Zao Wou Ki, À La Gloire de l’image et art poétique (1976) I

À La Gloire de l’image et art poétique

Artist: Zao Wou-Ki (1921–2013)
Year: 1976
Medium: Color lithograph, with the artist’s printed signature and dated 1976. Text in French by Roger Caillois.
Support: Vélin paper

Dimensions:

• Double page: 49.7 × 71.4 cm (19 ⅝ × 28 ⅛ in.)

• Single page: 49.7 × 35.7 cm (19 ⅝ × 14 in.)

Edition: Limited edition of 300 copies + 15 artist proofs
Signature: Printed signature and date on each plate
Provenance: Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris (acquired directly from the artist). Purchased from the gallery by the current owner in 2005.

Description:

À La Gloire de l'Image et Art Poétique (1976) is a colour lithograph by Zao Wou-Ki — one of the twentieth century's most celebrated painters, whose synthesis of Chinese landscape tradition and Western lyrical abstraction placed him at the intersection of two of the most powerful pictorial cultures in modern art. The image is a sweeping, gestural landscape in deep cobalt and black: a mountain range dissolves into water and mist, rendered with the ink-wash spontaneity of classical Chinese painting and the chromatic ambition of the École de Paris. The composition breathes — the warm cream of the vélin paper providing the same function as the unpainted silk in a Song dynasty scroll: space, silence, possibility.

Produced in 1976 in collaboration with the French writer and theorist Roger Caillois — the polymath whose writings on myth, play, and the natural world made him one of the most singular intellectual figures of postwar France — this lithograph belongs to the tradition of the French livre d'artiste: the collaboration between visual artist and writer that produced some of the twentieth century's most beautiful printed objects. Caillois's French text and Wou-Ki's image occupy the same physical and conceptual space, each commenting on and amplifying the other.

Zao Wou-Ki arrived in Paris from Shanghai in 1948 and remained there for the rest of his life, becoming a naturalised French citizen and one of the most internationally collected painters of his generation. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Pompidou, the Tate, MoMA, and major museums across Asia and Europe. His paintings have achieved eight-figure results at auction — making original lithographs of this period an outstanding point of entry into his oeuvre for collectors seeking works on paper.

Shipping & Delivery:
✔ Worldwide shipping from France
✔ Professional packaging with insurance
✔ Tracking number included for secure delivery

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FAQ

Is this an original Zao Wou-Ki lithograph? Yes — an original colour lithograph on vélin paper, with the artist's printed signature and date 1976.

Who is Roger Caillois? Roger Caillois (1913–1978) was a French intellectual, writer, and sociologist — a member of the Collège de Sociologie and one of the most wide-ranging thinkers of postwar France, known for his writings on myth, play, dreams, and the natural world. His collaboration with Zao Wou-Ki situates this work firmly in the French livre d'artiste tradition.

What is a livre d'artiste? A French tradition in which a visual artist and a writer collaborate to produce a book or portfolio in which image and text are conceived as a unified whole — one of the most prestigious formats in the history of fine art printmaking.

What paper is used? Vélin paper — a smooth, cream-toned fine art paper associated with the highest standards of French printmaking and book arts.

What condition is the work in? Please contact us for a full condition report. The visible fold lines in the image are consistent with the work's origin as part of a livre d'artiste format.

Do you ship internationally? Yes — worldwide, with museum-grade flat packaging, full insurance, and shipment tracking.