Zao Wou-Ki: Ink and Watercolour

Ink and Watercolour exhibition at De Sarthe Gallery showcases watercolour masterpieces from the Sino-French master Zao Wou-Ki (1920, Beijing – 2013, Nyon).

Zao Wou-Ki was considered to have been one of the most successful Chinese painters during his lifetime.
During the 1990s the artist received numerous honorary doctorates and the Japanese Premium Imperial Award and his works were shown at large international exhibitions including the Venice Art Biennale in 1996.
Orientated to abstraction, Zao Wou-Ki‘s art is poetic and evokes scenic-cosmic associations.
While his work was stylistically similar to the Abstract Expressionists whom he met while travelling in New York, he was influenced by Impressionism. Zao Wou-Ki stated that he had been influenced by the works of Matisse, Picasso and Cézanne. His meetings with Henri Michaux pushed him to review his Indian ink techniques, always based in Chinese traditional drawings.