Zao Sonnet
Abstract Abstract Prints
Early 2000s Abstract More Art
Porcelain
People Also Browsed
1960s Contemporary Abstract Prints
Offset, Laid Paper, Lithograph
1990s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
Aquatint
Late 20th Century American Organic Modern Decorative Bowls
Ceramic
20th Century American Books
Paper
Vintage 1970s Spanish Modern Prints
Art Glass, Wood, Paper
1960s Abstract Abstract Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Abstract Sculptures
Sterling Silver
Vintage 1970s Posters
Paper
1990s Industrial Abstract Sculptures
Metal
1970s Abstract Abstract Prints
Lithograph
1990s Abstract Abstract Prints
Paper, Lithograph
1960s Surrealist Abstract Prints
Lithograph
Late 20th Century American Post-Modern Paperweights
Art Glass
1970s Surrealist Abstract Prints
Lithograph
Vintage 1970s Paintings
Fabric
1970s Surrealist Abstract Prints
Lithograph
Zao Wou-Ki for sale on 1stDibs
Zao Wou-Ki was born in Beijing, China, on February 13, 1921, to a wealthy family descended from the Song Dynasty.
French-educated Chinese artist Lin Fengmian was Wou-Ki’s teacher at the China Academy of Art from 1935–41 and encouraged him to study abroad in Paris. Wou-Ki made the move in 1948 with a substantial amount of financial backing and later adopted France as his new home, remaining in the country, besides a few short trips abroad, until his death.
In Paris, Wou-Ki quickly joined a large postwar French art circle, composed of key writers, poets, painters and cultural figures, including Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Riopelle and Vieira da Silva, among others. This networking helped position himself at the top of the Lyrical Abstraction movement. By his mid-30s, Wou-Ki had decided to devote his artistic career to abstract painting that blended Eastern and Western stylistic traditions.
In 2011, Wou-Ki was referred to in art publications as the top-selling living Chinese artist. He died in Nyon, Switzerland, on April 9, 2013, at the age of 93.
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A Close Look at abstract Art
Beginning in the early 20th century, abstract art became a leading style of modernism. Rather than portray the world in a way that represented reality, as had been the dominating style of Western art in the previous centuries, abstract paintings, prints and sculptures are marked by a shift to geometric forms, gestural shapes and experimentation with color to express ideas, subject matter and scenes.
Although abstract art flourished in the early 1900s, propelled by movements like Fauvism and Cubism, it was rooted in the 19th century. In the 1840s, J.M.W. Turner emphasized light and motion for atmospheric paintings in which concrete details were blurred, and Paul Cézanne challenged traditional expectations of perspective in the 1890s.
Some of the earliest abstract artists — Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint — expanded on these breakthroughs while using vivid colors and forms to channel spiritual concepts. Painter Piet Mondrian, a Dutch pioneer of the art movement, explored geometric abstraction partly owing to his belief in Theosophy, which is grounded in a search for higher spiritual truths and embraces philosophers of the Renaissance period and medieval mystics. Black Square, a daringly simple 1913 work by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich, was a watershed statement on creating art that was free “from the dead weight of the real world,” as he later wrote.
Surrealism in the 1920s, led by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Meret Oppenheim and others, saw painters creating abstract pieces in order to connect to the subconscious. When Abstract Expressionism emerged in New York during the mid-20th century, it similarly centered on the process of creation, in which Helen Frankenthaler’s expressive “soak-stain” technique, Jackson Pollock’s drips of paint, and Mark Rothko’s planes of color were a radical new type of abstraction.
Conceptual art, Pop art, Hard-Edge painting and many other movements offered fresh approaches to abstraction that continued into the 21st century, with major contemporary artists now exploring it, including Anish Kapoor, Mark Bradford, El Anatsui and Julie Mehretu.
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