P. Soulages, quoted in Pierre Soulages: Outrenoir: Entretiens avec Francois Jaunin, Lausanne 2014, p.16). This resonates with Zao’s exploration of abstract landscape. 05.06.80 – Triptyque presents a scene filled with echoes of personal history, and it is a dialogue between the artists and his cultural roots. As the artist once said, 'I believe that all painters are realists for themselves. They are abstract for other people' (quoted in S. Deman, 'Hommage à Zao Wou-Ki – La magie du geste', Arts Hebdo Médias, 12 April 2013). In the same triptych format and landscape theme, German artist Gerhard Richter’s Wolken (Rosa), as part of his series of photorealistic paintings of clouds, is a challenge to canonical art and style legitimised by the Western culture. In contrast, Zao’s 05.06.80 – Triptyque is a heartfelt embrace of the essence of Eastern landscape painting—the space extending beyond the painting from within, the layers of washes seeping through the atmosphere, allowing the viewer to traverse time and space, immersing themselves in the scene or floating afar as if riding the clouds. As an artist of two traditions, Zao in the 1980s carved out a new path for modern abstract landscape painting that transcends boundaries, time and space, freely moving between the real and the imaginary.
In 1981, Zao Wou-Ki, who had been residing in France for three decades, presented his first major French solo exhibition at the Grand Palais National Galleries in Paris. For this occasion, he specially created two large-scale triptychs, one of which was 05.06.80 – Triptyque. This exhibition was of extraordinary significance to Zao, as it was a sign of recognition from the Western art world for this artist of Eastern origin. It also marked a watershed moment in his artistic career, elevating it to the realm of transcendence—presenting to the world the fruits of his creativity that amalgamate the Eastern and Western traditions. Coincidentally, the exhibition was held concurrently with the exhibition of a Russian-born abstract master Nicolas de Staël, who painted abstract landscape in Paris after the Second World War. Zao’s exhibition, titled Painting, Chinese Ink, accentuated his Eastern cultural roots as its theme. It was a succinct interpretation of Zao’s breaking free from the constraints of Western abstract forms in his art, his formidable artistic technique, and his worldview about returning to his roots—it resounded with his personal emotions and epiphanies, while revealing his interpretation towards the history of Western art.
05.06.80 – Triptyque instils a sense of temporality into space, leading the viewer on a dazzling tour through time and space. It illustrates the artist’s transition from sentimental painting to painting space, marking a departure from the epic expressionism of his works from the 1960s. Among the thirty triptychs Zao created throughout his lifetime, those from the 1980s are particularly captivating for their evocation of misty, flowing spatial dimensions that are reminiscent of landscape paintings. The grandeur of this work encapsulates Zao’s creation of a realm that stems from his homeland and moves beyond the earthly world, one that is born of a perspective transcending time and space. The artist’s unrestrained brushstrokes are punctuated by the diluted oil paint gallops like the wind and coalesces into the waves. It resembles a cluster of giant rocks gazing at its own reflection in a lake; at other moments, it falls like gentle rain and scatters like snowflakes, drifting as light as smoke. Zao’s brushwork is not confined by the margins of the painting, as the pigments drip and continue to the sides of each panel following his brush. As the artist recalled, ‘From these years I let myself be overwhelmed by my freedom, which became my only guide…Large surfaces asked me to fight with space; I absolutely had to fill this surface, bring it to life and give myself to it’ (W. Zao, quoted in Zao Wou-Ki: L’espace est silence, Musee d’ Art modern de la Ville de Paris, Paris, 2018, p.37). Another monumental work from the same period, measuring nearly ten-metre long, remains the artist’s world auction record to date.
