Zao (Wou-Ki)

Zao Wou-Ki was born in Beijing in 1920, and died in 2013 in Nyon.

In 1948, he decided to move to Paris where he then regularly visited the Atelier d'Othon Friesz at the academy of the Grande-Chaumière as well as the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He will then spend time with many artists, including the poet Henri Michaux who will write a text about his first lithographies in a volume entitled Lecture de huit lithographies de Zao Wou-Ki. Paul Klee's piece of art seen in Berne in 1951 then pushes Zao Wou-Ki to make a radical turn towards abstraction. Since 1941, exhibitions of Zao Wou-ki's works take place at a supported rythm in every country, and in the most important museums.

Zao Wou-Ki is one of the most illustrious representants of lyrical abstraction.