Portrait of Zao Wou Ki
There’s only a handful of Zao Wou Ki works that are not contained within a select palette of vibrantly dark tones of red, black, yellow and the occasional blues and greens. Yet, the most predominant colour within each one of Wou Ki’s works is the parchment white, a colour that resonates with the qualities of traditional Chinese paintings.
Being a Chinese-French painter, Wou Ki’s artwork was heavily influenced by both Western and Eastern artistic traditions. Most of his paintings are experimentations with different styles derived from his own childhood learning of Chinese calligraphy and the influence of his adult life in Europe. In saying so, his oeuvre usually hones a combination of Chinese calligraphy and European abstract expressionism.
Early Life and Influences
In the year of 1920, Zao Wou Ki was born into the T’chao family, descendants from the Song dynasty, and was given the birthname of T’chao Wou-Ki. Even as a child, Wou Ki demonstrated a strong desire in learning the arts and was greatly encouraged by his parents and grandfather in its pursuance. According to his biography, it was his grandfather who taught Wou Ki how to draw the Chinese calligraphy letters – a form that was fundamental to his learning of calligraphic art.
Wou Ki grew up with a great passion for learning art forms and even experimenting beyond the boundaries of what he had been taught. In 1935, when he was just 15 years old, Wou Ki was accepted into the Hangzhou National College of Art. This was his gateway to learning both traditional Chinese ink painting and Western-based art techniques. He was particularly enamoured by the works of Cézanne, Matisse and Picasso.
In 1948, Wou Ki decided to leave his homeland for Paris in order to pursue his education in the arts, marking the beginning of his artistic development and subsequent fame. Here, he was brought into a company of international artists and this grouping allowed him to explore more of the art that he had not been introduced to.
The Waves of Wou Ki’s Work
The beauty of Wou Ki’s work lies in its undulating nature. His artistic format has never remained stagnant but rather moved with the wavelengths of his learning and influences.
Throughout the 1950s, Wou Ki’s works featured a transforming style ranging from abstraction to figuration. He had spent most of his time practicing Western aesthetics, even when he was a student at Hangzhou College, and Europe was the cornerstone for his inclination towards Western artistic traditions.
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While travelling to Switzerland, Wou Ki discovered a painting done by Paul Klee. This had inspired him to take up abstraction as a central focus in his own paintings. This was also the time when he began rejecting the Chinese form of representational art which used to be present in his earlier works, such as the ‘Two Fish’ and ‘Landscape in Hangzhou’.
Although he started favouring European techniques more from 1954, Wou Ki never really moved on from his homeland roots. Even with the gestured brushstrokes which filled up his canvas, there were always hints of Chinese calligraphic markings. Some would argue that despite Wou Ki’s earnest desires to move with modernism, he was still bound by his childhood sentiments in both art and his life.
The Rejection and Return to Chinese Art
From the 1960s onwards, Wou Ki started naming his artworks with the dates on which he completed them. This brought forth a more enigmatic nature to his canvases, adding with an increased sense of abstraction in his paintings. He started to be more interested in vibrancy and boldness instead of the muted tones present in his formative drawings. This began the period in which he completely rejected conventional Chinese artforms.
However, this transition lasted only for a few years as Wou Ki soon moved back to his origins. In one interview, Wou Ki even remarks that it was Paris who had made him ‘rediscover China’. By 1971, Wou Ki began re-working on traditional ink techniques while also incorporating certain elements from Western abstraction.
It was during this time that Wou Ki was more liberal with his paintings. He was no longer driving between his love for modernism and attachment towards traditionalism, but instead honed in a balance between both.
24.12.2002 epitomises this inter-balance between his two loves, where the canvas explodes with a sense of calm energy. The dark blue emits a feeling of thoughtfulness while the light blue overhead is filled with youthfulness. The calligraphic strokes in between bridge together this adult resoluteness and childish spontaneity, highlighting a balance between both aspects.
Wou Ki’s later works were imbued with a sense of airy quality, combined with his playful use of light. Unlike what he had done most in his life, his art no longer contained the idea of experimentation. Instead, he finds his grounding as an artist by accepting the influences from both his European home and Chinese homeland.
The Importance of Zao Wou Ki
Wou Ki died in 2013 at the age of 93, after having lived a long life as a dedicated student to and a passionate teacher of the arts. He had come across and built great friendships with many prominent artists, including Alberto Giacometti and Joan Miró. He was also a good friend of the French President and in 2006, he was given a formal appointing to the French Legion of Honour by the President. This, to date, is the highest recognition that can be given to a Frenchman.
Although Zao Wou Ki is not a name many will easily recognise, it is still one which should be remembered. Wou Ki’s art is both meditative and alarming, for it questions the basis of the universe. He draws on the elements of light, water and energy by producing them in the most vibrant and cathartic colours.
However, the greatest thing one can learn from Zao Wou Ki is the ability to learn and experiment. He had spent 70 years of his life being a constant student to what art had taught him, and the negotiation he would make between his Chinese and Western learnings is perhaps the reason why Wou Ki’s works carry such depth and diversity. He had once even remarked, ‘Everybody is bound by a tradition. I am bound by two.’