Over the years, I immersed myself in freedom, making it my sole guide… The large surfaces inspired me to battle with space: I had to fill this surface, bring it to life, give myself to it. ——Zao Wou-Ki
Art critic Francois Cheng offered unique insights on the triptychs included in the Grand Palais exhibition, ‘Only a triple rhythm can respond to the painter’s desire to master the interplay between “the finite” and “the infinite”, and to transform crucial visuals that are taking shape into vivid pictures’ (F. Cheng, quoted in Zao Wou-Ki: Painting, Chinese Ink, France 1981, n.p.). 05.06.80 – Triptyque highlights Zao’s mastery in utilising this format to blend two different traditions during this period: he draws on the continuity of multi-panel screens and multi-panel paintings in the Eastern tradition, while melding it with the episodic nature of Western altarpieces. The layout of the exhibition catalogue is equally ingenious—it allows the viewer to grasp the interconnections between Zao’s oeuvre, creating a deeper viewing experience. In 1980, the year this work was created, Zao was appointed as a professor of mural painting at Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs. He began to experiment with creations outside of traditional canvas, engaging directly in dialogues with environmental and architectural spaces—he exchanged ideas and collaborated with many renowned architects at the time: for example, he created a quadriptych ink painting for the Fragrant Hill Hotel designed by I.M. Pei, and completed a large-scale public project in La Seyne-sur-Mer commissioned by the French architect Roger Taillibert. These experiences demonstrate the artist’s devotion and aptitude in creating large-scale, multi-panel works that unite spiritual, mundane, and humane during this period.
In the present work, the artist utilises the inclusivity and tension of the triptych format. The panels exude the passion and performative quality of oil paint, while they also encompass the possibility of infinite extension through time and space as seen in Chinese scroll painting. This internal momentum, which is in harmony with all living beings, reminds us of the analogy that Claude Roy once made about Zao's paintings, 'Zao Wou-Ki, if he paints his pictures, it is to live somewhere. The Earth being what it is, he might as well invent a habitable country. This is the truth of any painting: all paintings are first and foremost the creation of a vital space' (C. Roy, quoted in ‘Un pays nomme Zao Wou-Ki’, La Galerie des arts, no. 44, May 1967, p.4). What Roy saw may well be the artist’s authentic depiction of the past, the future, and life.
Zao Wou-Ki, if he paints his pictures, it is to live somewhere. The Earth being what it is, he might as well invent a habitable country. This is the truth of any painting: all paintings are first and foremost the creation of a vital space. ——Claude Roy
Moving from the surrealism of his “Klee Period”, the inscription-like abstract calligraphy of “Oracle Bone Period”, to the race against speed and power in the “Hurricane Period”, Zao in the 1970s was encouraged by his poet friend Henri Michaux to experiment with Chinese ink. The artist began to explore the medium in the decades to come. He endeavoured to integrate and adapt traditional ink techniques into his oil paintings, which later developed into the ‘Infinite Period’. Francois Michaud describes Zao’s rediscovery of ink as a quest to 'continue on the path that has opened up, while seeking to remove all that is "heavy" and to preserve only the essence' (F. Michaud, ‘Abstractness of All Weight’, The Way is Infinite: Centennial Retrospective Exhibition of Zao Wou-Ki, Hangzhou 2023, p.278).
A closer look at 05.06.80 – Triptyque from the 1980s reveals how the brushwork and composition highlight the artist’s understanding of the characteristics of ink painting. The dots, splashes, and layers of colours on the canvas not only illustrate the attributes of oil paint, but also display the lightness and the “absence of brushstroke” in Chinese ink. In terms of composition, it employs an open format that is distinct from the horizontal or vertical centred compositions from the 1950s and 1960s, presenting an expansive and free-flowing diffusion. Through the presence of tangible structures along the edges of the painting, a bright and open space is created at the centre. It reflects the artist’s spirit of the “non-self” that is devoid of the “ego”.
