Zao Wou-ki Largest Masterpiece From The 1960s The Artist's Most Valuable Work From The Period To Be Offered At Auction
Hong Kong — Christie’s proudly announces Zao Wou-ki’s 29.09.64. (estimate: HK$220,000,000 – 280,000,000/ US$29,000,000 – 36,000,000), the largest and the most important canvas of the artist’s “Hurricane Period” in the 1960s still in private hands today, which will lead the 20th and 21st Century Art Evening Sale on 26 May, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
29.09.64. – A masterpiece that launches a new era of Zao Wou-Ki’s artistic oeuvre in the 1960s:
The pinnacle of Zao’s “Hurricane Period” in 1964: The 1960s is universally recognised as a new phase of Zao’s artistic achievement, which brilliantly translates in 29.09.64. Zao integrated his Chinese classical cursive writing approach into landscape and calligraphy, marrying these elements with Western abstract artistic explorations. 29.09.64. forges a new path for Asian Modern art, and is praised as a monumental milestone in art history.
Exceptional provenance: Mr. M, the previous owner's father who originally purchased the work directly from the artist, was a successful French architect and engineer who saw flourishing professional activity during France’s most opulent post-war years, commonly referred to as “The Glorious Thirty” spanning from 1945 to 1975. A period of intense modernisation and industrialisation brought the architect to conceive hospitals, various scientific research centres, and administration buildings throughout France and also in Algeria, still a French colony at the time. Technological progress and scientific discoveries, in which Mr M. played a crucial role, strongly influenced the development of a new modernist aesthetic in architecture, art, and design.
Notes To Editors
Auction: Hong Kong | 26 May | Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, No. 1 Harbour Road, Hong Kong