Zao Wou-Ki at the Hotel de Caumont in Aix-en-Provence
Zao Wou-Ki Henri Michaux Paul Klee Henri Matisse
Connaissance des Arts, Guy Boyer, 20 juillet 2021
The Hotel de Caumont-Art Center in Aix-en-Provence is highlighting Zao Wou-Ki's work until October 10 with the exhibition "Il ne fait jamais nuit," which brings together nearly 80 works by the artist, from 1935 to 2009.
Here is already our last appointment before summer! If your steps lead you South, do not miss this very beautiful selection of Zao Wou-Ki's work at the Hotel de Caumont. It is not a retrospective of the Chinese artist's work, as Paris staged some time ago at the Museum of Modern Art, but a rereading of his work through the importance of light - a very important theme he developed in various ways, from his arrival in Paris in 1948 to periods of suffering and mourning, including his encounter with Henri Michaux.
Between Far Eastern printmaking and gestural abstraction Arriving in Paris in 1948, the young artist, trained at the Hangzhou School of Fine Arts and an admirer of Cezanne and European painting, then found a balance between the controlled freedom of Far Eastern printmaking and the gestural abstraction then in vogue. The exhibition is fascinating for its back-and-forth between details and flat areas, nuances and all-over fields, color saturation and the blacks and whites of ink washes.
The first high point is the room recalling his stays in Ibiza with Josep-Lluis Sert, architect of the Maeght Foundation, with stars of such intense blue that one truly wants to dive into it. The second shock comes before the tribute to Henri Matisse, which Francoise Marquet-Zao has just donated to the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. These are four vertical color bands that can stand comparison with the minimalist Window at Collioure by the great Matisse.
The Zao Wou-Ki exhibition "Il ne fait jamais nuit" is on view at the Hotel de Caumont-Art Center in Aix-en-Provence until October 10.