'Zao’s works are closely connected to the experience of his life. They function like a seismometer that duly captured the most important events in his life.' (F. Cheng, Ibid.) From Jardin de mon père (1955), 10.09.72 – En mémoire de May (1972), to the tender image of a small boat in Le vent pousse la mer (2004), the paintings are “truthful” records of the people, events, and places in the artist’s life. Zao reminisces about his loved ones through revisiting familiar places; his longing is profoundly expressed in 05.03.75-07.01.85, where he infuses his memories of his mother into an ethereal portrayal of the Taihu Lake in his hometown. In this light, 05.06.80 – Triptyque is not only a reflection of Zao’s perception of the world but also a mirror to his inner world. The beauty of Suhang’s landscapes was a well of inspiration deep within Zao. The series of ink on paper works Zao created in the 1970s (Collection of Centre Pompidu, Paris) are candid captures of the West Lake featuring sparse brushstrokes. The West Lake was the cradle for countless literati such as Su Shi and Bai Juyi, and it was also the foundation for Zao’s creative development during his youth—he attended the Hangzhou School of Fine Arts at age fourteen, and he returned to his alma mater in Hangzhou to teach after the war. In this work, the artist uses his iconic blue as the main tone; at the centre are glitters of light on the water surrounded by hills, greenery and rocks, recalling the shimmers of the West Lake in Suhang.
Zao’s returns to Suhang carry profound feelings in a similar vein as Cézanne’s portrayals of Mont Sainte-Victoire in his hometown of Aix-en-Provence. Both masters draw on their revisits to beloved places as the backdrops to their creations. Cézanne uses colour blocks and lines to evoke impressions of Mont Sainte-Victoire; unlike Monet who depicts light and shadow as an ever-flowing force, Cézanne employs near-geometric forms to construct the sense of space in the composition. Zao utilises the varying degrees of lightness and density of ink to convey form through empty space. With his technique of the “absence of brushstroke”, he endows form (the finest brushstrokes and ink washes) with spirituality and imagery, weaving a magical space that cannot be defined by the spectrum and yet connects with reality—at the emotional and philosophical levels, it bears faint echoes of the Water Lilies series from Monet’s late years, yet distinctly different from it. Zao’s triptych presents a non-singular pictorial space, in contrast to the Monet’s one-point perspective depiction in the Water Lilies. Compared to the two 19th century impressionist masters, Zao moves beyond the limits of painting from life in his exploration of landscape, conjuring up realms of Eastern imagery.
The Grand Palais exhibition marked Zao’s return to the East, and it fostered the merging of Eastern and Western aesthetics in the East Asian art world. After the Paris exhibition, the selection of artist’s works including the present work embarked on an over two-year touring exhibition to the East. This was closely related to the rapid economic development and growing cultural confidence in Asia in the 1970s and 1980s. This work was first exhibited at various national art museums in Japan, including Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka; Grand Art Gallery, Tokyo; the Prefectural Museum of Art, Fukui; The National Museum of Art, Kyoto; and The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura. In the following year, this work along with other exhibits travelled to Hong Kong Art Centre, Hong Kong, and National Museum of Modern Art, Singapore. In 1983, this work appeared in the artist’s first solo exhibition in his home country since 1948, being exhibited at The National Art Museum of China in Beijing and his alma mater Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou (now China Academy of Art), signifying the artist’s return to the East and homecoming.
Pierre Soulages, artist and close friend of Zao, once stated, 'I don’t depict, I paint. I don’t represent, I present' (P. Soulages, quoted in Pierre Soulages: Outrenoir: Entretiens avec Francois Jaunin, Lausanne 2014, p.16). This resonates with Zao’s exploration of abstract landscape. 05.06.80 – Triptyque presents a scene filled with echoes of personal history, and it is a dialogue between the artists and his cultural roots. As the artist once said, 'I believe that all painters are realists for themselves. They are abstract for other people' (quoted in S. Deman, 'Hommage à Zao Wou-Ki – La magie du geste', Arts Hebdo Médias, 12 April 2013). In the same triptych format and landscape theme, German artist Gerhard Richter’s Wolken (Rosa), as part of his series of photorealistic paintings of clouds, is a challenge to canonical art and style legitimised by the Western culture. In contrast, Zao’s 05.06.80 – Triptyque is a heartfelt embrace of the essence of Eastern landscape painting—the space extending beyond the painting from within, the layers of washes seeping through the atmosphere, allowing the viewer to traverse time and space, immersing themselves in the scene or floating afar as if riding the clouds. As an artist of two traditions, Zao in the 1980s carved out a new path for modern abstract landscape painting that transcends boundaries, time and space, freely moving between the real and the imaginary.