Editor’s note: M+ museum recently acquired a dozen works by the Chinese-French master of abstract expressionism Zao Wou-ki — the largest collection of works by the artist held by a public institution outside Europe. In an exclusive interview with China Daily HK, Pauline J. Yao, lead curator of Visual Art at M+, explains the significance of the new acquisition, exemplifying the artist’s ease with adapting Western forms while retaining a Chinese soul.

Pauline J. Yao, lead curator of Visual Art at M+, says Zao’s “simultaneous adoption of lyrical or gestural abstraction while retaining core elements of Chinese calligraphy and Chinese cultural signifiers” sets him apart from his fellow ink artists. (Photo / Winnie Yeung @ VISUAL VOICES, Courtesy of M+)

Would it be correct to say the dozen works by Zao Wou-ki recently added to M+’s collection capture some of the highlights of the artist’s career?

Yes. The 12 works in this donation are representative of Zao Wou-ki’s extraordinary artistic trajectory. In terms of medium, we can find oil paintings, watercolors and prints — all formats he worked in throughout his career. Chronologically the works stem from his time in China to his Paris period, to his travels around France as well as other parts of Europe. Stylistically they also show his movement from figuration to abstraction, his penchant for Chinese calligraphy and his rich talents as a colorist. This group reflects and celebrates his unique contributions to art — as a pioneer in integrating Chinese aesthetics with European medium and language.

M+ museum’s recent acquisition of a dozen works by Zao Wou-ki includes Untitled (1960). Its style resembles that of the Dutch-American abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

M+’s new Zao collection seems to also represent the artist’s physical journey across different cultures over time. There are works linked to his art school days in Hangzhou, his years spent absorbing the techniques of the French expressionists in Paris, touring Europe in the 1950s and ’60s, exhibiting at the Hong Kong Museum of Art in the ’90s, visits to China in the 2000s and, ultimately, back to France. How did the cultures and ethos of the places where Zao lived and worked impact his style?

Zao’s unique background, as a Chinese-born Paris transplant who crisscrossed the globe and spent time in multiple locales, is integral to understanding his art. He had skills and a knowledge of Chinese painting from his training in Hangzhou, but he also acquired a mastery of Euro-American visual language — namely abstraction — while in Paris. These dual sets of influences were always at play and, depending on where he was or perhaps yearned to be, he might lean more toward one or the other. This donation contains works such as Open Air Theater (1945) which was painted while Zao was still in China, before he departed for France. It shows the artist departing from literati-style painting and experimenting with a more naive style of figuration, akin to that of Western artist Marc Chagall. By contrast, he produced the lithograph Untitled (1957) — containing marks and shapes resembling Chinese oracle-bone script — when he was already in Paris, enmeshing his Chinese identity with Western forms of abstraction. There is no doubt that Zao’s cross-cultural movements were a rich source of inspiration, leading him to be a key innovator with an ever-evolving artistic vocabulary. 

Although Open Air Theatre (1945) was painted before Zao left for France, it resonates with Marc Chagall’s naive style of figuration. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Would you comment on the significance of Zao’s way of painting, and highlighting space, with reference to the paintings in the M+ collection?

Piazza Siena (1951) is an excellent example that documents a stop in the Italian city of Siena on Zao’s European grand tour between 1950 and 1952. The work depicts architecture reduced to lines and shapes, while still retaining a vanishing point. Gentle arcs and diagonals create a sense of space and distance, further emphasized by the two tiny figures in the foreground. Several prints in the donation, such as Untitled (1960) and Untitled (1968), demonstrate Zao’s skills at using color and lines of varying density to create a sense of atmospheric energy. The 1960 work, with its pale bands of color and mass of black marks huddled at the center, resembles a landscape.

Piazza Siena (1951), painted during Zao’s European grand tour between 1950 and 1952, reduces architecture to lines and shapes, while still retaining a vanishing point. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

There are a number of lithographs and etchings among the acquired paintings. I imagine M+ will host ancillary events and workshops for its audience to get a feel of the artist’s technique. Do you have anything to share regarding future audience engagement programs and, while we wait for the museum to reopen, do you plan to enhance the online experience of viewing Zao’s works?

Since the 12 works in the donation arrived at M+, we have proceeded to photograph and document them, and all are now available online for public viewing. Of the 12, three works are also currently on display in the exhibition Individuals, Networks, Expressions, and will be visible when we reopen to the public. In due course we expect to feature Zao’s work and practice, along with other key figures of international abstraction, in M+ Collections, on our online publication M+ Magazine.

How does the M+ collection of Zao’s works contribute to our understanding of Chinese ink painting heritage? If Zao’s works represent a significant milestone in the tradition, what are their unique and outstanding features?

Zao is exceptional in the history of art for bringing innovation to Chinese ink painting traditions. By integrating his Chinese aesthetic heritage with European artistic mediums, he forged a new language that bridged a gap between the East and West, and paved the way for younger generations of artists. In the context of Chinese art, Zao was one of many progressive voices who were at the forefront of integrating Western painting styles in search of an artistic language of modernity. But he was one of the few to give themselves over wholly to the visual style of abstraction. Zao’s simultaneous adoption of lyrical or gestural abstraction, while retaining core elements of Chinese calligraphy and Chinese cultural signifiers (and occasional forays into figuration), made him stand out. He also gained wide acceptance in Europe and Chinese-speaking contexts, establishing himself as a trailblazer in the global story of international abstraction.