and friends would jokingly call him "Zao Whisky". Despite his various anxieties and mental sufferings, he felt happiness, which contradicted the situation, at the same time. The couple once held hands as they traveled cheerfully, immersing themselves in a carefree love. The oil painting "11.1.72" was completed two months before May's death, when Zao's art mainly centered on
趙無極《10. 9. 72 紀念美琴》 巴黎國家現代美術館龐畢度中心藏 ZAO Wou-ki, 10. 9. 72 En mémoire de May, 1972, oil on canvas, 200 x 525 cm Le Musée nationl d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
black ink and smaller pieces. the rich tones cannot be attained by real
He said he did not put down his brush
painting. The couple’s reluctance to part
even for once during May's illness. His
is merged with nature, the mountains
watercolors".
studio became a quiet harbor where he
and the rivers. Although the painting is
of Zao Wou-ki, edited by Yuan Dexing, catalogue of
found a corner in the vast emptiness to
abstract in form, the concept of Oriental
Prinkmaker Gallery exhibition, Yuancheng Publishing
anchor his boat and obtained peace and
art is integrated all the more after the
Co., Taipei, 1980)
quiet from the extensive shades of color.
painter picked up the Chinese paintbrush
The piece "11.1.72" holds the secret codes
once again.
(Chu Ko, 'Truth of Nature', Album
Zao returned to Chinese brush painting once again in 1971. The Chinoiserie
and sincere feelings of the artist, and its essence transpires a compact and mystical
Taiwanese painter and writer Chu Ko
form of painting he tried to avoid in the
poetic implication. Its theme is centralized
once commented on the distinctive colors
past, considering it too simple, gradually
at the lower edge of the painting where
of Zao Wou-ki: "Each of his works has
gave him the power of stability. The
the change in color is subtle and infinite.
a principal shade and the principal
work "11.1.72" belongs to the later
The barren, cold and boundless horizon
shade of each piece is never a primary
part of the period between the 1960s
painted in faint purple reveals a gentle,
color. Instead, similar colors are set off
and the early 1970s. Its lines continue
soft and classical elegance; the big strokes
by contrast in different arrangements.
to pulsate, although not as rapidly and
resemble billowing rivers and seas,
Though the works are oil paintings, they
repressed as before. After brushing up
whereas the crisscrossing thin, broken
are smeared with rich and interesting
on the watercolors of China, the white
lines spill out the penetrating trills of the
colors. Oil paints are tempered to form the
spaces gradually opened up as though
neutral tone of watercolors – a feat which
announcing the departure of May in
western artists find difficult to achieve.
advance. A new stage is slowly unfolded
The implication of the colors reflects
after the mid-1970s.
the three popular notions of Oriental watercolor philosophy; nevertheless,
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